Amazon just published its annual post-Christmas press release. These are always packed with interesting nuggets. Here are a few things that popped out: On Cyber Monday, Amazon customers ordered more than 18 toys per second – and that's just from mobile. The top-selling toy was a Sparkle Princess Elsa Doll from Disney's "Frozen." In total, nearly 60% of people shopped on their phones. The last order successfully delivered before Christmas was placed at 10:24 PM on December 24 and delivered at 11:06 PM. The customer ordered via "Prime Now," a service Amazon launched this month which lets New York City residents get deliveries in two hours or less. Over 10 million people tried Amazon Prime, the $99 service that gives you free two-day shipping, this holiday season. Last year, 1 million people joined Prime around Christmas time. Considering that the service only cost $79 back then, that's pretty insane growth. Amazon shipped to more than 185 countries. The company sold 4 times more Kindle e-readers this Black Friday than last year and its TV streaming dongle, the Fire Stick, became its fastest-selling device ever. Amazon didn't give any hard sales numbers for either. Google's Chromebooks were the top-selling computers for the second year in a row. That's bad news for Microsoft. Those were some of the highlights. If you want to pick through it yourself, here's the entire release: Amazon’s 20th holiday season brought record growth to the company’s fast, free shipping program Amazon Prime – more than 10 million new members worldwide tried Prime for the first time.Amazon customers also benefited from low prices this season, including more than 25,000 Lightning Deals. “We are excited to welcome more than ten million new members to Amazon Prime this holiday season, who benefited from unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on their holiday gifts. Prime members can also borrow more than 700,000 books, listen to one million songs and hundreds of playlists, save unlimited photos and watch tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes including the Golden Globe nominated show from Amazon Studios, Transparent,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “We are working hard to make Prime even better and expanding the recently launched Prime Now to additional cities in 2015.” Amazon Prime has come to mean fast, free shipping, free streaming and free reading. This year, Amazon added nearly a dozen new features and benefits to Prime. In addition to Prime Instant Video and the Kindle Owners Lending Library, members now enjoy Prime Music, Prime Photos, Prime Pantry, Amazon Elements, critically-acclaimed and exclusive streaming content, early access to select Lightning Deals, exclusive pricing on select Amazon devices, exclusive pricing on Same-Day Delivery and more. Following the November launch of Prime Photos, members also uploaded nearly one billion photos with free unlimited photo storage inAmazon Cloud Drive. Holiday Fun Facts: Shipping: Amazon shipped to 185 countries this holiday. Sunday Delivery expanded across the country, delivering holiday packages to thousands of cities in the US. This holiday, Amazon customers ordered more than 10 times as many items with Same-Day Delivery, over 2013. The last Prime One-Day Shipping order on Amazon.com delivered in time for Christmas was placed on December 23, 2014at 2:55 p.m. EST and shipped to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The order included Nature’s Miracle No More Marking, 24-ounce spray and a men’s Champion Evo Fleece Full Zip Hoodie. The last Prime Now order that was delivered in time for Christmas included 3 different 12-packs of Bai5, 5 calorie, 100% Natural, Antioxidant Infused Beverage, 18-ounce bottles. Flavor varieties included Costa Rica Clementine, Limu Lemon and Molokai Coconut. The order was placed on December 24 at 10:24pm and was delivered at 11:06pm. Amazon Devices & Digital Media: Amazon Fire TV is the best-selling streaming media box on Amazon.com this holiday season. Fire TV Stick, Fire HD 6 and Fire HD 7 were among the most wished-for items on Amazon.com this holiday season. Fire tablet sales on Amazon.com were up over three times year over year this Black Friday; Kindle e-reader sales on Black Friday grew nearly four times year over year. J.D. Power ranks Amazon “Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Tablets.” Fire TV Stick is the fastest-selling Amazon device ever. The most gifted Kindle book during the holiday season was Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Amazon unveiled All Is Bright, the first-ever exclusive playlist of newly-recorded holiday songs available for listening onAmazon's Prime Music service this holiday season. All Is Bright features performances of holiday favorites, rarities and newly-written songs from extraordinary artists including Ashley Monroe, Brandi Carlile, Jessie Baylin, Liz Phair, Lucinda Williams, Yoko Ono with the Flaming Lips and many more. Amazon Prime members can instantly watch and enjoy Amazon Original Series, including the Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman comedy, Mozart in the Jungle; Golden Globe nominated dark-comedy, Transparent; fan-favorite, Alpha House, now in its second season; and children’s series Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street. Prime Instant Video is the exclusive online-only subscription service for great TV series including popular HBO shows such as Boardwalk Empire, True Blood, The Sopranos and The Wire, as well as binge-worthy primetime series including 24, The Good Wife, Downton Abbey, Under the Dome, Extant and Vikings, and favorites for children including SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, Team Umizoomi, Blue’s Clues, and The Bubble Guppies. Amazon Appstore selection worldwide more than doubled in 2014 over 2013. The top three holiday songs requested of Amazon Echo are Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, and Jingle Bell Rock. Top holiday movies identified using Firefly were Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, White Christmas and It’s A Wonderful Life. Customers have saved over 100 million seconds since the launch of Amazon Fire TV thanks to ASAP; that’s enough time to watch all eight Harry Potter movies more than 1,400 times. Customer Purchases: Nearly 60 percent of Amazon.com customers shopped using a mobile device this holiday. Mobile shopping accelerated as customers got later into the shopping season. Cyber Monday continues to be Amazon.com’s peak mobile shopping day. Black Friday had the most rapid growth in mobile shopping. Total holiday sales from the Amazon app for smartphones doubled in 2014 in the US. On Cyber Monday, Amazon customers worldwide ordered more than 18 toys per second from a mobile device. This holiday, 16 times more Amazon customers shopped on smile.amazon.com than over the 2013 holiday season. Since launching, AmazonSmile has generated millions of dollars in donations for customers’ favorite charitable organizations. This holiday season, AmazonSmile customers supported seven times more charitable organizations than last year. Amazon customers purchased enough Elsa dolls to reach the top of Cinderella's castle 855 times. If all of the Percy Jackson Heroes of Olympus books purchased by Amazon customers during the holidays were piled up, they would be more than twice as tall as Washington State's Mount Olympus and Mount Olympus in Greece—stacked on top of each other. Amazon customers purchased enough Sophie the Giraffe teethers to equal the height of 788 real giraffes. If every Amazon customer who purchased a copy of Pokémon Alpha Sapphire or Pokémon Omega Ruby this holiday season caught every species of monster in the game, they would have collected more Pokémon than the entire population of the US. Amazon customers purchased enough Lifestraws to sustain more than 115,000 thirsty campers for a year. If every shoe from each pair of pumps Amazon Fashion customers purchased this holiday season were stacked on top of each other they would equal 52 times the Empire State Building. The number of pairs of cowboy boots Amazon Fashion customers purchased this holiday season is enough to provide a new pair of boots to the population of Cheyenne, Wyoming, home of one of the largest rodeos. Amazon customers purchased enough wiper blades for every driver in Mobile, Alabama, the rainiest city in the US. The total length of Duck Brand Disney Frozen duct tape purchased by Amazon customers this holiday season could stretch to the top of Disneyland's Matterhorn more than 729 times. Assuming the average customer moisturizes twice per day, Amazon sold enough O'Keefe's Hand and Foot Cream to provide a lifetime supply to the entire Seattle Seahawks football team roster. Amazon customers purchased enough laser pointer pet toys to give more than seven to every Lasik eye surgeon in the US. Amazon customers purchased enough commercial butane torches to caramelize 31,000 crème brulees. Amazon customers purchased enough Rubbermaid storage containers to pack a lunch for the entire population of Montana. Holiday Best Sellers (Amazon.com only): Tablets: Fire HD 7, Fire HD 6, Fire HDX 7 Books: Laugh-Out-Loud Jokes for Kids by Rob Elliott; Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney; Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II’s Most Audacious General by Bill O’Reilly Kindle Books: The Burning Room by Michael Connelly; Gray Mountain by John Grisham; Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn Amazon Instant Video: The Walking Dead Season 5; Sons of Anarchy Season 7; Maleficent; Guardians of the Galaxy Prime Instant Video: Hunger Games: Catching Fire; Alpha House Season 2 Movies: Guardians of the Galaxy (3D Blu-ray + Blu-ray + Digital Copy +DVD); Maleficent (2-Disct Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD) Prime Music: Christmas by Michael Bublé; Greatest Hits by Journey; All the Little Lights by Passenger Music (CD): That’s Christmas to Me by Pentatonix; 1989 by Taylor Swift; Frozen Karaoke from Disney's Karaoke Series MP3: That's Christmas To Me by Pentatonix; 1989 by Taylor Swift; Sonic Highways by Foo Fighters Toys: Disney Frozen Sparkle Princess Elsa Doll; Anki DRIVE Starter Kit Smart Robot Car Racing Game; Bounce-Off Game TVs: Samsung 32-inch 1080p 60Hz Smart LED TV; Samsung 40-inch 1080p 60Hz Smart LED TV; LG Electronics 42-inch 1080p 60Hz LED TV Cameras: GoPro Headstrap Mount + Quick Clip; GoPro HERO4 SILVER; Accessories Kit for GoPro Hero4 Accessories: Amazon Basics HDMI Cable, 6.5 feet; Amazon Basics HDMI Cable 2 pack, 6.5 feet; Amazon Basics HDMI Cable, 3 feet Computers: Acer C720 Chromebook (11.6-inch, 2GB); ASUS Chromebook 13-inch with Gigabit WiFi (16GB, 2GB); HP 11-2010nr 11.6-inch Chromebook (Snow White) Video Games: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare; Just Dance 2015; Super Smash Bros Baby: Baby Einstein Take Along Tunes; Baby Banana Bendable Training Toothbrush; Baby Einstein Bendy Ball Beauty: L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream; Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner; LORAC PRO Palette Sports: SKLZ Pro Mini Hoop; SKLZ Pro Mini Hoop XL; Spalding NBA Street Basketball, official size 7; Wilson NFL MVP Football Outdoors: Lifestraw Personal Water Filter; Emergency Mylar Thermal Blankets; Zippo A-Frame Hand Warmer Pets: Nylabone Dura Chew Original Flavored Dental Dinosaur Chew Toy; Taste of the Wild Dry Dog Food, Hi Prairie Canine Formula with Roasted Bison and Venison; KONG Cozie Marvin the Moose, Medium Dog Toy, Brown Patio, Lawn and Garden: Masterbuilt Butterball Indoor Gen III Electric Fryer Cooker Extra Large Capacity; Toro Ultra 12 Amp Variable-Speed (up to 235) Electric Blower/Vacuum with Metal Impeller; GreenWorks 12 Amp 20-inch Corded Snow Thrower Home Improvement: O'Keeffe's Working Hands Cream, 3.4-Ounce; WBM Himalayan Light #1002 Natural Air Purifying Himalayan Salt Lamp with Neem Wood Base, Bulb and Dimmer Switch; Nest Learning Thermostat, 2nd Generation Tools: Stanley 66-344 4-in-1 Pocket Screwdriver; DEWALT DC970K-2 18-Volt Drill/Driver Kit; Dorcy 41-2510 Floating Waterproof LED Flashlight with Carabineer Clip, 55-Lumens, Yellow Kitchen: Artisan (2 pack) Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat Set, 16 5/8 x 11; Rubbermaid 42-Piece Easy Find Lid Food Storage Set; Cuisinart GR-4N 5-in-1 Griddler Automotive: Swiss+Tech ST53100 Micro-Max 19-in-1 Key Ring Multi-Function Pocket Tool; Mallory 532 26-inch Snow Brush with Foam Grip; Battery Tender 021-0123 Battery Tender Junior 12V Battery Charger Business, Industrial and Scientific Supplies: Amprobe BAT-250 Battery Tester; Rubbermaid Commercial Products High Heat Spoon Scraper 9 1/2-inch, Red Women’s Apparel: Columbia Women's Benton Springs Full-Zip Fleece Jacket; Playtex Women's 18-Hour Original Comfort-Strap Bra #4693; Hue Women's Ultra Leggings with Wide Waistband Women’s Shoes: Dr. Martens Women's 1460 Originals Eight-Eye Lace-Up Boot; Minnetonka Women's Cally Faux Fur Slipper; ASICS Women's GEL-Kayano 20 Running Shoe Jewelry: Sterling silver I Love You To The Moon and Back two-piece pendant necklace, 18-inch; Two-toned sterling silver with yellow gold flashed heart Mom I Love You To The Moon and Back pendant necklace, 18-inch; Alex and Ani Bangle BarPath of Life Rafaelian silver finish expandable bracelet Watches: Disney Kids' Frozen Anna and Elsa Digital Watch; Disney Kids' Frozen Anna Snow Queen Stainless Steel Watch; U.S. Polo Assn. Sport Men's Watch Men’s Apparel: Duofold Men's Thermal Mid Weight Wicking Bottom; Columbia Men's Steens Mountain Full Zip 2.0 Fleece Jacket; Levi's Men's 501 Original Fit Jean Men’s Shoes: Clarks Men's Bushacre 2 Desert Boots; ASICS Men's GEL-Kayano 20 Running Shoe; Timberland White Ledge Waterproof Boot Kid’s Apparel: Little Girls’ Disney Frozen 7-Pack Panty Set; Jefferies Socks Little Girls’ Cable Tights selling; Gerber Uni-sex 5-Pack Variety Onesies Join the conversation about this story »
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