The day after Christmas marks the time for one of my favorite traditions: Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) announcing that it's been the best Christmas ever.
In a press release, the company announced that "the 2008 holiday season finished as its best ever, with over 6.3 million items ordered worldwide on the peak day, Dec. 15, which is a record-breaking 72.9 items per second." The press release was full of useful nuggets like this one: "Amazon sold enough Coldplay CDs that laid side by side they'd stretch from Seattle to Violet Hill (a street in London and the album's first single) and more than halfway back."
Of course, we can all expect public companies to put their best foot forward, but here's the truth: Amazon is a growth company that's invested aggressively in its infrastructure and it should be reporting record holiday sales each year -- which it does -- and then puts out a self-congratulatory press release each year that various news outlets pick up on and report like it's actually news. In case you're playing along at home, here are the company's "best holiday sales ever!!!" press releases going back to 2000:
2008: Amazon.com's 14th Holiday Season Is Best Ever
2007: Amazon.com Wraps Up Its 13th Holiday with Best Season Ever
2006: Amazon.com's 12th Holiday Season Is Best Ever
2005: Amazon.com Customers Order Over 108 Million Items Worldwide During 11th Holiday Season
2004: Amazon.com's Tenth Holiday Season Is Best Ever
2003: Amazon.com Wraps Up Its Ninth Holiday with Busiest Season Ever
2002: Amazon.com Wraps Up Its Eighth Holiday Season with More Than 56 Million Items Ordered Worldwide
2001: Customers Around the World Order Over 37.9 Million Items During the Holiday Season
2000: Amazon.com Wraps Up Holiday Season with More Than 99% of Shipments in Time for the Holidays
Is there anything wrong with announcing it each year? No: But it's not news.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-28-2008 @ 6:30PM
gsd said...
but have they ever made any money
12-28-2008 @ 7:18PM
DAG said...
I don't know what that is supposed to mean. Of course Amazon has made money. They've been profitable since 2002.
To the original writer of the article, I think it is news given the state of the economy and the bad reports of other retailers.
12-28-2008 @ 10:23PM
Good News Economist said...
It is a good spin, for amazon but the reality is that whether you were online or in the brick and mortar store, you likely experienced the best boxing day sales ever...
http://mast-economy.blogspot.com/2008/12/no-boxing-day-blues-this-year-for.html
GNE
http://www.goodnewseconomist.com
12-28-2008 @ 11:58PM
Bobby said...
The telling part of the article is that from '02 to '05, online sales doubled in volume. That's impressive growth,, I don't care who ya are...
12-29-2008 @ 1:30PM
Jesse said...
Do the math:
Distance Seattle: London = 7723 km
Length of a cd = 10 cm (give or take)
#cd's/km = 10000
#cd's Seattle London = 77230000.
77 million CD's? Am I wrong or is Amazon off?
12-30-2008 @ 6:31PM
CMD said...
Amazon is trying to control the perception. That is your argument and it very well may be the case.
Yet, so long as they have some verifiable evidence to support their claims...who cares. The eBay luxury cruiser is beginning to take on water and so why wouldn't the little Amazon tug boat claim stable seas?
From where I stand, it's just smart marketing.