Amazon Sets Record Sales In Holiday Season 2013; Here Is A Glimpse Into What Customers Bought Most

Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) sales this holiday season set new records as the online retail giant sold hundreds of items every second during its peak shipping day of the year, and more than a million users became Amazon Prime members during the third week of December.

The company's holiday season sales in 2013 were the best ever in its history, the company said in a statement on Thursday, adding that Amazon Prime -- its annual membership program that offers free and unlimited two-day shipping -- witnessed record sign-ups and sales. The retailer said it was forced to limit new sign-ups for Prime membership during peak periods to ensure it could serve existing members.

On Cyber Monday, Amazon’s biggest shipping day of the year, more than 36.8 million items were ordered worldwide, leading to record-breaking sales of 426 items every second.

The company said it has sold more Kindles than ever this holiday season, and its Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire HDX 7” and Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" tablets were the most popular tablets sold on the website. The company did not provide details on the exact number of sales for Kindle tablets and e-readers.

Amazon said more than half of its customers shopped using a mobile device, and shipments went out to 185 countries this year.

Between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, Amazon customers ordered more than five toys a second from a mobile device, and new Xbox One and PlayStation 4 gaming consoles were sold at the rate of more than 1,000 units every minute during the peak period of their sales.

Samsung’s LED high-definition television sets topped TV sales while Samsung's Chromebook, the ASUS Transformer Book and Acer Chromebook were the best-selling laptops. Among cameras, the top sellers were the Canon EOS Rebel T3i, Canon PowerShot A2500 and Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Instant Film Camera.

"Call of Duty: Ghosts" and "Grand Theft Auto V" for the Xbox360, and "Just Dance 2014 – Nintendo Wii" sold most among video games. In music, “Artpop” by Lady Gaga, “Wrapped in Red” by Kelly Clarkson and “The Marshall Mathers LP2 (Deluxe)” by Eminem topped Amazon's best-selling list.

The company, in a statement, shared some unusual facts about its record holiday sales this season. Check them out here:

Amazon customers purchased enough Crayola Marker Makers to be able to draw a line around the world four times.

Amazon customers purchased enough Rainbow Looms from third-party sellers that the bands can stretch around the circumference of the Earth.

Amazon customers purchased enough Hot Wheels from third-party sellers to stretch around the Daytona International Speedway racetrack.

Amazon customers purchased enough miniature flashlights to light four collegiate football fields in accordance with NCAA standards.

Amazon customers purchased enough running shoes to provide a pair to every participant in the top 10 largest marathons in the world.

If you stacked every Himalayan Crystal Lamp purchased by Amazon customers this holiday season, the height would reach the top of Himalaya’s highest peak -- Mt. Everest.

Amazon customers purchased enough winter boots to keep everyone living in three of the coldest cities in America -- Duluth, Minnesota; Butte, Montana; and Watertown, South Dakota -- warm for the winter.

Amazon customers purchased enough cross-body purses to outfit every attendee at a typical Taylor Swift concert.

Amazon customers bought enough books in the "Divergent" series -- “Divergent,” “Insurgent,” “Allegiant,” and the complete box set -- to wrap around Chicago’s Pier Park Ferris Wheel 263 times.

If you placed every upright vacuum purchased by Amazon customers end-to-end, they would reach 15 times the depth of the Marianas Trench, the deepest point in Earth’s oceans.

If the Nylabone Dinosaur Chew Toys purchased during this holiday season were stacked on top of each other, they would be the height of more than 950 T-Rex dinosaurs.

The number of “Star Trek Into Darkness” Blu-ray combo packs purchased would span the distance of 25 Star Trek Enterprise spaceships.

If you had a single plain M&M for each Eminem album purchased on the Amazon MP3 Store over the holidays, you’d have nearly 100 lbs. of the candy-coated chocolate.

Amazon customers purchased enough youth archery kits to outfit every resident of Katniss Everdeen’s hometown, District 12, four times over.

Amazon customers purchased enough Tovolo Sphere Ice Molds to fill Don Draper’s (of “Mad Men”) whiskey glasses for 251 years.

Amazon customers purchased enough Cuisinart Griddlers to place one in every McDonald’s restaurant in the world.