Amazon.com Says 2008 Best Holiday Season Ever
Amazon.com has announced that the 2008 holiday season has been its "best ever" in terms of sales. The surprise announcement ran contrary to the signals most retailers have been giving off throughout the holiday shopping season, with doom, gloom and drastically reduced prices being the keywords dominating retail news before the Christmas holiday. Tracking services on credit card purchases have found that holiday sales this year have declined between 5% and 8% below those of 2007.
Looks like there's still some magic left on the old Internets after all, or perhaps, as has been a relatively steady trend year after year, just more consumers would prefer to shop online. Provided you get it done early enough to get the gift items you need shipped before the holiday, the advantages of online shopping just seem to keep growing and growing. For one, the prices are better than ever, with Amazon's online marketplace and price comparisons between a wide selection of vendors being one of the most beneficial unsung forces for consumers in the free marketplace. Second, Amazon just keeps getting easier and easier to use, with their amazing information architecture which stores all the addresses and payment info you need, making shopping about as easy as possible. Last, of course, you don't have to fight crowds or lines and can shop online in your PJs.
You can takepart amongst all this unbridled consumerism by checking out the Salvation Army which needs help all year round, not just before Christmas.
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AP: Amazon says 2008 holiday season was "best ever"
Can you say Amazon Thanksgiving Day Parade? Talk about a paradigm shift...this would be a "parade-igm shift."