What's America Buying?

Amazon has released its “Best of 2008” lists. These lists offer a nice snapshot of products that did well with consumers over the past year and especially over the holidays—when the online retailing behemoth had its best season ever. Granted there’s a segment of the population that will never purchase anything on Amazon, but with the company’s claims to offer “Earth's Biggest Selection” and serve customers in more than 210 countries, these lists do offer a certain kind of gauge. Four separate lists reveal the bestselling, the most positively reviewed, the most popular on personal Wish Lists, and most frequently purchased as gifts, as determined by Amazon.com customers in 2008.

Here are some tidbits I find interesting….

BESTSELLING

• Books: "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Meyer (The Twilight Saga, Book 4)
• DVD: "Wall-E" (widescreen single-disc edition)
• Music: "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay
• Video Games: Nintendo Wii
• Electronics: Amazon Kindle
  

MOST POSITIVELY REVIEWED

• Books: "The Revolution: A Manifesto" by Ron Paul (hardcover)
• Kindle Books: "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
• DVD: "Jeff Dunham: Spark of Insanity"
• Music: "Noel" by Josh Groban
• Video Games: Wii Fit
  

MOST POPULAR ON WISH LISTS

• Books: "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" by J.K. Rowling (standard edition)
• Kindle Books: "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" by Eckhart Tolle
• DVD: "Wall-E" (widescreen single-disc edition)
• Video on Demand: "The Bourne Supremacy"
• Music: "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay
• Amazon MP3: "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry
• Video Games: Wii Fit

MOST FREQUENTLY PURCHASED GIFTS

• Books: "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer (The Twilight Saga, Book 1)
• DVD: "Best of Elmo's World" DVD Collection
• Music: "At Folsom Prison" by Johnny Cash
• Video Games: Mario Kart Wii with Wii Wheel
• Computers: Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Netbook, sapphire blue
• Software: Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
• Electronics: Amazon Kindle
• Toys: Wild Planet Hyper Dash
• Apparel & Accessories: Pepsi-Cola 1970's vintage beach towel, white

I suspect the Kindle had just *a little* help from maker Amazon to top the Bestselling and Most Popular Gift lists in the Electronics category. (Can we say promotional tusnami and deep discounts on content?) And for full disclosure, I did not buy any of these products, nor in fact anything from Amazon this holiday season. I did, however, walk myself to the nearest indie bookstore in the San Francisco locale I was spending the holidays—Green Apple Books—and bought a gift certificate for my bibliophile brother-in-law. He loved it, world bestseller lists notwithstanding.

For complete Amazon results, visit: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1239459&highlight.