Amazon claims best ever Christmas

Wii consoles fly out at 17 every second

Amazon has reported its best ever holiday season, shipping more than 99 per cent of orders in time to meet deadlines worldwide.

One of the most popular products was Nintendo's Wii console, which flew off the virtual shelves at Amazon.com at a rate of 17 every second - when the company actually had stock.

"We are very grateful to our customers," said Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive at Amazon.

"On behalf of Amazon employees around the globe, we wish everyone happy holidays and best wishes for 2008."

The company's busiest trading day over the festive period was 10 December when customers ordered more than 5.4 million items at a rate of 62.5 items per second.

Amazon.com sold enough high-definition DVD players to cover seven football pitches, and enough GPS units to make a trail from New York to Philadelphia.