The Numbers for Thursday, December 26: Christmas (retail) cheer

36.8 million

The number of items sold by Amazon on Cyber Monday this year, according to the company, making this holiday season the best ever for the online retailer. Amazon also said its Amazon Prime membership service also saw a huge boost with, “more than a million,” people signing up in the third week of December for free two-day shipping and a streaming media library. They also said about half of those orders were made on mobile devices. (Wall Street Journal)

$20

The value of the store credit Amazon is giving disappointed customers whose packages didn’t arrive in time for Christmas, due to shipping delays from UPS caused by greater-than-expected package volume. Amazon is also refunding the costs of the “one-day” shipping on orders that didn’t make it fast enough. (Marketplace)

2.3 percent

The amount that retail sales increased between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24, according to a report from MasterCard Advisors’ SpendingPulse. The same period only saw a 0.7 percent increase last year, suggesting that despite the six fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, consumers we willing to spend. The most popular purchase category during that period? Jewelry.  (Reuters)