Amazon.com reported it experienced its best holiday season this year. Over 6.3 million items were ordered worldwide on its peak day, December 15, 2008, and Amazon shipped to over 210 countries. However, the company failed to say by how much its sales had increased over the 2007 holiday season.

Colin Sebastian, Digital Media & Internet analyst at Wall Street firm Lazard Capital Markets, wrote in a report on Tuesday, "Amazon recently reported solid 17% growth in peak-day holiday orders, and a 44% increase in units shipped from the company’s fulfillment centers, which we believe supports our view that Amazon will continue to gain share with a strong customer value proposition, broad product selection, and low prices." However, he wrote that the cost of maintaining above-market growth would become evident in declining profit margins.

Last week, Amazon.com released a list of "Hot Holiday Bestsellers" worldwide from November 15 through December 19 based on units ordered. They included the following.

In toys, top sellers included the Eyeclops night vision stealth goggles, Blokus classic board game and Wild Planet’s Hyper Dash.

Top sellers in consumer electronics included Samsung’s 52-inch 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV with RED Touch of Color; the Apple iPod touch 8 GB (2nd Generation); and the Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch netbook. Nintendo Wii dominated the top sellers in video games and hardware including the Wii console, the Wii remote controller and the Wii nunchuk controller.

The top-selling items in the Sports & Outdoors Store included the Razor A Kick scooter, Victorinox Swiss Army Champion Plus pocket knife and Klean Kanteen sports cap.

Top sellers in apparel and accessories included the Kenneth Cole Reaction men's Eden wool pea coat, the AK Anne Klein women's double-breasted Pea coat with hood, and Columbia Sportswear’s Trinity bomber jacket.