It's been just over a couple of weeks since Christmas and we've managed to recover from all the mania that comes with it. As always, Christmas was an incredibly busy period for us at Mighty Ape, and once again it's been another record breaking season. We've looked at a bunch of stats related to the Christmas period from November 20th to December 31st. Let's take a look…

In that time we had over 1.8 million shoppers across our New Zealand and Australian websites. Our Primate membership exploded, and Primate members collectively saved over $75,000 on their shipping costs!

If all of the products we sold over Christmas were stacked end to end they would reach 53,866 metres into the sky. That's equivalent to 164 Sky Towers stacked on top of each other. They would reach beyond Earth's stratos­phere!

At any other time of the year we usually have about 125 staff in our office and warehouse. This almost doubled over the Christmas period, when we peaked at over 200 staff!

During our busiest hour, we were selling as many as 31 items per minute. Our warehouse monkeys were kept on their toes to get all of our Christmas orders out (close to 300 tonnes worth in total, the equivalent of 85 elephants!). The busiest day for our warehouse was Monday, 18th December where a product was being shipped out every second. Phew!

Our biggest sales day was November 24th, Black Friday! Interestingly, Wednesday, 13 December was our biggest day in terms of units sold. The biggest order was $6,599! That customer ordered two powerful Gorilla Rigs. The smallest order was just $1. This customer purchased a laptop satchel on special from our Daily Deals. As a Primate member, this customer receives free shipping on all orders.

What was popular with Mighty Ape customers this Christmas? Terry's Chocolate Orange Milk Chocolate was our top selling chocolate. Delicious! Some of our top selling games included: Call of Duty: WWII, Assassin's Creed Origins, FIFA 18, Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, and Star Wars: Battlefront II, to name a few.

Our top 5 Toys for Christmas were:

1. Sands Alive! Box of Sand
2. Bunch O' Balloons – Assorted
3. Little Joker: Fart Bombs – 6 Pack
4. L.O.L: Surprise! Doll – Little Sisters Series 2 (Blind Bag)
5. Toysmith: Die Cast Cap Rocket

Our top 5 Books were:

1. Bad Dad by David Walliams
2. Eat by Chelsea Winter
3. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
4. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
5. The Midnight Line by Lee Child

Our top 5 Movies and TV shows were:

1. Dunkirk
2. Game of Thrones – The Complete Seventh Season
3. Moana
4. Kingsman: The Golden Circle
5. The Crown: Season 1

Our top 5 Homeware gifts were:

1. Minipresso NS – Portable Nespresso Maker
2. For Fox Sake Coffee Mug
3. Whiskey Rocks
4. iMusic Pillow
5. Mad Millie – Italian Cheese Kit

We can't forget that behind every number is a story – and we just love making Christmas that little bit easier and that little bit more fun for our customers. Thank you to everyone who sent us feedback during this busy time, we really appreciated it. Here's a sample of some of your lovely messages:

• “Couldn't have asked for better assistance in a short space of time so my grandson could receive his Christmas Day gift in time” – Anja
• “Everything worked out perfectly just in time for Christmas thank you Mighty Ape for all your hard work” – John
• “I’m overseas most of the year and I can always rely on Mighty Ape to have my packages delivered safe and sound to friends and relatives in NZ. Well worth the Primate subscription! (P.S Never ever take that away)”
• “I live in the United States and am happy to find a company that can deliver gifts to my young nephews who live in New Zealand.” – Kathy from USA

Working together with our courier partner Courier Post, we aimed to make sure all presents arrived on time for Christmas. Check out this heart-warming story about when the courier van containing our last LEGO stunt bike was stolen in Wellington.

There we have it, all the numbers from another record Christmas here at the jungle! Now onwards and upwards to 2018 where we're kicking things off with the move into our new warehouse so stay tuned… ;)