Well, it seems again that online will have beaten the offline retailers.

While retail was/still is giving it away at drastic discounts. Online etailers like Amazon are getting high fives.

Amazon.com Inc. said Friday that the 2008 holiday season was the online retailer’s “best ever,” with more than 6.3 million items ordered and 5.6 million units shipped during its peak day on Dec. 15.

SpendingPulse PART Of MasterCard Advisors  tracks total sales paid for by credit card, checks and cash has said its preliminary data indicates that retail sales dropped between 5.5 percent and 8 percent this holiday season compared with last year.

However  Barclays Capital analyst Douglas Anmuth said Amazon’s competitive position has actually strengthened during the downturn, as some brick-and-mortar retailers were forced to close stores and had difficulty obtaining inventory.

Based on the number of items ordered, Amazon said its holiday bestsellers included the Nintendo Wii, Samsung’s 52-inch LCD HDTV, the Apple iPod touch and the Blokus board game.