The holiday season, especially Christmas, is very stressful time for retail companies, online stores, and shipping companies, and it seems Christmas this year had pushed online retail giant Amazon to its limits - the company reported sales of 426 products every second and not surprisingly, it struggled with shipping them on time.

Given the number of orders coming in and the number of shipments going out, shipping delays are to be expected. However, shipping delays also produce irate and disappointed customers who were pretty disappointed that their orders did not arrive in time for Christmas.

The delays were especially pronounced for customers who chose to order their items at the last minute deliberately counting on Amazon's well-known reputation for efficiency to shine through. However, Amazon stumbled. The company apologized for the delays and, in an effort to to keep everyone happy this holiday season, it said it would be giving away $20 gift cards to customers who were affected by the shipping delays.

While Amazon's shipping partners, including FedEx and UPS were equally responsible for the delays, Amazon chose to stand at the forefront and apologize. The company said it witnessed unprecedented spikes in the number of orders, while unfavorable weather conditions and a shortened holiday season this year made it strruggle with getting the orders delivered on time. Regardless of the reasons, the company said it will push through with its compensation policy for the affected customers.

Both FedEx and UPS have also apologized for the shipping delays. "We're sorry that there could be delays and we're contacting affected customers who have shipments available for pickup," FedEx spokesman Scott Fiedler told the Associated Press. "We give our apologies to customers."

UPS said the volume of orders overwhelmed its system. "The volume of air packages in the UPS system did exceed capacity as demand was much greater than our forecast,"a UPS spokeswoman said.

Customers who were affected by the shipping delays have been told to check their accounts for the $20 gift cards. Amazon will also be reviewing the performance of its delivery partners in an effort to avoid similar situations in the future.

In addition to receiving over 426 orders per second and delays on certain shipments, Amazon has also announced that recently 1 million people had signed up for its premiere service Amazon Prime.