AMAZON WINS BIG THIS HOLIDAY: PRIME MEMBERSHIPS UP AS CONSUMERS SEEK SAME-DAY SHIPPING
Online mega-retailer Amazon celebrated its biggest holiday season with customers all around the world shopping at record levels. Prime membership continued to grow this holiday – in fact, in one week alone, more than four million people started Prime free trials or began paid memberships to benefit from free two-day, one-day or same-day shipping.
Customers shopped from hundreds of millions of products, including a vast selection from small businesses and entrepreneurs. More than one billion items were ordered from small businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide this season – and over just five days, from November 23 through Cyber Monday, nearly 140 million items were ordered from small businesses and entrepreneurs. Amazon Devices also had its best holiday yet, with tens of millions of Alexa-enabled devices sold worldwide. Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote were not only the top-selling Amazon devices this holiday season, but they were also the best-selling products from any manufacturer in any category across all of Amazon.
Across North America and Europe, associates at 10 fulfillment centers picked, packed, and shipped more than one million customer packages in a single day. Amazon’s peak day of customer fulfillment in 2017 was December 19.
Customers worldwide shopping on the Amazon App increased nearly 70 percent this holiday season. More than 1,400 electronics products were ordered per second on a mobile device this holiday season. And, the top five items ordered on a mobile device were the Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and the TP-Link Smart Plug.
“Since Day One we have obsessed over what we believe our customers care about – incredible deals and low prices, fast and free shipping, and a wide selection of top products – and we continue to provide all three, all the time,” said Jeff Wilke, CEO of Worldwide Consumer at Amazon. “We’re excited that people continued to join Prime this holiday, to take advantage of more fast and free shipping options, as well as early access to Lightning Deals and unlimited streaming of TV shows and movies, including Prime Originals and more. Thank you to the millions of customers and hundreds of thousands of Amazon employees all around the world who made this holiday better than ever before. We look forward to another great year ahead.”