Electronics category drives performance.
Amazon’s electronics and other general merchandise category sales grew 31% year-on-year in the international market, and 32% year-on-year in the North America market, which helped push net sales up 28% to US$29.1 billion in the first quarter.
Operating income was US$1.1 billion in the first quarter, compared with US$255 million in first quarter 2015.
Net sales for the media category, comprising of video games and consoles, books, music, and more, increased by 7% in the international market and 8% in the North America market.
Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos said, “Amazon devices are the top selling products on Amazon, and customers purchased more than twice as many Fire tablets than first quarter last year.”
“Earlier this week, the US$39 Fire TV Stick became the first product ever — from any manufacturer — to pass 100,000 customer reviews, including over 62,000 five star reviews, also more than any other product ever sold on Amazon.
“Echo too is off to an incredible start, and we can’t yet manage to keep it in stock despite all efforts. We are building premium products at non-premium prices, and thrilled so many customers are responding to our approach,” he said.
Shares of the online retailer jumped nearly 13% to US$679 in extended trading on Thursday.
Highlights from the first quarter results are outlined below:
- Amazon introduced Kindle Oasis, the thinnest and lightest Kindle.
- Amazon announced two Alexa-enabled devices: Amazon Echo Dot, a hands-free, voice-controlled device and Amazon Tap, a portable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker.
- Alexa supports more smart home devices, including thermostats from Nest, ecobee, Insteon, and Honeywell so customers can control the temperature in their homes using only their voice.
- Amazon entered into agreements with Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) to lease 20 air cargo planes to support one and two-day delivery for US customers.
- Prime Free Same-Day Delivery expanded to 11 new metro areas and now serves Prime members in 27 metro areas throughout the US.
- Amazon launched Prime Belgium with unlimited Free One-Day Shipping on millions of items.
- Amazon was ranked number one in corporate reputation among the 100 most visible companies in America, according to the 23,000-person Harris Poll.
- UK consumers ranked Amazon number one in customer satisfaction in a nationwide poll from the Institute of Customer Service.
- For the second year in a row, customers selected Amazon.in as India’s most trusted online shopping brand, according to an annual Trust Research Advisory survey.
- The Amazon Global Store on Amazon.cn has grown to over 10 million items, providing Chinese customers with a more convenient shopping experience with authentic products curated from the Amazon.com website.