Amazon sales pass $100bn again as e-commerce boom continues

30 Apr 2021

Image: © Mike Mareen/Stock.adobe.com

The tech giant booked more than $108bn in revenue for the last quarter, showing the trend of online shopping isn’t dwindling.

The pandemic-driven surge in e-commerce has continued to benefit Amazon as sales surged 44pc in the last quarter.

Amazon’s revenues for the first three months of the year cleared the $100bn mark again, with $108.5bn in sales and net income at $8.1bn, more than triple that of the same quarter last year.

In a year where online shopping became more than the norm, Amazon greatly expanded its already large market share. In the months after the busy festive period, sales have continued to rack up for the tech giant, suggesting that consumers aren’t dropping the online shopping habit.

This year also marks 10 years of Amazon Prime Video, with the company disclosing that more than 175m Prime members have streamed shows and movies over the last year.

It added that Prime Day will take place in June, which is likely to lead to a spending splurge that will buoy the second-quarter earnings.

Amazon’s cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services, has improved performance too. The division booked $13.5bn in revenue with operating income of $4.1bn.

“In just 15 years, AWS has become a $54bn annual sales run rate business competing against the world’s largest technology companies, and its growth is accelerating – up 32pc year over year,” Amazon boss Jeff Bezos said.

The only notable business line that dropped for Amazon was sales at its physical stores, like Whole Foods, which were down.

Amazon’s staggering earnings are coupled with better-than-expected economic recovery in the US, growing at a rate of 6.4pc in the first quarter.

The bumper results come as company founder Bezos prepares to hand over the chief executive reins to Andy Jassy later this year.

Announcing the latest quarterly report, Amazon touted its “Earth’s best employer” vision as scrutiny of conditions for workers in its warehouses grows. The company recently overcame a high-profile unionisation drive in Alabama. This week, Amazon said it would be increasing wages for 500,000 workers in the US.

Elsewhere in a busy week for tech earnings, Twitter reported revenue of more than $1bn but missed its targets for user growth, which sent its stock price down.

Jonathan Keane is a freelance business and technology journalist based in Dublin

editorial@siliconrepublic.com