Amazon has unveiled profits of more than half a billion dollars in the first quarter of its financial year.
Growth from the US retailer, which is the UK’s biggest online trader and an Elite retailer in the IRUK Top500, comes after a sustained period in which Amazon worked to make it ever-easier to buy products and take delivery of them.
In the UK, the retailer expanded its Prime Now one-hour delivery service to areas including Liverpool, it launched a free Baby Box delivered to the door of Prime members who register their baby wishlist on the website, and it moved forward with plans to create “several thousand more new jobs in Europe in 2016.”
In the US, its Alexa voice-powered virtual assistant, added retail capabilities including ordering a Domino’s Pizza and arranging an Uber journey. It also works with more smart home devices so that customers can change their temperature in their home by voice.
Overnight, Amazon said net sales reached $29.1bn (£19.9bn) in the first quarter of the year, to March 1. That’s 28% more than the same time last year. Net income came in at $513m (£315m) in the first quarter, turned around from a loss of $57m (£39m) at the same time last year.
Chief executive and founder 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.”
