As Amazon launches its Prime Day event around the world, this company profile of Amazon’s US business, taken from the RetailX US500 2025 report, offers useful background on the leading pureplay and its strategy.
Amazon US uses the latest technology, including AI, to serve retail and business customers with a wide range of services. It ranks as Elite in the US500 2025, reflecting a strategy of delivering at speed with low prices in a highly competitive market.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 in Seattle as an online bookshop. Today, the company is one of the largest private sector employers in the US, with more than 800k staff. It acts as a retailer, marketplace and brand. Its Prime subscription scheme offers members exclusive prices, fast delivery, subscriptions and a range of entertainment services. Meanwhile, its technology arm offers business services from websites to infrastructure and cloud support.
In 2024, Amazon reported net income of $59.2bn (+94.7% on the previous year) on net sales of $638.0bn (+11%). At the time, Amazon president and CEO Andy Jassy pointed to “remarkable innovation across all of our business,” particularly in terms of the use of AI. “These benefits are often realized by customers (and the business) several months down the road, but these are substantial enablers in this emerging technology environment and we’re excited to see what customers build,” said Jassy.
In its results statement, Amazon also highlighted its increased ability to deliver to customers faster and from a wider range, at lower prices, alongside a record-breaking Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It focused on new shopping features such as the ultra-low-priced Amazon Haul and its role as the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy.
How Amazon’s US website reflects its strategy
Amazon’s US website uses personalised recommendations to reflect customer behaviour and interests throughout the customer journey – from the landing page to the product page and the checkout. Shoppers can find the products they are most interested in through search – where they are offered dropdown suggestions – and through navigational filters. These include price range, brand, star ratings, technical specifications, measurements, colour and more.
The website offers a choice of images to illustrate products, and shoppers can explore written and video reviews and ratings – including through AI summaries of review content. They can also see how quickly an item can be delivered to their location. Discounts are highlighted throughout. Brands use Amazon’s retail media sponsored services to highlight their own alternatives to the product a customer is viewing – and the discount they are prepared to offer on it.
Shoppers must sign in to reach checkout, where payment options include standard bank cards and Amazon Pay. They can also link their existing rewards cards to their account in order to collect and buy with points.
This profile is from the US500 2025 report. Download it here.
