Online shopping reached new highs during 2020 and Amazon managed to deliver billions of products worldwide this holiday season during what is expected to be a record fourth fiscal quarter for the online retailer.
The ecommerce giant has released a new blog post in which it revealed that it delivered more than 1.5bn toys, home products, beauty and personal care products and electronics to its customers all over the world.
At the same time, third party sales on Amazon rose by more than 50 percent year-over-year worldwide. One of the reasons for this could be due to the fact that the company has absorbed more than $5bn in operational costs on behalf of independent sellers since the start of the pandemic.
Amazon also recently announced that it would delay its move to raise merchant fees until June of next year with charges for its Fulfillment by Amazon service being put on hold for now.
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CEO of Amazon's worldwide consumer business Jeff Wilke provided further insight on the steps the company took to be able to continue to operate during the pandemic in a blog post, saying:
“Amazonians around the world have truly shown what it means to be customer-centric and support our communities this year. When our customers—including healthcare workers on the front lines—most needed essential supplies, our teams and partners went above and beyond to stock and deliver those items. When it became clear that COVID-19 testing was going to be important, Amazonians across the company moved quickly to build our own testing capacity so we could help protect employees and deliver products to customers. And when customers needed a little extra holiday cheer, millions of employees and partners worked together to deliver more savings and holiday gifts than ever before. We couldn’t be prouder of, or more thankful for, our teams around the world.”
Fourth quarter results
Amazon is expected to report its fourth quarter results next month but in its third quarter earnings report, the company said it expects revenue to be between $112 and $121bn in Q4.
If this turns out to be true, it would represent a year-over-year increase of 28 to 38 percent and mark the first time the ecommerce giant has brought in over $100bn in a single quarter. Amazon's third quarter results came close at $96.1bn but increased holiday sales will likely help company push past its previous record.
According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, ecommerce sales in the US grew by 47.2 percent year-over year from November 1 to December 24 as more consumers preferred to shop from the safety of their homes. In fact, online sales accounted for 19.7 percent of overall retail which is up from 13.4 percent last year.
Now that Covid-19 vaccines are being readily distributed, ecommerce sales could taper off next year but Amazon has shown that its supply chain is more than capable of weathering a pandemic.
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Via GeekWire
