Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) boasted of “record-breaking” sales over the holiday season on Thursday, though it declined to disclose revenue to compare that post-Christmas claim to previous holiday shopping seasons.
Still, the announcement did offer some sales details, including a claim that more than a half-billion items were ordered. The news sent the Seattle e-commerce giant’s share price up about 4.5% on Thursday trading, reaching $1,868.77. It was the company’s best day of trading since January.
In its announcement, Amazon said more than 5 million new customers worldwide started free trials or began paid memberships of its Prime delivery service “in one week alone” during the “holiday season.” Amazon’s Prime service costs $119 annually, so if just 2 million of those Prime customers were converted from a free trial to a paid subscription, it would translate to $238 million in new Prime revenue.
The company also said the number of items delivered with its Prime one-day or same-day delivery “nearly quadrupled” compared to the same time period last year.
It also said its Prime members ordered “more than double the number of grocery items” compared to last holiday season, and that the number of first-time Prime grocery delivery customers increased by more than 80% during that time frame.
Amazon also said “tens of millions” of its Amazon-branded devices were purchased for the holidays. Its best-selling items were the Echo Dot and Echo Show 5 smart speakers, as well as its Fire TV Stick with Alexa-powered remote, according to the announcement.
It said its most popular items sold this holiday season came from its toys, fashion and home and beauty departments.
Additionally, Amazon said third-party sellers on its site saw “double-digit year-over-year growth” and moved more than 1 billion items during the holiday rush.