Amazon are celebrating their biggest holiday season with customers all around the world shopping at record levels. Prime membership continued to grow this holiday and over the Christmas period, in one week alone, more than four million people started Amazon Prime free trials or began paid memberships. And this is despite the news that Amazon Prime membership may be slowing as they reach saturation point – once they’ve signed everyone up there’s no room for membership growth!
More than one billion items were ordered from small businesses and entrepreneurs worldwide this season – and over just five days, from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, nearly 140 million items were ordered from small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Amazon Devices also had its best holiday yet, with tens of millions of Alexa-enabled devices sold worldwide. Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote were not only the top-selling Amazon devices this holiday season, but they were also the best-selling products from any manufacturer in any category across all of Amazon.
Sales were so strong that Echo Spot, Echo Dot and Echo Buttons sold out this year as Amazon struggled to keep up with demand. There’s currently a waiting list where customers can pre-order to reserve their place in the queue and orders will be filled on a first come, first served basis.
This is yet another indicator that voice search is going to become increasingly ‘normal’ compared to typed text search as new smart device owners become accustomed to talking to their virtual assistants. Amazon report that millions of Prime members voice shopped with Alexa for gifts, Amazon devices and everyday household essentials. The most popular items purchased by voice were the Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick with Alexa Voice Remote and TP-Link Smart Plug Mini.
Amazon’s peak day for customer fulfillment in 2017 was December the 19th, however The last Prime Now order in time for Christmas was delivered in 58 minutes at 11:58 pm on Christmas Eve in Baltimore. The order included the Kid Galaxy Amphibious RC Car Morphibians Shark Remote Control Toy, the Crayola Oil Pastels Art Tools, 28 ct., and the VTech Click and Count Remote – there can’t be many things as hair raising as leaving your Christmas shopping until the very last moment!
