Mobile helps prime Amazon for successful holiday
Amazon.com had a merry (and prosperous) holiday season, at least according to a limited set of statistics released by the e-tail giant.
Amazon touted the impact of mobile commerce on its 21st holiday season, reporting that nearly 70% of its customers shopped using a mobile device. However, Amazon did not break that figure down into how many shoppers actually made mobile purchases compared to those who browsed on a mobile device and bought through another channel.
In one sign mobile devices may have served as a strong holiday purchase platform, Amazon said that on Cyber Monday Amazon customers worldwide ordered more than 33 electronics per second from a mobile device. The number of Prime members shopping via mobile in the U.S. more than doubled (again, no specific numbers or clear breakdown of purchasing and browsing).
Amazon also released some impressive (but general) numbers for Amazon Prime performance during the holidays. More than three million members worldwide joined Prime during the third week of December. In addition, Amazon Prime shipped more than 200 million units worldwide.
“This was another great holiday season to be a Prime member, and we welcomed three million new members in the third week of December alone,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “On behalf of Amazon employees around the world, we wish everyone happy holidays and the very best for the coming year.”
Other notable Amazon holiday facts include:
Christmas Eve was the biggest day ever for Prime Now deliveries.
Amazon shipped to 185 countries this holiday.
The last Prime Now order delivered in-time for Christmas was delivered at 11:59 p.m. on Christmas Eve to a customer in San Antonio, Texas.
The last Prime free same-day delivery order from Amazon.com that was delivered in time for Christmas was ordered at 9:58 a.m. on December 24, 2015. The order was delivered in Phoenix by 2:59 p.m.
So by all accounts Santa (and consumers) were good to Amazon this holiday season. Amazon is a notoriously secretive company, but if it really wants to impress the industry with its success, it should consider releasing at least a few more specific numbers from its year-end performance.