Amazon has reported its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2024. Highlights from the quarter include significant growth in delivery speed and sales, as well as new product launches and achievements in various sectors.
The company delivered items to U.S. Prime members at unprecedented speeds during 2024, with a notable increase of over 65% in same-day or overnight deliveries compared to the same period in 2023. The holiday shopping season was particularly successful, with Amazon holding a record-breaking Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday event, marking it as the largest ever for independent sellers on its platform.
Amazon retained its title as the lowest-priced U.S. retailer for the eighth consecutive year according to Profitero’s study, which found that Amazon’s online prices averaged 14% less than those of other major U.S. retailers.
A new shopping experience called Amazon Haul was introduced in the U.S., offering ultra-low prices through Amazon’s app and mobile site. The entertainment division also saw success with “Red One,” which attracted 50 million viewers globally within four days of release, making it the most-watched film debut on Prime Video by Amazon MGM Studios.
In sports streaming, Thursday Night Football on Prime Video concluded its third season with an average viewership of 13.2 million per game—a rise of 11% from the previous year—and reached a peak viewership of 24.7 million during a playoff game between the Steelers and Ravens.
Kindle device sales experienced their best fourth quarter in over ten years, driven by a new lineup that led to a 30% year-over-year increase in units sold.
At AWS re:Invent, attended by over 55,000 people in person and watched by 1.8 million online viewers, Amazon announced several new capabilities including “Amazon Nova.” This is described as “Amazon’s own family of foundation models,” providing lower latency and cost while integrating key features such as fine-tuning and knowledge bases. Companies like Deloitte, SAP, Robinhood, Palantir Technologies among others are already using Nova.
