Amazon (AMZN) on Wednesday said it had a record-breaking holiday season, with the number of orders hitting a new peak. Without specifying the numbers, the e-commerce retailer said tens of millions of people initiated Prime memberships – free and paid – during the December quarter.
Amazon shares opened up 3.9% on Wednesday. Amazon stock has gained 13% so far this year and is the best among FAANG stocks after Netflix (NFLX).
CEO Worldwide Consumer Jeff Wilke said, “This season was our best yet, and we look forward to continuing to bring our customers what they want, in ways most convenient for them in 2019. We are thrilled that in the U.S. alone, more than one billion items shipped for free this holiday with Prime.”
The company said its own products also sold well this holiday season, led by the Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick 4K and Echo. The kids’
editions of Echo Dot and Fire tablets also saw a significant increase in orders, the company stated.
Amazon is thrashing Walmart in the great Indian e-commerce war
Alexa crashes on Christmas day
Meanwhile, taking away the sheen of record sales, many Echo customers from the UK reported that they were unable to control lights or play songs through the device on Christmas Day. According to The Guardian, voice assistant Alexa crashed on Christmas Day as servers were overloaded with commands.
Alexa’s standard response to the users was – “Sorry, I’m having trouble understanding you right now.” The crash occurred around 10 AM GMT.