As expected, on February 6, Amazon published its quarterly report for Q4 2024. The report did not disappoint expectations. Let’s take a look at how the quarter ended on December 31, 2024, and what new developments are in store for sellers.
Amazon’s Q4 2024 Data: Sales Up 10%
Let’s start from the top of the income statement. Amazon’s net sales grew by 10% to $187.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared to $170 billion in the same period the previous year. This figure accounts for the unfavorable impact of exchange rates, which amounted to $0.9 billion. Without this negative effect, sales would have increased by 11% year-over-year.
The North American segment performed better (+11%) than the international segment (+8%). AWS segment sales grew by 19%.
Moving further down the restated income statement, operating income increased to $21.2 billion in the fourth quarter, compared to $13.2 billion a year earlier. Net income also rose to $20 billion, or $1.86 per share, compared to $10.6 billion, or $1 per share, in the previous year.
Full-Year 2024 Data
The conclusion of the fourth quarter allows Amazon to assess its full-year 2024 performance. The company generated net sales growth of 11% to $638 billion, compared to $574.8 billion in 2023. This figure includes the unfavorable impact of $2.3 billion due to exchange rate fluctuations.
Operating income grew to $68.6 billion, compared to $36.9 billion in the previous year. Net income increased to $59.2 billion, or $5.53 per share, compared to $30.4 billion, or $2.90 per share, in 2023.
Among other key figures, we note a 36% increase in operating cash flow to $115.9 billion. Free cash flow also grew to $38.2 billion, compared to $36.8 billion in the previous year.
>>> Also read our article: How to Avoid Tax Mistakes When Selling on Amazon. <<<
Amazon’s Management Announcements and Updates for Sellers
After reviewing Amazon’s financial data for Q4 2024 and the full year, it’s time to understand which of the management’s statements have the most significant impact on sellers.
Let’s summarize them in an organized manner.
Holiday Season Performance
According to Andy Jassy, President and CEO of Amazon, the holiday shopping season was the most successful ever for the company. “When we look back on this quarter in several years, I suspect what we will remember most is the remarkable innovation delivered across all our businesses, especially in AWS, where we introduced our new AI chip Trainium2, our foundation models in Amazon Nova, and a plethora of new models and features in Amazon Bedrock that provide customers with flexibility and cost savings,” he added.
Regarding major event performance, Amazon also reported record-breaking figures for Black Friday and Cyber Monday week. Kindle device sales also hit all-time highs, thanks in part to the launch of the new range, which led to a 30% year-over-year increase in device sales.
>>> Also read our article: How to Sell on Amazon USA – A Complete Guide for European Sellers. <<<
The Importance of Amazon Prime
Amazon’s press release once again confirms the significance of its Prime program and, more broadly, its commitment to faster deliveries. The company achieved the fastest delivery speeds ever for Prime members. More than 65% more items were delivered to Prime members in the U.S. on the same day compared to Q4 2023.
Competitive Pricing
Amazon has won the title of the U.S. retailer with the lowest prices for the eighth consecutive year. A study conducted by Profitero found that Amazon’s prices are, on average, 14% lower than those of other top-tier U.S. retailers.
>>> Also read How Amazon’s Q3 2024 Performed. <<<
AWS: Amazon’s Cloud Service Packed with Innovations
Although AWS’s results slightly missed some analysts’ estimates, there is no doubt that Amazon’s cloud service continues to dominate. This trend is expected to continue in the coming quarters, considering the vast range of new features announced by Amazon.
Here is a summary table:
| Amazon Nova | Thousands of customers are already using Nova, and more will join in the coming months. It is Amazon’s family of AI-powered foundation models, available with low latency, competitive pricing, and integration with Bedrock’s key features. |
| Trainium 2 | The Trn2 EC2 instance powered by AI Trainium2 chips is now generally available, offering a 30-40% better price/performance ratio compared to current GPU-based instances. There is also a new offering (Trainium 2 Ultra Server) that connects four Trn2 servers into an extra-large server using an ultra-fast network. This enables even faster training and inference on AWS. |
| Project Rainier | Collaboration with Anthropic, leveraging hundreds of thousands of Trainium2 chips to build the world’s largest AI computing cluster. |
| Amazon Bedrock | Launch of the marketplace and new features such as Prompt Caching, Intelligent Prompt Routing, and Model Distillation. |
| Amazon SageMaker | New AI features including cost management and workload prioritization. |
| AWS Agreements | New AWS agreements signed with: – U.S. Army – Intuit – PayPal – Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. – Northrop Grumman – Medtronic – The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America – Japan Airlines – Baker Hughes – The Hertz Corporation – Redfin – Chime – Asana |
| Geographical Expansion | Launch of AWS Asia Pacific (Thailand) and AWS Mexico. |
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