Online retailer Amazon has been a prime beneficiary of more consumers doing their holiday shopping online and procrastinating.
Amazon Prime, the company’s $99-a-year loyalty program that includes unlimited free two-day shipping, gained 3 million new members in the third week of December alone. Meanwhile, the number of Prime members shopping via mobile more than doubled this holiday season, Amazon said Monday.
Christmas Eve was the biggest day yet for deliveries by the company’s Prime Now service, which now offers free two-hour delivery to more than 20 metropolitan areas. When Prime Now launched last year, it delivered only within Manhattan.
Seattle-based Amazon also said it shipped a record number of items worldwide for the holidays, with items going to 185 countries.
The 20-year-old company is profiting from major trends reshaping holiday shopping in the U.S. More and more people do part or even all of their shopping online, increasingly using mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones to “window shop” and then buy items from their couch or their desk at work. Retailers are deluging consumers with e-mail offers for online-only deals.
Amazon said nearly 70 percent of its customers this holiday used a mobile device to shop.
Amazon’s report issued on Monday covers trends and percentage changes in its shipments, but doesn’t give sales figures or the number of items it shipped. In response to an Associated Press request for details, Inc. said that it isn’t sharing more information.
