Amazon sales surge 23pc to £27.6bn in first three months of 2017
Online retail giant Amazon saw a 23 per cent surge in sales to more than £27.6 billion in just the first three months of this year, the technology giant has announced.
The figures were higher than analysts predicted ahead of the announcement, which also included a net income rise from of more than £155m on the same quarter last year, to £561m.
It comes after a year of major growth in the UK, with new delivery centres and plans for a new headquarters in London.
In February Amazon announced that more than 500 part-timers taken on last year and over Christmas at its 700,000 sq ft delivery centre in Rugeley, Staffordshire, had joined the full-time workforce, which now totals 2,000.
By the end of 2016 Amazon employed 15,500 people in the UK across its headquarters and its 12 delivery centres. And earlier this week Amazon said it will create 1,200 permanent jobs at a new warehouse in Warrington, one of four new so-called fulfilment centres Amazon will open this year.
In addition, Amazon says its first dedicated UK receive centre will open in Coventry in 2018 and act as a central hub to receive and sort millions of products sold on Amazon.co.uk each year. Recruitment for Coventry will begin in 2018 and will create 1,650 full time permanent jobs.
Founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos used the announcement of Amazon's strong first quarter sales growth to praise the company's expansion into India.
"Our India team is moving fast and delivering for customers and sellers," he said.
"The team has increased Prime selection by 75% since launching the programme nine months ago, increased fulfilment capacity for sellers by 26% already this year, announced 18 Indian Original TV series, and just last week introduced a Fire TV Stick optimised for Indian customers with integrated voice search in English and Hindi.
"We're grateful that customers are responding, Amazon.in is the most visited and the fastest growing marketplace in India.
"It's still day one for e-commerce in India, and I assure you that we'll keep investing in technology and infrastructure while working hard to invent on behalf of our customers and small and medium businesses in India."
Amazon has greatly expanded from its online retail roots, launching the Amazon Echo smart speaker in the UK last year, while earlier this year its original movie Manchester By The Sea won three Academy Awards, including best actor for Casey Affleck.
The company now also rivals Netflix for TV and movie streaming services, through its Amazon Fire TV line of streaming products.
