In North America, sales grew 39%, while international sales increased 37%. Revenue from Amazon Web Services, the company’s cloud computing business and largest profit driver, grew 29%.
Amazon expects sales to be between $112 billion and $121 billion during its final quarter of the year and operating income to be between $1 billion and $4.5 billion, including approximately $4 billion of costs related to the coronavirus.
Amazon has strengthened its position during the pandemic, drawing existing Prime members to its platform more frequently and adding new subscribers.
Amazon’s core Prime shoppers skew higher income, which make them less susceptible to job losses stemming from the pandemic and a new stimulus bill not being passed in Congress, analysts say. Prime shoppers are spending less on travel and other leisure activities than they did before the pandemic and have shifted their spending to electronics, kitchenware and other items.