Amazon had a record-breaking holiday season. The online retail giant announced this achievement via a press release. The company says it added “tens of millions” of Prime members, including both trial-based members and paid users. Amazon has also received more worldwide orders than ever before. These orders included more Amazon devices as well. The company claims it received orders of “millions more Amazon devices” compared with this time last year in 2017. Amazon’s best-selling devices included Amazon Echo speakers and Fire TV. These two products were best sellers during their Black Friday sale as well. People ordered more Echo Dots, Fire TV Sticks, and Echos than ever this holiday season. Echo Dot has been an extremely popular choice because of its low price. The device was also deeply discounted in November and December. Even people who did not normally buy smart home devices purchased the item. This helped Echo Dot become the most popular device during the Black Friday sale. Amazon faced stiff competition from the like of Google, Apple, and Samsung, but even beat Chinese companies such as Xiaomi. Fire TV dongles sold in the millions, and Fire tablets and Kindle devices were hot sellers in 2018. Smart home devices were a popular choice. Other top selling items included L.O.L. Surprise! Glam Glitter Series Doll, fashion items from Carhartt, and Bose QuietComfort Wireless Headphones. According to Amazon, a lot of customers utilized Prime Free Shipping. These include millions of orders in the U.S that were shipped with Prime Free Same-Day, Prime Free One-Day, or Prime Now’s free two-hour delivery. Prime members also received exclusive discounts, which attracted even more people to sign up. Free Prime delivery options offered customers the opportunity to avoid the hassle that comes with holiday shopping in retail stores. Another huge factor in Prime’s popularity is the fact that it is now available in so many countries. Prime is now available in Luxembourg, Australia, Netherlands, and Singapore. Jeff Wilke, Amazon’s CEO Worldwide Consumer, 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.”

Wilke further added:

“Thank you to our employees all around the world who are committed to bringing our customers the widest selection of products with low prices and fast and free delivery options throughout the holidays and all year long.”

The press release gave an in-depth list of best-selling products by category. Some of the hottest electronics included Bose QuietComfort 35 (Series II) Wireless Headphones, Samsung’s Flat 65 inch 4K UHD 8 Series Smart LED TV, and Apple iPads (Wi-Fi, 32GB) in Space Gray. These devices all have hundreds or thousands of 4-star reviews. Amazon hasn’t always released Prime Membership subscriber figures, but in April it finally disclosed that it had hit more than 100 million members. This number is going to grow due to the convenience and exclusive discounts it offers. Prime comes with other services too, such as Prime Video, Prime Music, free e-books – and more services are being added. Market experts predict that the number of Prime users will grow by 35 to 40 percent annually. This is good news for Amazon, which continues to dominate over its competitors.