On February 1, Amazon—the American e-commerce and cloud computing company, announced its earnings for the 4th quarter of 2017. The figures revealed an increase of almost 40% from the previous quarter revenue. One of the biggest contributors to this increased revenue was Echo—smart speakers that connect to the intelligent personal assistant Alexa to play music, provide information, control home products and perform a host of other function. Here’s more on Echo’s sterling performance last year!
Beating expectations, Amazon grew revenue significantly during the last quarter of 2017. Major contributors to this increased revenue included a growing Amazon Web Services business, and Echo products that sold in the millions. While Amazon did not reveal the exact number of Echos it sold during the previous quarter, there is believed to be in the millions. The two days Echo products performed the strongest during the 4th quarter of 2017 were Cyber Monday and Black Friday.
During Cyber Monday and Black Friday, Echo performed exceptionally well in stores as well as online. Additionally, the Echo products—Echo Dot, Echo Spot, and Echo Buttons, were completely sold out during the holiday period. Before we dig deeper into Amazon’s Echo products and why they’re so popular, let’s take a quick look at the Amazon’s reported figures for the previous year including the revenue for the quarter ended December 31, 2017.
Amazon’s Products That Performed Strongest in 2017
After market close on February 1, Amazon announced its earnings for the 4th quarter of 2017. The total revenue of Amazon during the quarter exceeded $60 billion, representing an almost 40% increase in revenue from the previous quarter. The net income of the American e-commerce and cloud computing company during the quarter was over $1.8 billion, with EPS being $3.75.
Over four billion dollars in revenue were raked in by physical stores, which included Amazon Whole Foods and bookstores. One of the strongest performers during the quarter was Amazon Web Services (AWS), which exceeded estimates by .11 billion to finish with a revenue of $5.11 billion during the quarter. Despite recording healthy revenues during the last quarter throughout 2017, Amazon continued to spend heavily, to help the continued expansion of the company. Compared to the over ten billion dollars in 2016, the company’s free cash flow in 2017 was only $8.4 billion.
Compared to the $4.2 billion that the company was recording in the previous years, Amazon’s overall operating income in 2017 decreased by 2% to close at $4.1 billion. Though, the operating income of AWS during the year increased by forty six percent, which meant that it was the biggest contributor to Amazon’s operating income during the previous quarter.
It is important to note that the above figures are not an exhaustive list as Amazon has been secretive many of its financials. While the company has made public its bestselling products and how they generally performed during a specific period, it’s hesitant to share the exact units of these products that sold during the period. And, thus we can only speculate how many Echo products sold during the last quarter and throughout 2017.
The Echo Product That Raked in the Most Revenue
On Black Friday and Cyber Monday, people flocked to Amazon’s physical and online stores to buy products such as the Kindle devices and Amazon Echo. During the last quarter and throughout 2017, Echo devices performed exceptionally well, showing no signs of stopping. According to Amazon, Echo Dot—the smart speaker enabled by the intelligent assistant Alexa, was its bestselling product online globally during the holiday period. The company also revealed that Echo was the best-selling product on Black Friday.
The increase in popularity of Echo devices can be credited to a record-low price and increase in prominence of smart assistants like Alexa. On Black Friday, Amazon lowered the price of the product from $50 to $30, which helped increase sales by thousands.
On Cyber Monday, Amazon further discounted the price of the Echo Dot, lowering it from $30 or $29.99 to be precise to just $20. This was too good of an offer to let go and thousands of people across the globe bought the Echo for themselves on the day.In addition to its remarkable performance on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the Echo was the best-selling product among products from any manufacturer in any category on Prime Day. While Amazon did not reveal the exact number of Dots it sold during the previous quarter, it is believed to be in the millions.
The Echo Products on Offer
Considering how popular they are today, it’s only right to review the Echo products on offer, which include the Echo Show, the Echo Plus, and the Echo Dot. Boasting a camera, a screen, and speaker, the Echo Show allows users to view weather forecasts, read shopping and to-do-lists, Watch YouTube videos, watch video news broadcasts, monitor smart security cameras, view song lyrics from Amazon Music, and video chat with other Echo users.
Offering enhanced speakers and Dolby processing, the Echo Plus boasts incredible sound quality and seven far-field microphones. According to Amazon, the device can hear you from anywhere even when music is playing. Echo Dot—the best-selling Echo product, provides users with everything from weather forecast to the latest news to music playback and even control of smart home products. Additionally, the device has Bluetooth functionality, which allows you to connect it to any Bluetooth speaker in your home and play music as loud as you want to. All in all, if you have these Echo devices by your side, then your life will be a whole lot easier.
Amazon had a great year selling Echo and the details are given above. To know more about Echo or find out about other similar products, get in touch with us today!
by Bobby J Davidson
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