This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
In a blog post Tuesday, Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced that the 2020 holiday shopping season through Cyber Monday has been its "biggest holiday season to date". Consumer behaviour has undergone a dramatic shift as the coronavirus pandemic has caused shoppers to pivot to e-commerce for their gift-giving needs.
Amazon revealed that independent businesses on its platform generated $4.8 billion in worldwide sales between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, an increase of 60% year over year.
Small- and medium-sized businesses in the US have sold roughly 9,500 products per minute so far during this holiday season, and more than 71,000 businesses worldwide exceeded $100,000 in sales.
One trend that has been consistent in recent years has been high demand for Amazon-branded products, with the latest edition of the Echo Dot and Fire TV Stick 4K with Alexa Voice Remote among the biggest sellers.
Shoppers also sought out Barack Obama's best-selling book A Promised Land, and Revlon's One-Step Hair Dryer and Hot Air Brush. Other top sellers were the Lite-Brite Ultimate Classic, Amazon Smart Plug, and the 23andMe Health and DNA Test
Amazon also identified several notable shopping trends this season, with "self-care, nesting at home, and cozy comfort" leading the pack in the US.
This has already been an extraordinary year of the e-commerce leader, with net sales that jumped 35% year over year during the first nine months of 2020. To give that context, Amazon's net sales grew just 20% during the same period in 2019.
This article was originally published on Fool.com. All figures quoted in US dollars unless otherwise stated.