Amazon shared another set of eye-popping statistics from the holiday shopping season. The retailer reported that 2018 was a record-breaking holiday, with the most items ordered worldwide. The new iteration of the Echo Dot smart speaker was one of the best-selling products for the company. Amazon added that customers purchased millions more of its Amazon devices this year compared with 2017, including its range of smart speakers and other voice-driven products.
Alexa was also a fixture in helping people set the festive mood at home. Customers used Alexa to listen to hundreds of millions more hours of music during the holiday season compared from last year. That included listening on Amazon Music, Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music. Alexa also set more than 100 million timers and played more than 1 million holiday tales from Amazon Storytime during the season. The voice assistant delivered eight times more reminders than the prior year and delivered recipes for both food and drinks.
“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,” said Jeff Wilke, CEO of Worldwide Consumer. “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.”