Amazon hails popularity of one day delivery service as sales rise 20 per cent

Library image of a worker at an Amazon centre in the UK. Photo: Nick Ansell/PA Wire

Morrisons at Amazon to expand across the UK

The Seattle-based company said net sales for the second quarter ending in June were 63.4 billion US dollars (£50.9 billion), up 20% from the 52.9 billion (£42.5 billion) reported this time last year.

In addition, net income in the quarter increased slightly from 2.5 billion US dollars (£2 billion) a year ago to 2.6 billion (£2.1 billion).

Founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos pointed to the company’s increased roll-out of one-day delivery for its Prime benefit scheme members as a factor in the firm’s continued growth.

“Customers are responding to Prime’s move to one-day delivery - we’ve received a lot of positive feedback and seen accelerating sales growth,” he said.

“Free one-day delivery is now available to Prime members on more than 10 million items, and we’re just getting started. A big thank-you to the team for continuing to make life easier for customers.”

However Amazon is likely to face greater scrutiny in the months to come, following the US government’s announcement of an antitrust investigation into some of the tech industry’s largest firms.

The Department of Justice said it would look at “widespread concerns” around social media, search engines and online retail services and whether their actions have harmed consumers.

Earlier this year, it was revealed that staff at the Amazon fulfilment centres in Doncaster are being offered fully-funded training programmes to boost their skill levels, even if it takes them towards a career elsewhere.