Counting down the final numbers in the ‘Year of Amazon’

In the last 12 months, we’ve written a lot about the Amazon juggernaut – and rightly so. From the Seattle-based e-tail pioneer’s filing for NVOCC status in January, to initial entry into the air fleet business in March, to the big reveal of its first Prime Air freighter in August, Amazon has been at the forefront of most of the innovative trends in the air cargo industry. The company had a big year, and we expect many more even bigger years to come, as e-commerce continues to transform the industry.

Now, as what could be called the “Year of Amazon” ticks down to the final minutes, we thought we’d share some highlights of the first peak season that Amazon has experienced while officially overseeing its own fleet of 767 freighters. In a recent released from Amazon, the e-commerce giant proclaimed 2016 to be the best holiday season in its history (no surprise there), with delivery of many of its own electronic gizmos leading the way, such as the Echo Dot, the Fire TV Stick, the Fire tablet, and Amazon Echo.

All told, more than 1 billion items were shipped worldwide via Amazon’s Prime and Fulfillment by Amazon services during this holiday season. Here are a few more eye-popping numbers to ponder as we watch the ball drop on 2016 and gaze ahead to a new year:

• Amazon customers purchased enough 4K TVs to reach the peak of Mount Everest more than 9 times.
• Dec. 23, 2016, was the biggest day ever for Prime Now deliveries worldwide, with members ordering triple the items they purchased the previous year with one and two hour delivery worldwide.
• Amazon fulfillment centers in San Marcos, Texas, and Kent, Wash., as well as two Polish fulfillment centers, in Poznan and Wroclaw, shipped more than one million items in a single day.
• The fastest Prime Now delivery on Christmas Eve took 13 minutes and was delivered at 9:05 p.m. to a Prime member in Redondo Beach, Calif.
• The last Prime Free Same-Day Delivery order that was delivered in time for Christmas was ordered at 10:23 a.m. on Dec. 24, 2016. The order was delivered to a Prime member in Richmond, Va., at 2:42 p.m. – the same day.
• Amazon customers purchased enough luggage to fill twenty 747 freighters.
• More than 72 percent of Amazon customers worldwide shopped using a mobile device this holiday.
• Shopping on the free Amazon mobile app grew by 56 percent this holiday, worldwide.
• More than 72 percent of Amazon customers worldwide shopped using a mobile device this holiday.
• On Cyber Monday, Amazon customers worldwide purchased about 46 electronics per second and 36 toys per second on a mobile device.
• In the U.S., more than 200,000 full-time and seasonal associates made the record-breaking shipping season possible, working alongside 45,000 robotics units in more than 20 fulfillment centers.

To see the full list of Amazon’s head-spinning accomplishment this peak season, please click here. Now it’s time to sit back and figure out how all this stuff is going the be returned next week. More on that later.

Until then, to the rest of the airfreight industry, Air Cargo World wishes you a happy, healthy, safe and prosperous new year in 2017.