Amazon profits and sales increase driven by its cloud software offer

The etail giant’s profits rose to £351m in the three months to March 31, up from a loss of £38.9m in the same period a year earlier, while its sales rose 20% to £20bn.

Sales of Amazon’s AWS cloud platform surged 64% to £1.76bn.

The online retailer, which appointed Doug Gurr as its new UK boss this week as revealed by Retail Week, plans to create 2,500 new permanent jobs in the UK this year and open two new fulfilment centres in Manchester and Leicestershire, as well as opening an AWS data centre early next year.

Purchases of the etailer’s own product range and increased membership to its Prime service also drove an increase in sales.

Chief executive Jeff Bezos said: “Amazon devices are the top-selling products on Amazon, and customers purchased more than twice as many Fire tablets than first quarter last year.”

The retailer recently opened a fashion photography studio in London and is expected to introduce its Fresh offer to the UK imminently after launching its Pantry service last year.

• To read our profile on Amazon’s new UK boss Doug Gurr, click here