Amazon.com (AMZN +0.26%) announced its annual update on its big holiday shopping weekend on Tuesday. While the release didn't feature as many specific figures as last year's review of the important shopping weekend, it still made one thing clear: The e-commerce giant continues to grow rapidly.
Looking back at the Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping weekend, which spanned from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, here are some of the most notable takeaways highlighted in the report.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. It was a record weekend for Amazon devices. As was the case in last year's press release about the important shopping weekend, the update focused on Amazon devices, which boasted a record weekend with "millions of Amazon devices sold between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday," Amazon said.
2. Millions of Alexa devices were sold over the weekend. Furthermore, Alexa devices were the "top sellers across all of Amazon," said the senior vice president of Amazon devices and services, Dave Limp. Of course, this isn't surprising since Amazon recently launched a range of new Alexa-enabled devices, including a second-generation Echo speaker, Echo Plus, and Echo Spot.
The company also said that there are now "tens of millions of customers" with Amazon devices in their homes.
3. Echo Dot was Amazon's best-selling product. Continuing its momentum last year, when Echo Dot sales climbed seven times higher than the prior year, the Echo Dot was the best-selling product from any manufacturer and in any category across Amazon globally.
But the Dot wasn't alone among its top-selling products across all categories. Other best-sellers included the Fire TV Stick, the second-generation Amazon Echo, and the Fire 7 tablet.
4. The Echo Spot is a smash hit. Proving how compelling the value proposition is for one of Amazon's brand-new Alexa-enabled devices, Amazon said the overall customer reaction to the device "was incredibly positive" -- so much so that it sold out for the entire holiday season.
Amazon also said the Dot was the best-selling device at its Whole Foods Market during the shopping holiday.
New preorders for the device will be delivered in the new year on a first-come, first-serve basis, Amazon said.
5. Fire TV Stick sales soared. Sales of the device during the shopping weekend were 2.7 times higher than they were during the same period last year. In addition, Amazon said the Fire TV family of products is outselling all other streaming media player product families in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan -- not just on Amazon but across all retailers.
6. Millions of Fire Tablets were sold. More specifically, it was the best holiday shopping weekend ever for Fire Kids Edition tablets, Amazon said. In fact, the Fire Kids Edition remains the top-selling kids tablet in the U.S. on Amazon and across all retailers.
7. Customers are putting Alexa-enabled devices to work. Highlighting engagement on Amazon's voice-assistant devices, nearly twice as many customers asked Alexa to set timers on Thanksgiving Day than any other day, Amazon said.
Kindle Paperwhite. Image source: Amazon.com.
8. Amazon saw record sales of its Kindle Paperwhite. With all this talk of Amazon's family of Echo devices, it may be easy to overlook the continued success of the e-commerce company's Kindle devices, which just celebrated their 10th anniversary. But Kindles remain holiday favorites, with the Kindle Paperwhite registering its best-ever holiday shopping weekend in the U.S. and globally.
Amazon management has enormous expectations for its fourth quarter, guiding for sales to rise between 28% and 38% year over year. With a shopping holiday like this behind it, Amazon looks like it's on track to hit its aggressive guidance.
