• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, January 2, 2017

According to a new Reuters report by Mark Maketa, Amazon shipped more than one billion items worldwide this holiday season, nine times more than during last year's holiday season… “its best ever.” The Echo home assistant, and its smaller version Echo Dot, topped the best-sellers list, said Jeff Wilke, chief executive of Amazon's worldwide consumer division, in a press release.

Amazon likely sold between 4 million and 5 million devices this year to date, with Alexa, the voice-controlled assistant on the Echo, estimated Morningstar analyst R.J. Hottovy, says the report. Shoppers can command the Echo to perform a host of tasks, from playing music to turning on Christmas lights.

"While Amazon's device sales are still relatively small growth drivers, we believe the proliferation of these devices will drive more ubiquitous use of Amazon services,” said Baird Equity Research analyst Colin Sebastian, pointing to customers ordering more items by speaking to the Echo.

More than 72% of Amazon's customers worldwide shopped through mobile devices, the company said, and Dec. 19 was the busiest shopping day this holiday season.

Retail Metrics President Ken Perkins, in a recent note, said "Prime customers are spending twice as much as other consumers using Amazon, and helping to fuel rapid revenue growth that few retailers, with only a fraction of Amazon's revenues, are able to generate."

Additional information from Amazon, including more best sellers, may be found here.