Amazon released a lengthy list of vague stats about its holiday selling season this year. And while details may be scant, it was a big season for Alexa (and the Instant Pot).
Amazon says it sold “tens of millions of Alexa-enabled devices” worldwide with the company adding that the Echo Dot was among the top-selling Amazon devices this holiday season. Additionally, Amazon said that Prime memberships continue to grow, and that 4 million people “started Prime free trials or began paid memberships.”
Okay, yes. That statement from the company is kind of silly. But it was estimated that Amazon had 80 million Prime members back in April. Combine the boost for Alexa devices with the ever-growing Prime member audience, and Amazon is poised to dominate the smart kitchen, same day delivery, grocery and meal kit delivery and so much more.
So what were people doing with their Alexa devices this holiday? Here are some brief bits on kitchen usage, according to Amazon:
- Alexa helped mix tens of thousands of cocktails this holiday season, with Martini and Manhattan being the most requested drinks.
- The recipe for chocolate chip cookies was the most requested recipe this holiday season.
- Customers asked Alexa for cooking-related advice 9x more this year as they did last holiday season.
- Alexa customers set 3x as many timers this year compared to last holiday season.
In addition to recent stats, Amazon seemed to be looking ahead in its press release. The recently launched Amazon Key in-home delivery service also got a specific shout out in the press release quote from Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO Worldwide Consumer. Perhaps this is indicative of a bigger push to come for Key, especially in light of Amazon’s recent purchase of Blink security cameras.
And, if my Facebook feed is any indication, many of you received Instant Pots this holiday. Amazon shared some of info about the popular rice/slow/pressure cooker. According to Amazon:
- The best-selling kitchen item in the U.S. and worldwide was the Instant Pot DUO80.
- Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook by Laurel Randolph, independently published through Kindle Direct Publishing, has been topping Amazon Charts throughout the holiday season – reaching #1 on the most sold non-fiction list the week of Cyber Monday.
- And, oh by the way, an Amazon Air cargo plane can hold more than 10,000 Instant Pots.
Even if the details are few, it was an undeniably big holiday for Amazon that capped off a huge year for the company. Given all their moves around food and the kitchen, one specific stat you can expect in 2018 is more stories from us about Amazon.
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