Amazon sells a huge range of products to consumers through its websites, apps and physical stores, and lets other businesses sell in its stores too. It makes its own devices, including Kindle, Echo, Fire TV and Ring, and produces films and series. Its Prime membership bundles fast, free shipping with streaming video, live sports and other perks. Through Amazon Web Services (AWS) it rents computing power, storage, databases and AI tools over the internet to companies, start-ups and government agencies.
Amazon reports three segments: North America, International and AWS. In 2025 the International segment made up 23% of revenue, and AWS sales rose 20% from the year before. Besides selling goods itself, Amazon earns fees from third-party sellers, which can include a cut of each sale and charges for storing and shipping their orders. It also earns money from ads shown to shoppers, and from subscriptions. Amazon says it competes with a very wide field, including other retailers, media companies, search engines and social networks, cloud and technology providers, delivery firms and grocers.
At the end of 2025 Amazon had about 1,576,000 full-time and part-time employees, and it runs its own network of warehouses and delivery services. Sales are usually highest in the fourth quarter, which includes the holidays.