Seattle — Amazon.com Inc. saw net sales rise by 10% in the second quarter, fueled by its Amazon Web Services segment, which grew 19% year-over-year in comparison with a 9% increase for its North America business.
Net sales for the quarter reached $148 billion, with North America contributing $90 billion, international adding $31.7 billion for a 7% gain and AWS, $26.3 billion.
Online stores at $55.4 billion were up 5% year-over-year, and physical stores saw a 4% year-over-year gain for the quarter. Net sales from third-party sellers and advertising services realized more robust year-over-year increases of 12% and 20%, respectively.
Operating income increased to $14.7 billion, up from $7.7 billion in the same quarter in 2023, while net income for the quarter ended June 30, increased to $13.5 billion or $1.26 per diluted share.
Amazon’s operating cash flow increased 75% to $108 billion for the trailing 12 months and free cash flow, also for the trailing 12 months, rose to $53 billion compared with $7.9 billion in the same period in 2023.
Andy Jassy, president and CEO, called out the AWS segment for its growth, citing companies’ use of its services as they modernize and make use of the cloud and take advantage of Amazon’s generative AI capabilities.
Among the AI-powered features recently offered to consumers is Rufus, a shopping assistant for U.S. mobile customers. Other AI-enhanced products include the Maestro playlist generator and a search feature for Fire TV.
“We’re continuing to make progress in a number of dimensions, but perhaps none more so than the continued reacceleration in AWS growth,” he said.
Although not part of the second quarter, Amazon noted its 10th Prime Day in July was its “biggest Prime Day shopping event ever,” although it didn’t specify any sales numbers.
For its third-quarter guidance, Amazon expects net sales to be between $154 billion and $158.5 billion, or an increase of 8% to 11% over the previous year’s Q3. Operating income should be between $11.5 billion and $15 billion, up from $11.2 billion in Q3 2023.