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Amazon's booming holiday shipping

December 28, 2015

US online giant Amazon has said it's shipped a record number of items globally for the Christmas holidays. Sales were boosted especially due to the retailer's Prime service offering faster delivery options.

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Amazon parcel
Image: Reuters

Amazon.com had been a prime beneficiary of Christmas holiday shoppers, the US online retailer reported Monday.

It said it had delivered a record number of items to customers worldwide for the holidays, with Christmas Eve the biggest day ever for deliveries using the company's Prime Now service. It offers two-hour delivery to more than 20 metropolitan areas in the US, up from just Manhattan when the service was launched in 2014.

Amazon added it's Prime service with unlimited two-day shipping gained 3 million new members in the third week of December alone.

Prime is also seen as a way of getting more customers involved into Amazon's video service, which competes with rivals such as Netflix.

Amazon workers want more

In Germany, service-sector union Verdi said Monday strike action by Amazon employees in the country was over in 2015, but added that further walkouts would be considered next year.

Amazon workers in Germany had been on strike until December 24 at major warehouses.

Verdi has been campaigning in vain since 2013 for a collective labor contract where staff would be paid at rates applicable in the German retail sector. Amazon only pays the lower hourly rate that prevails in the country's logistics industry.

hg/nz (AFP, AP, Reuters)