Amazon US Retail is So Big, it Parallels the US Consumer Economy

How did these holidays treat Amazon in its core retail business? CIRP has consumer behavior data that allows us to measure the average order placed by US Amazon shoppers during the quarter. Based on that analysis, we see Amazon had a good quarter relative to the past few years, though the December 2022 quarter was slightly better.

We survey recent Amazon shoppers about their most recent order and calculate an average transaction from those responses. When looking at quarterly revenue, changes in the average transaction can be overshadowed by changes in the number of transactions. Still, growing the size of the average transaction helps the business model, as there are fixed costs attached to each order that are more easily covered by larger orders.

For the December 2023 quarter, the average Amazon order in the US was $46, which showed a leveling off following two years of pandemic and inflation fueled growth (Table 1).