Amazon Com — Business Overview
What does Amazon do?
Amazon is one of the world's largest retailers and technology companies, organized into three distinct business segments. Each segment serves a different set of customers, from everyday shoppers to Fortune 500 IT departments.
| Segment | What it does | Key customers |
|---|---|---|
| North America | Online and physical retail, third-party marketplace, advertising, and subscription services (Prime) in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico | Consumers, sellers, advertisers |
| International | The same retail and marketplace model in countries outside North America | Consumers, sellers, advertisers |
| Amazon Web Services (AWS) | On-demand cloud computing, storage, databases, AI and machine learning, and related technology services | Developers, startups, enterprises, governments |
Beyond the core retail experience, Amazon also manufactures consumer devices and produces original content. Hardware products include Kindle e-readers, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Echo smart speakers, Ring doorbells, Blink cameras, and eero routers. On the content side, Amazon develops and produces movies, series, and live sports available through Prime Video. As of December 31, 2025, Amazon employed approximately 1,576,000 full-time and part-time employees worldwide.
How does Amazon make money?
Amazon generates revenue through several distinct streams layered on top of one another. In the retail segments (North America and International), revenue comes from direct product sales to consumers, fees charged to third-party sellers who list and sell on Amazon's marketplace (fixed fees, percentage-of-sale commissions, and per-unit activity fees), and advertising services such as sponsored ads, display ads, and video ads sold to sellers and brands. Amazon Prime subscription fees are another meaningful source of recurring revenue.
AWS is Amazon's cloud business, and it operates on a pay-as-you-go model. Customers pay for what they consume — compute power, storage, database usage, AI tools — rather than buying hardware upfront. Because cloud infrastructure has very high fixed costs but relatively low incremental costs once built, AWS tends to generate significantly higher profit margins than the retail segments, making it a critical driver of Amazon's overall profitability.
What market does Amazon operate in?
Amazon sits at the intersection of two large and growing industries: global e-commerce and cloud computing. E-commerce continues to take share from traditional brick-and-mortar retail, driven by consumer preference for convenience, broad selection, and fast delivery. The company also sells in physical stores (notably Whole Foods), giving it a presence in the large and competitive grocery market.
The cloud computing market — where AWS competes — is one of the fastest-growing segments in technology. Demand is being accelerated by two overlapping trends: the ongoing migration of corporate IT infrastructure from on-premises servers to the cloud, and the surge in demand for artificial intelligence and machine learning infrastructure. AWS offers a broad suite of AI and ML services, positioning it directly in the path of this spending wave.
Who are Amazon's main competitors?
Amazon's competitive landscape is unusually broad because it operates across so many industries simultaneously. In retail and e-commerce, competitors include physical and online retailers, omnichannel stores, and comparison shopping platforms. In cloud computing, the primary rivals are large technology companies offering their own cloud platforms. In advertising, Amazon competes with digital advertising giants. In streaming and content, it competes with major entertainment and media companies. In devices and voice assistants, it competes with consumer electronics manufacturers.
Amazon claims its core competitive advantages in retail are selection, price, and convenience — particularly fast and reliable fulfillment. For its seller and enterprise services, it emphasizes quality, speed, and reliability of its tools and infrastructure. The company acknowledges that some competitors have greater resources, longer histories, more customers, and stronger brand recognition in specific categories, and that AI and internet technologies make it easier for new entrants to compete.
Where does Amazon operate?
Amazon's business is global, but it is organized into a clear home market and an international segment. The North America segment covers the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and represents the largest share of Amazon's retail operations. The International segment covers the rest of the world, spanning multiple countries across Europe, Asia, and beyond.
AWS operates globally, serving customers — including government agencies and academic institutions — across many regions. Amazon operates customer service centers around the world and uses a combination of its own fulfillment networks, co-sourced arrangements, and outsourced logistics in certain countries to deliver orders. The filing notes that fulfillment and delivery infrastructure vary by country, reflecting different levels of direct operational investment across geographies.