Record Q1, logistics push, and AI partnerships
Q1 2026: A strong quarter with accelerating growth
Amazon reported total revenue of USD 181.5 billion in the first quarter of 2026. That represents growth of 16.6% compared with Q1 2025 (USD 155.7 billion) and is the highest growth rate in several years. The North America segment reached USD 104.1 billion (+12.1% YoY), while the international segment came in at USD 39.8 billion (+18.7% YoY). The strong international growth is likely driven in part by further expansion in emerging markets and the ongoing build-out of logistics infrastructure outside the US.
Advertising grows double digits again
Amazon's advertising business remains one of the company's strongest growth segments. In Q1 2026, Amazon generated USD 13.921 billion in revenue from advertising services, up 19.0% year over year. That continues the trend from recent quarters: in Q2 through Q4 2025, growth was consistently between 17.7% and 23.5%. Advertising is taking up an ever larger share of total revenue and has long been established as a standalone, material earnings driver.
Marketplace revenue from sellers still in positive territory
Third-party business, i.e. revenue from third-party seller services, also shows stable development. In Q1 2026, revenue from this segment was USD 41.578 billion, up 5.5% compared with the prior-year quarter. In previous quarters, growth ranged between 11.2% and 12.2%, which shows that the marketplace segment continues to grow structurally, albeit at a somewhat more moderate pace at the start of the year. For sellers and vendors, that means the platform is growing, and so is competition for visibility and placement.
Retail growth eases slightly
Revenue from online stores was USD 64.254 billion in Q1 2026, up 11.0% year over year. At this scale, double-digit growth is notable and shows that classic retail remains strong. However, when you compare retail's revenue share with the marketplace, a clear trend emerges: the marketplace continues to gain weight.
Currently, roughly 35–38% of revenue comes from retail, while the marketplace share keeps rising. That is partly because more brands are adopting a hybrid model or going live on Amazon via a broker as seller, thereby at least partially bypassing the direct vendor route. Revenue share alone says little about profitability in each area: retail is traditionally lower margin, while advertising is structurally far more profitable.
Our take
Sustained strong growth in advertising shows that visibility on Amazon is increasingly decided through paid placement. Sellers and vendors should therefore review and adjust ad budgets and strategies regularly to stay competitive. Stable growth in the marketplace segment also confirms that Amazon continues to gain relevance as a sales channel.
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Amazon opens its logistics network to everyone
On May 5, 2026, Amazon officially launched Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) and opened its full logistics network to businesses of all sizes and industries for the first time. The offering covers freight (air, ocean, rail, road), distribution and warehousing, fulfillment and picking, parcel shipping (last mile), customs clearance, and AI-powered inventory forecasting. The infrastructure behind it includes more than 80,000 trailers, 24,000 intermodal containers, and more than 100 cargo aircraft. Early customers include Procter & Gamble, 3M, Lands' End, and American Eagle Outfitters.
The AWS playbook for logistics
The move follows a familiar pattern: Amazon built its logistics infrastructure for its own needs, recognized that other companies have the same need, and is now turning that infrastructure into a platform, just as it did with AWS in 2006. AWS now generates USD 37.6 billion in revenue per quarter. ASCS is on day one of that journey. The market reaction to the announcement was accordingly sharp: shares of UPS and FedEx came under pressure, which shows the market is taking the strategic significance of the step seriously.
Opportunities and risks for businesses
For e-commerce retailers, manufacturers, and producers, ASCS offers concrete benefits: a single point of contact, one contract, and end-to-end visibility across the supply chain and all channels. Especially relevant is that ASCS explicitly targets companies that do not sell on Amazon. Access is via supplychain.amazon.com.
At the same time, open questions remain. Companies that build their logistics on ASCS give up strategic control, similar to AWS lock-in. Amazon also sees inventory and demand data from all customers, which raises relevant data-sovereignty questions for businesses that compete with Amazon. In addition, ASCS is a day-one product: scale, support, and SLAs outside the Amazon seller ecosystem are still unproven.
Our take
ASCS is a strategically significant step that could reshape the logistics market over the long term. For sellers and vendors, we recommend monitoring the offering closely and weighing questions around data sovereignty and dependency carefully before making an operational decision.
New products and partnerships
AWS and OpenAI join forces
Amazon and OpenAI have announced a partnership with three concrete elements. First, GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.4 are coming to Amazon Bedrock in limited preview. Customers will then be able to:
Use OpenAI's frontier models via familiar Bedrock APIs, including Amazon's security, governance, and cost controls, without building new infrastructure.
Run OpenAI's coding agent Codex directly in AWS environments, so developers can use the market's most capable coding agent without switching platforms.
Operate agent workflows with OpenAI models on Amazon infrastructure via Bedrock Managed Agents.
Notably, Microsoft built OpenAI exclusively for years. The fact that OpenAI is now also available on AWS raises questions about the AI platform strategies of the major cloud providers.
Amazon Quick and Amazon Connect: AI in everyday work
In parallel, Amazon has further developed two more AI products. Amazon Quick is an AI work assistant that connects to local files, calendar, email, and other work tools, learns from your usage patterns, and actively takes on tasks, without an AWS account, accessible via Google, Apple, GitHub, or Amazon login. New additions include:
Native desktop app (preview)
New pricing plans with a free tier and a Plus plan
The ability to build full web applications via text input, without programming skills
Amazon Connect, by contrast, targets businesses and offers AI agents for four areas:
Supply chain planning (Connect Decisions)
AI-guided recruiting processes (Connect Talent)
Customer service workflows (Connect Customer)
Support for healthcare providers (Connect Health)
A clear pattern behind the announcements
Together, the three announcements point in a clear direction: Amazon is expanding AWS into the central AI infrastructure platform while addressing end users and enterprise customers directly with Quick and Connect. The partnership with OpenAI signals that Amazon is betting less on a proprietary model monopoly and more on the platform role, similar to the app store principle.
REVOIC is taking part in Techbikers 2026!
From June 4 to 7, Maik is joining the annual Techbikers charity ride. The team will cycle 450 km around Berlin and raise funds for a good cause: World Bicycle Relief.
Who is World Bicycle Relief?
World Bicycle Relief (WBR) is an international aid organization that mobilizes people in rural, low-income regions through robust bicycles.
The organization equips schoolchildren, healthcare workers, and small business owners with specially designed "Buffalo" bicycles, assembled locally, to improve access to education, healthcare, and markets. It builds sustainable bicycle ecosystems, including training local mechanics, with a particular focus on women and girls.
Anyone who would like to support Maik on his fundraising ride can do so here: fund.worldbicyclerelief.org
In 2026, we are focusing on new marketing channels to keep you up to date with Amazon news: Our REVOIC podcast is published every Friday, and our YouTube channel has been fully revamped and now delivers fresh content regularly.
We look forward to your feedback!
Amazon and Philips have jointly sued a seller accused of offering counterfeit Philips Sonicare toothbrush heads on the marketplace.
Amazon has joined the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP), the open standard for AI-powered commerce initiated by Google and Shopify and now also backed by Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Stripe.
Amazon's free multi-channel fulfillment app for Shopify is now also available in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Canada, enabling Shopify orders to be shipped directly from Amazon inventory.
