As Amazon.ie is officially launched in the Republic of Ireland, the newly published RetailX UK500 2025 report looks at the Elite retailer’s move from general storefront to personalised dashboard, where each shopper can run their engagement with the retailer, brand and marketplace.
Customers clicking on the ‘your account’ button see a list of options, from ‘your’ orders and lists through to subscriptions and services. Prime membership stands alongside Amazon’s music, video, gaming, ebook and photo services. This approach also streamlines the customer journey through a website that features a range of millions of products.
Amazon highlights its services alongside the goods it sells on its UK website. A range of subscriptions, such as streaming services from Paramount, MGM and Apple and its own Amazon Prime membership scheme, are now available to buy through the website. This reflects Amazon’s strategy of focusing on membership and its perks, including a series of Prime Day events that offer exclusive prices to Prime members.
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994 in Seattle and launched its UK website in 1998. Amazon now employs more than 70k people in the UK, where it is a household name. Amazon continues to be an innovator in the UK market, in areas from stores to logistics, where it is planning drone deliveries and recently placed what it says is the UK’s biggest ever order of electric HGVs. There are currently 21 UK Amazon Fresh grocery stores built on the retailers’ own ‘just walk out’ technology and mobile app in London. Six branches of Whole Foods Market offer services including same-day delivery and collection.
In its third-quarter results, published in October 2024, Amazon highlighted its use of generative AI in areas from its Rufus shopping assistant to AI shopping guides and video generation. In full-year results published for its 2024 financial year, Amazon reported net income – a measure of profitability – of $59.2bn (+95% on the previous year) on net sales of $638bn (+11%).
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said, citing a range of technological innovations that include AI models, “When we look back on this quarter [Q4, 2024] several years from now, I suspect what we’ll most remember is the remarkable innovation delivered across all of our businesses.”
The retailer takes a high-profile approach to sustainability, where it targets net zero emissions by 2040 and boasts being the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy around the world for five consecutive years.
This is one of eight profiles in RetailX UK500 2025 report.Tesco, Asos, Next, John Lewis, Cotswold Outdoor, Watches of Switzerland and Simba are all studies to show how leading retailers are innovating in today’s fast-paced environment.
The 11th annual report evaluates the performance of retailers, brands and marketplaces selling in the UK. Going beyond simple turnover or traffic, the UK500 measures how these businesses deliver value across the entire retail ecosystem, taking into account evolving consumer behaviour, economic headwinds and disruptive technologies such as AI.
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