Amazon released 2016 Q1 earnings report today, and managed to beat all expectations. Strong revenue and profit numbers, and continuing international growth from the leading global ecommerce company.

Sales increased 28% to $29.1 billion in the first quarter, compared with $22.7 billion in first quarter of 2015. Net income was $513 million in the first quarter, compared with net loss of $57 million, in first quarter 2015.

Amazon.com generated $16,9 billion in sales up by 26.7%, while international (all other marketplaces like Amazon Japan and Amazon Germany) did $9,5 billion in sales up by 23.5% from last year. comScore reports that ecommerce is growing by roughly 15% year-over-year in the US, so the 26.7% growth is almost double that of the industry.

International marketplaces posted a loss this quarter, just as they did in 2015 Q1, but nonetheless they continue to grow almost as much as North America. With Alibaba and Rakuten having a very strong presence in many countries Amazon is trying to expand internationally, we think it is fair to say that Amazon’s international growth is very strong.

For example they have also reported that The Amazon Global Store on Amazon.cn has grown to over 10 million items. We expect that events like adding the largest electronics retailer in China GOME to Amazon.cn marketplace will have strong impact in upcoming reports.

Handmade at Amazon which we have reported about a few months ago, featuring genuinely handcrafted items sold directly from artisans, has increased selection to nearly 400,000 products from 12,000 artisans in more than 80 countries.

The most import fact for marketplace sellers - third-party sales set a new high, accounting for 48% of Amazon’s total sales.

Amazon stock soars more than 11% in hours after this report. The biggest reason for this was Amazon being able to generate profit as opposed to having a loss like it did last year.