Amazon reported $181.5B in Q1 revenue. And here are some of the numbers that giv
By Vanessa Hung · May 5, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Amazon reported $181.5B in Q1 revenue.
And here are some of the numbers that give us a picture of that timeframe, starting with third-party seller services, which grew 14% year over year to $41.6B, then there is Advertising, which grew 24% to $17.2B, and surprisingly, unit volume also grew 15% (the highest rate since the end of COVID lockdowns).
So we can say that Amazon is going well, competition is stable, and advertising costs... they always go up, no matter what, but these numbers make me remember that when advertising revenue grows faster than unit volume, the cost per unit of visibility increases across the entire catalog.
For example, Sponsored Products responds to aggregate spend pressure, so more advertisers competing for the same 15% unit growth means your cost-per-click does not stay flat, even if your own bids do not change.
Another good example to keep in mind: Amazon introduced Sponsored Products and Brand Prompts directly inside Rufus.
Rufus is a pre-purchase decision layer, and nearly 20% of shoppers who engage with a Brand Prompt in Rufus continue the conversation about that brand, comparing products and, in many cases, repeating the same products. It feels relevant, but when it doesn't, the competition starts to get crazy.
Outside of the ad's impact, there are also numbers related to Free cash flow, which dropped 95% year over year to $1.2B + Amazon deployed $44.2B in capital expenditure in Q1 alone.
That capital is going into AI infrastructure, same-day delivery expansion, and fulfillment density (so we can expect some changes or updates in the future), for now, their plan is that in 12 months, we will have faster fulfillment SLAs, AI-native search surfaces, and higher baseline advertising costs baked in.
So, for now, the best we can do is review which ASINs in your catalog are indexed for Rufus-style conversational queries, because Amazon AI is taking more into consideration products based on attribute depth, not just keyword ranking.
Meaning that if your backend keywords and A+ content were built for legacy search, they are not optimized for the new placement. Audit your listing structure now, before Q2 advertising costs reflect the full weight of this shift.
👍 Hit like if this helped you think about how Amazon's system is shifting.
#AmazonSellers #EcommerceOperations #SponsoredProducts #AmazonAdvertising #AmazonFBA