What's going on?

Looks like Amazon�s investors got exactly what they�d ordered late on Tuesday: the ecommerce giant�s fourth-quarter results beat expectations.

What does this mean?

It was the success of Amazon�s two biggest businesses that drove last quarter�s strong performance: AWS � Amazon�s cloud computing segment � did typically well, while pandemic-fueled ecommerce growth sent the company�s retail business to new heights.


And the good news didn�t stop there: Amazon primed investors for another impressive quarter, saying it�ll earn 8% more in revenue than analysts are forecasting. There was a �but�, mind you: Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos announced he�d be transitioning to the role of executive chair later this year. That�ll no doubt raise questions about the company�s future, and might be why its $1.7 trillion valuation barely climbed after the update (tweet this).

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Retailers are trying to be more like Amazon.

One of the reasons Amazon�s so dominant in the ecommerce space is that it�s a �multi-brand� retailer, meaning it gives its customers a broader range of options than just Amazon-branded products. That�s a lesson British online fashion retailers ASOS and Boohoo seem to have learned too: they both expanded further past their eponymous brands last month, with the former buying Topshop and Miss Selfridge for $400 million, and the latter bankrupt retailer Debenhams for $75 million. The hope�s that those additions will bring in more customers and offer existing ones more choice, giving both companies� growth a lasting boost.

For markets: Tech stocks aren�t done yet.

Analysts might�ve seen this promising update and upbeat forecast coming, and not just because Amazon�s been on a long run of form. The odds were in its favor after its Chinese ecommerce doppelg�nger, Alibaba, announced its own better-than-expected quarterly earnings on Tuesday, along with a first-time profit for its cloud segment.