<p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5e8f232bc02320314c7add15-2400/amazon%20fulfillment%20center.jpg" border="0" alt="Amazon fulfillment center" data-mce-source="Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Inside Amazon's Thornton, Colorado warehouse (picture taken in March 2019)."></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>Amazon's investment in international markets may be finally starting to pay off.</p><p>Sales from Amazon's international marketplaces grew 57% year-over-year to $37.5 billion <a href="https://ir.aboutamazon.com/news-release/news-release-details/2021/Amazon.com-Announces-Fourth-Quarter-Results/default.aspx">during the fourth quarter</a>, the largest rate of quarterly expansion since the company started reporting non-US retail sales in 2015.</p><p>The rapid growth also led to a profit of $363 million for all of 2020, the international segment's first profitable year since disclosing results.</p><p>The results are an affirmation for Amazon, which has spent billions of dollars in recent years to grow its presence outside of the core US market. In the fourth quarter, the international segment outpaced the growth of every business unit at Amazon other than advertising, which is about one-fifth the size.</p><p>"This is particularly encouraging for Amazon's long-term runway for revenue and cash flow," Morgan Stanley wrote in a note last week. "This gives the company more cash flow to harvest or invest for growth."</p><div><iframe title="Amazon international net sales growth" aria-label="chart" id="datawrapper-chart-ZBJJQ" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ZBJJQ/3/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="497"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var e in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var t=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+e)||document.querySelector("iframe[src*='"+e+"']");t&&(t.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][e]+"px")}}))}();</script></div><p></p><p>It's an impressive turnaround for Amazon's international business, which had seen its year-over-year growth hovering around the 20% range in recent years, including a paltry 9% growth rate in the first quarter of 2019.</p><p>Despite the slowdown, Amazon kept plowing money into non-US markets, launching new marketplaces in the UAE and Singapore in 2019. Early last year, Amazon <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-said-amazon-is-investing-1-billion-in-india-2020-1">pledged to invest an additional $1 billion in India</a>, after having spent roughly $7 billion in the region previously. It also opened new marketplaces in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-sweden-marketplace-could-launch-soon-2020-7">Sweden</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-to-launch-dutch-marketplace-this-year-2020-1">the Netherlands</a>, while announcing a new partnership in <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-invest-300-million-south-korean-e-commerce-company-11st-2020-11">South Korea</a>. Last month, Amazon <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/finance-commerce-amazon-delivery-platform-prime-poland-eastern-europe-launch-market">announced</a> its plan to launch a Polish service, its 18th marketplace worldwide.</p><p>Revenue from the "rest of the world" countries, or those other than the UK, Germany, and Japan, grew 48% to $46 billion in 2020, according to Amazon's <a href="https://www.sec.gov/ix'doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000101872421000004/amzn-20201231.htm">annual filing last week</a>. The UK, meanwhile, saw the largest growth, at 51% to $26.5 billion in 2020 sales. Germany and Japan each generated $29.6 billion and $20.5 billion, respectively, for Amazon last year.</p><p>During Amazon's earnings call last week, CFO Brian Olsavsky said part of the growth overseas had to do with the shelter-in-place practices seen in the UK and other European countries, as well as Prime Day, which took place during the holiday season for the first time last year.</p><p>But more importantly, Olsavsky said last year's higher order volume helped improve Amazon's operating leverage and efficiency across the business, leading to other benefits like increased advertising sales.</p><p>"I think the biggest learning is that if we can move 2021 volume into 2020, it creates good leverage for us," Olsavsky said.</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andy-jassy-amazon-web-services-ceo-2021-1" >Andy Jassy will be the next CEO of Amazon. Insiders dish on what it's like to work for Jeff Bezos' successor, who built AWS into a $40 billion business.</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-international-sales-growth-reaccelerated-to-record-high-in-q4-2021-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-most-expensive-liquid-thoroughbred-horse-semen-2020-3">Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid</a></p>
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