Amazon sales up 17 percent in first quarter

Net sales at online giant Amazon increased 17 percent to 59.7 billion dollars (46.1 billion pounds) in the first quarter of 2019, compared to the same period last year.

Net income at the company grew from 1.6 billion dollars (1.24 billion pounds) to 3.6 billion dollars (2.79 billion pounds). Amazon said it now expects net sales for the second quarter of between 59.5 billion dollars (46 billion pounds) and 63.5 billion dollars (49.2 billion pounds).

The company also announced plans to upgrade its current free-shipping option for its Prime members to a one-day delivery service to compete with rivals’ delivery services, such as Walmart and Target Corp.