Amazon Web Services: the secret to the online retailer's future success

In its last financial quarter, it sold $32bn (£25.6bn) That "other" category encompasses everything from crucifixes to sex toys, board games to plyboard, and mousemats printed with the faces of obscure TV and Radio personalities. It has also diversified beyond its simple shopping business: the company will sell you something to be delivered in less than one hour, food from restaurants, and even digital content to be watched on your TV or listened to on your phone. And, of course, it has a hardware business which many other companies would kill for, producing ebook readers and tablets, and single-handedly creating the product category of "smart speaker" with the Echo. But there's another chunk of Amazon that you're less likely to know about.