SEATTLE: October 29, 2018. Amazon says it has donated more than US$100 million to charitable organizations via its AmazonSmile programme, a way for customers to support their favourite non-profit when they shop with Amazon, at no extra cost.

To celebrate its fifth anniversary, Amazon has increased the ‘Smile donation rate from 0.5 to five percent of the purchase price on eligible products for over a million charities, including local and national humanitarian organisations, schools, hospitals, cultural organizations and pet shelters.

“Hundreds of thousands of charities have been able to expand their meaningful work thanks to the donations they’ve received through AmazonSmile, and we want to say thank you to customers who are supporting important causes every time they shop,” said Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO Worldwide Consumer. “We appreciate all the positive feedback from customers who say they love having a simple way to help support their favourite charity.”

Last week Amazon reported a 29 percent rise in net sales for its third quarter to US$56.6 billion; an operating income of US$3.7 billion compared to US$347 million in the same period last year; and a net income of US$2.9 billion – up from US$256 million year-on-year.

Net income for the first nine months of 2018 was US$7.04 billion compared to US$1.17 billion for the same period in 2017.