Amazon Mission Statement, Vision and Core Values (2026)
The Amazon mission statement is “to make customers’ lives better and easier every day by relentlessly inventing on their behalf,” as published on its About Amazon page in November 2026. This guide explains that mission, Amazon’s vision of being Earth’s most customer-centric company, its 16 Leadership Principles, and how the wording changed from 1997 to 2026.
Key takeaways
- Amazon’s mission is to make customers’ lives better and easier every day by relentlessly inventing on their behalf.
- Its vision, repeated in every recent 10-K, is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company.
- In 2021, Jeff Bezos added two more goals: to be Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work.
- Amazon says it is guided by four principles: customer obsession, passion for invention, operational excellence and long-term thinking.
- Its 16 Leadership Principles turn the mission into daily rules, starting with Customer Obsession.
What is Amazon’s mission statement?
Amazon’s mission statement is to “make customers’ lives better and easier every day by relentlessly inventing on their behalf.” It is a promise of constant improvement for the customer. For example, Amazon delivered more than 1.5 billion items same-day or overnight to Prime members in the third quarter of 2026.
The full text on the About Amazon page reads:
“Amazon’s mission is to make customers’ lives better and easier every day by relentlessly inventing on their behalf. We work to provide broad selection, value, and convenience across a range of customer experiences, including online shopping, cloud computing, streaming entertainment, consumer electronic devices, advertising, healthcare, AI services, and more.”
The statement has three parts. Each one maps to something Amazon measures and reports.
| Part of the mission | What it means | Evidence from Amazon’s filings |
|---|---|---|
| “Customers’ lives better and easier” | The customer is the starting point | Amazon says U.S. customers saved over $1,000 each per year on average, across 100 million+ customers (October 29, 2026) |
| “Every day” | Improvement never stops | Fastest third-quarter delivery speeds ever for Prime members in 2026 |
| “Relentlessly inventing” | Invention is the method | Amazon credits itself with customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, Prime, AWS, Kindle and Alexa |
| “Broad selection, value, and convenience” | The three retail levers | Its stores offer hundreds of millions of unique products (10-K, fiscal 2025) |
Amazon company overview
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com in 1994, and the site opened in July 1995. The company went public in May 1997 and is based in Seattle. Today it reports three segments: North America, International and Amazon Web Services (AWS).
| Amazon company overview | Figure |
|---|---|
| Net sales, 2025 | $716.9B (up 12%) |
| Operating income, 2025 | $80.0B |
| AWS net sales, 2025 | $128.7B (up 20%) |
| Employees, September 30, 2026 | About 1,638,000 |
| President and CEO | Andy Jassy, since July 2021 |
| Executive Chair | Jeff Bezos, since July 2021 |
What is Amazon’s vision statement?
Amazon’s vision statement is to be “Earth’s most customer-centric company.” That line opens the business section of its fiscal 2025 10-K. Since 2021, Amazon has paired it with two more goals: Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Its October 2026 earnings release repeats all three.
The two new goals came from Jeff Bezos’s last shareholder letter as CEO, filed on April 15, 2021. He called them “vision statements” and wrote: “We are going to be Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work.”
Mission and vision do different jobs at Amazon. The vision names the position Amazon wants to hold. The mission describes the daily work that gets it there.
What are Amazon’s core values?
Amazon’s core values are its four guiding principles and its 16 Leadership Principles. The 10-K names the four: “customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking.” The 16 Leadership Principles turn those ideas into rules for hiring, planning and decisions.
1. Customer obsession rather than competitor focus
Amazon’s first Leadership Principle says leaders “start with the customer and work backwards.” Competitors matter, but customers set the agenda.
2. Passion for invention
“Invent and Simplify” asks teams to look for new ideas everywhere. It also warns that new ideas may be “misunderstood for long periods of time.”
3. Commitment to operational excellence
“Insist on the Highest Standards” and “Deliver Results” cover execution. Leaders must fix problems “so they stay fixed.”
4. Long-term thinking
“Ownership” says leaders “don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results.” Amazon has repeated this idea since its first shareholder letter in 1997.
The last two principles, “Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer” and “Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility,” extend the mission beyond customers. They cover employees, local communities and the planet.
How does the mission show up in Amazon’s marketing?
Amazon’s marketing sells the mission’s three levers: selection, low prices and speed. It rarely sells a single product. For example, Amazon’s October 2026 results highlighted customer savings, record delivery speeds and new AI shopping tools before any single brand.
1. Prime as a marketing tool
Amazon does not count Prime shipping costs as marketing spend, but its 10-K says it views these offers “as effective worldwide marketing tools.” Prime bundles fast delivery, video and live sports. Subscription services earned $49.6 billion in 2025.
2. Speed as the message
Delivery speed is a core claim in Amazon’s communication. Amazon Now, its ultra-fast delivery service, was available in over 450 towns and cities by October 2026.
3. Invention as the brand story
Amazon’s earnings releases end with a list of things it “pioneered,” from customer reviews to Fire TV and The Climate Pledge. The company tells its story through new products, not slogans.
4. AI that makes shopping easier
Alexa for Shopping, Amazon’s agentic shopping assistant, was used by more than 400 million customers in the twelve months to Q3 2026. It is the mission’s “easier every day” promise applied to search and checkout.
5. The mission in AWS and advertising
The same customer-first idea runs the business-to-business side. AWS serves developers and enterprises, and Amazon Ads Agent helps advertisers plan and run campaigns with AI.
How has Amazon’s mission statement changed over time?
Amazon’s mission has widened from books to almost everything, while the customer-first core stayed. Its first 10-K, for 1997, called it “the leading online retailer of books.” By its 2001 10-K, it sought to be the “world’s most customer-centric company.” Later 10-Ks use “Earth’s most customer-centric company.”
| Filed | Source | Wording or change |
|---|---|---|
| March 1998 | 10-K for 1997 | “The leading online retailer of books,” opened as “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore” |
| January 2002 | 10-K for 2001 | “The world’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they may want to buy online” |
| February 2006 | 10-K for 2005 | “Earth’s most customer-centric company,” plus the aim to offer “the lowest possible prices” |
| January 2010 | 10-K for 2009 | Mission for “three primary customer sets: consumers, sellers, and developers” |
| January 2015 | 10-K for 2014 | The four guiding principles appear in the 10-K |
| April 2021 | Bezos shareholder letter | Adds Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work |
| February 2022 | 10-K for 2021 | Seven customer sets, adding advertisers and employees |
| November 2026 | About Amazon page | “Make customers’ lives better and easier every day by relentlessly inventing on their behalf” |
The list of customers grew with the business. In the fiscal 2009 10-K, the mission covered consumers, sellers and developers. By fiscal 2021, it covered consumers, sellers, developers, enterprises, content creators, advertisers and employees.
The long-term view goes back to the start. In his 1997 letter, Bezos wrote: “But this is Day 1 for the Internet and, if we execute well, for Amazon.com.” Amazon attached that letter again to its 2025 shareholder letter, filed in April 2026.
What can marketers learn from Amazon’s mission?
Amazon’s mission works because it is measurable. “Better and easier every day” can be tested with delivery times, prices and selection. A vague mission cannot guide decisions; this one does, because each Leadership Principle points back to the customer.
For your own brand, write a mission you can prove with numbers. Then build your marketing on the proof, as Amazon does with Prime and delivery speed. You can see how Amazon’s strategy plays out in the Amazon SWOT analysis, compare it with the Apple mission statement, or browse more mission statement examples.
FAQ
What is Amazon’s mission statement?
Amazon’s mission statement is “to make customers’ lives better and easier every day by relentlessly inventing on their behalf.” It adds that Amazon works to provide broad selection, value and convenience across online shopping, cloud computing, streaming, devices, advertising, healthcare and AI services.
What is the mission of Amazon company?
The mission of Amazon is to improve customers’ lives through constant invention, and its vision is to be Earth’s most customer-centric company. Since 2021, Amazon has also aimed to be Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work.
What is the Amazon mission statement and how old is it?
The current mission appears on Amazon’s About Amazon page as of November 2026. Its core idea is older: Amazon’s 10-K has described the goal of being the most customer-centric company since its 2001 annual report, filed in January 2002.
Sources
- About Amazon, “About Us,” accessed November 7, 2026 (aboutamazon.com).
- Amazon Jobs, “Leadership Principles,” accessed November 7, 2026 (amazon.jobs).
- Amazon.com, Inc. Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, filed February 6, 2026 (SEC EDGAR).
- Amazon.com, Inc. third quarter 2026 results, Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1, October 29, 2026 (SEC EDGAR).
- Amazon.com, Inc. Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, filed October 30, 2026 (SEC EDGAR).
- Jeff Bezos, 2020 Letter to Shareowners, Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1, April 15, 2021 (SEC EDGAR).
- Andy Jassy, 2025 Letter to Shareholders, with the 1997 letter attached, Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1, April 9, 2026 (SEC EDGAR).
- Amazon.com, Inc. Forms 10-K for fiscal 1997 (filed March 30, 1998), 2001 (January 24, 2002), 2005 (February 17, 2006), 2009 (January 29, 2010), 2014 (January 30, 2015) and 2021 (February 4, 2022) (SEC EDGAR filing index).
