Amazon reported a profit of $214 million for Q4 2014 off the back of a big increase in Prime membership sales.

Net sales increased 15 percent to $29.33 billion in quarter, up from $25.59 billion Q4 2013. The figures would have been higher but an unfavorable exchange rate took $895 million from the total amount.

Operating income was booked at $591 million, up from $510 million for the same quarter in 2013. Net income was $214 million or $0.45 per diluted share, $239 million, or $0.51 per diluted share, in fourth quarter 2013.

For the full year ending December 31st, net sales increased 20 percent to $88.99 billion, compared with $74.45 billion in 2013.

Operating income for the full year was $178 million, compared with operating income of $745 million in 2013, however Amazon reported a net loss of $241 million, or $0.52 per diluted share for 2014 compared with net income of $274 million, or $0.59 per diluted share, in 2013.

Amazon didn’t break out the results for a various divisions, but did make a note of pointing out that despite a price increase form $79 to $99 its Prime service was surging in popularity.

“When we raised the price of Prime membership last year, we were confident that customers would continue to find it the best bargain in the history of shopping. The data is in and customers agree — on a base of tens of millions, worldwide paid membership grew 53 percent last year — 50 percent in the U.S. and even a bit faster outside the U.S.,” CEO and Founder Jeff Bezos said in a statement. “Prime is a one-of-a-kind, all-you-can-eat, physical-digital hybrid — in 2014 alone we paid billions of dollars for Prime shipping and invested $1.3 billion in Prime Instant Video. We’ll continue to work hard for our Prime members.”

Other highlights include:

• Amazon sellers using Fulfillment by Amazon grew by more than 65% year-over-year in 2014.
• Amazon.in emerged as India’s largest online store. The site launched 24 new departments bringing the total number of items available to over 19 million.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) grew strongly, with usage growth close to 90% year-over-year for the fourth quarter.

The market liked the results, with shares in Amazon rising $38.15 (12.24 percent) in after hours trading.

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