Much of the general public sees Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) as an e-commerce behemoth and little more. After all, it owns 38% of the U.S. market, with Walmart a distant second at just 6%. As investors, however, we need to look much deeper.

Amazon is transforming from a product-based company into a service-based company before our eyes. This is terrific news. Selling discount products online has never been particularly profitable for Amazon. But business lines like Amazon Web Services (AWS), with its 29% operating margin, are extremely lucrative. Amazon needs its e-commerce sales to drive the brand, but transitioning to a service-based financial model will bring profits to investors.

And Amazon's service-based sales are growing:

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Source Fool.com