Skip to main content

Amazon’s sales rise, profits fall in Q1

SEATTLE, Wash. — Amazon.com posted strong sales gains in the first quarter, as consumers forced to stay at home have responded by shopping and spending more with the e-commerce giant. At the same time, Amazon’s costs have risen sharply as well, hurting profits.

Net sales increased 26% to $75.5 billion in the first quarter, compared with $59.7 billion in first quarter of 2019. Excluding the $387 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 27% compared with first quarter of 2019.

But Amazon reported operating income $4.0 billion in the first quarter, down from $4.4 in last year’s first quarter. Net income decreased to $2.5 billion in the first quarter, or $5.01 per diluted share, compared with net income of $3.6 billion, or $7.09 per diluted share, in first quarter of 2019.

“From online shopping to AWS to Prime Video and Fire TV, the current crisis is demonstrating the adaptability and durability of Amazon’s business as never before, but it’s also the hardest time we’ve ever faced,” Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement.

For the second quarter, Amazon expects net sales of between $75 billion and $81 billion, which would represent growth of between 18% and 28% compared with the second quarter of 2019. This guidance anticipates an unfavorable impact of approximately 70 basis points from foreign exchange rates.

The company is projecting that operating income in the quarter will range from a loss of $1.5 billion to a positive $1.5 billion, down from from an operating income of  $3.1 billion in the second quarter of 2019. This guidance assumes approximately $4 billion of costs related to COVID-19.

“Providing for customers and protecting employees as this crisis continues for more months is going to take skill, humility, invention, and money,” Bezos emphasized. “If you’re a share owner in Amazon, you may want to take a seat, because we’re not thinking small. Under normal circumstances, in this coming Q2, we’d expect to make some $4 billion or more in operating profit. But these aren’t normal circumstances. Instead, we expect to spend the entirety of that $4 billion, and perhaps a bit more, on COVID-related expenses getting products to customers and keeping employees safe.

“This includes investments in personal protective equipment, enhanced cleaning of our facilities, less efficient process paths that better allow for effective social distancing, higher wages for hourly teams, and hundreds of millions to develop our own COVID-19 testing capabilities.

“There is a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, and the best investment we can make is in the safety and well-being of our hundreds of thousands of employees. I’m confident that our long-term oriented shareowners will understand and embrace our approach, and that in fact they would expect no less.”

The post Amazon’s sales rise, profits fall in Q1 appeared first on MMR: Mass Market Retailers.



from MMR: Mass Market Retailers https://ift.tt/3f9sUJW
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Eagle Labs launches impirica CBD brand

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Eagle Labs has launched impirica, a new brand of CBD intended to eliminate consumer fear, and increase confidence, in trying the exciting new cannabidiol category. Michael Law Although most Americans have now heard about CBD, many are very confused and concerned about product quality. This is inhibiting trial in the category and holding back conversion into sales. In fact, a 2017 study by Johns Hopkins University found that two out of three CBD products on the shelf did not contain the amount of CBD reflected on the label. Furthermore, in 2018 and 2019, the FDA sent notices to a substantial number of CBD manufacturers advising them of serious concerns about product quality or egregious medical claims. The impirica brand looks different than most CBD brands — the brand name itself connotes testing and trust, says Eagle Labs chief commercial officer Michael Law. “It doesn’t use the traditional category colors of browns and greens, and you won’t find a hemp...

Coronavirus Recovery: Canadian Small Businesses Must Focus on Easing Employee, Customer Fears

By M. Tina Dacin and Laura Rees A small business has been  given the green light to reopen amid the COVID-19 pandemic . What does it need to consider for employees and customers? Small business owners are reorganizing physical space to account for continued distancing requirements and rethinking supply chains to deliver products and services in new ways to meet changing demand patterns. But they must not forget the hearts and minds of employees and customers. That doesn’t mean replacing a focus on the bottom line, but it helps address the need for a new set of expectations and ways of communicating in terms of product or service offerings, delivery methods and real-time feedback. Based on our expertise in organizational behaviour and past research we’ve conducted, we provide a set of recommendations to help small businesses thrive in our new COVID-19 economy by looking after the hearts and minds of the people most important to businesses — employees and customers. Fear, Anxi...

World's 1st Pizza Subscription Service Launches in Toronto

general assembly subscription user opening delivery box of pizza. photo: general assembly pizza By Mario Toneguzzi Toronto-based General Assembly Pizza has launched what it describes as the world’s first pizza subscription service as it also plans to aggressively expand its product offering in the near future by opening a new concept in the market. "Since opening our doors in 2017, we have pushed for the best guest-experience possible — that's why our dough is 100 percent naturally leavened, that's why we have a purpose-built 400-square-foot pick-up and delivery area, and that's why we’ve launched a direct-to-consumer subscription-based ecommerce platform,” said Founder & CEO Ali Khan Lalani. “In 2020, providing the best guest experience means General Assembly Pizza has to be more than a restaurant. I'm proud to say that after almost six months of planning, many roadblocks, and countless pivots — all while maintaining our day-to-day restaurant operatio...