Amazon News – January 2020: Amazon published its financial report, introduced a new platform for elite brands, launched a new market in Europe, collaborated with Lamborghini, and many more new things!
I complied the top 10 most interesting things that happened this month on Amazon.
Thank you to the good people of Edge by Ascential who list every month the important things happening on Amazon. Read all of them with the addition of my insights below.
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1. Publishing the financial report for the fourth quarter of 2019.
On Thursday, January 30th, Amazon published the financial results of 2019’s fourth quarter.
>Amazon exceeded its expected revenues. The company reported $87.4 billion, in comparison to predictions of $86.2 billion.
>At the annual summary, 2019 sales showed a 20% increase in comparison to 2018.
>The administrative profits were $3.8 billion, exceeding predictions of $2.75 billion
>Amazon’s Web Services was $9.95 billion exceeding consensus of $9.89 billion.
>Amazon now has over 150 million prime members.
>Despite the high cost of the One-Day-Shipping method, Amazon revealed $1.5 billion in savings thanks to its transportation efficiency.
>Amazon’s income from advertisement grew by 41% in the last quarter of 2019 (businesses advertising inside the Amazon platform). Amazon’s ad profits grew faster than Facebook’s in the last quarter of 2019. The increased efficiency encourages businesses to promote their products on Amazon’s platform instead of advertising on external platforms. That is aside from the many additional improvements Amazon developed for businesses.
For more information click here: Link to the third-quarter reports.
בתמונה: המניה של אמזון שעלתה ב 11.29% אחרי פרסום התוצאות הכספיות.
Pictured: Amazon’s stock value increased by 11.29% after the report was published:
2. New Luxury Fashion Platform
Amazon has been developing a new platform for luxury brands in the fashion industry. To this day, Amazon has yet to crack the code to succeed with selling luxury goods.
Last year, Nike announced they will no longer sell their products on Amazon, with the reason being Amazon’s lack of ability to handle and identify fake products on the platform. However, according to recent reports, 12 luxury brands signed and will be selling their products on the platform.
The new platform will include independent collection and shipment services and will be separated from Amazon.com
>> https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-launching-luxury-fashion-platform-report-2020-1
3. Jeff Bezos causes controversy at his visit to India
This January, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos visited India and was welcomed by both respectful admirations and opposition riots.
India is an incredible growth potential market for Amazon. Bezos announced that Amazon will invest $1 billion in India to improve and digitalize small local businesses.
Shortly before the announcement, the Indian federation asked local businesses to boycott business with Amazon. The federation claimed that the small Indian businesses cannot compete with the attractive prices of the larger companies, which will result in huge losses and bankruptcy.
4. Amazon expands to the Netherlands
Amazon is calling sellers to sign up and sell in the Netherlands. This is the sixth market opening in Europe joining Germany, French, England, Spain, and Italy.
>> https://services.amazon.nl/
5. Innovations presented at the Consumer Electronics Show – CES
Alexa gains popularity in vehicles: Lamborghini joins a number of car manufacturing brands that work with and support the Alexa software (Audi, BMW, Ford, Toyota).
The new international launch for Echo Auto (an auto supporting device) is expected to see air this year. The device is currently collaborating with the national gas stations “Mobil” and “Exxon” (owning over 10,000 gas stations in the U.S). The collaboration will allow drivers to pay for gas using the Alexa app. All the driver has to do is say – “Alexa, pay for gas” and the payment is processed automatically.
Read more from Amazon about the Auto Industry
>> https://blog.aboutamazon.com/devices/new-automotive-products-and-solutions-at-ces-2020
6. Amazon and FedEx rejoin their business collaboration (or not)
Amazon announced to the P3 sellers (in certain programs) that they can no longer utilize FedEx Ground services during the holidays. However, Amazon told the sellers that they can now use FedEx ground services to fulfill their orders.
In December of 2019, Amazon prohibited sellers from using FedEx services claiming that the company is inadequate in fulfilling the high standards of fast, quality delivery service (To Amazon Prime Membership Users). Now, Amazon allows sellers to resume activity with FedEx claiming that the company underwent improvements and is now adequate to provide the expected standards.
Amazon as a whole parted from FedEx and is not using most of FedEx’s services.
7. Amazon Audible for the book lovers
Amazon launched the Audible Challenge a promotional campaign for Audible (audio app for books). The promotion will grant a $20 Amazon gift card to any Audible user that finishes 3 Audiobooks. The promotion is only available for current users.
>> https://www.audible.com/ep/audible-challenge
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUz8jFSx6Ok
8. What’s Going On in Australia?
Amazon Australia launched Flex – a new service that is similar to Uber.
Flex allows people that have free time and owns a car to transport packages in Sydney and Melbourne.
>> https://www.bit.com.au/news/amazon-flex-launches-in-australia-536979
Amazon submitted a request to trademark “Amazon Pharmacy” in Australia.
Does that mean that Amazon plans on entering the pharmaceutical market in Australia?
9. Payment services using hand scanning
Last month, I reported that Amazon developed an innovative patent to allow processing payments using handprint identification. This month, Amazon began processing an additional development for airports: allowing customers to process payment using their hand scan.
Amazon is looking to integrate this new technology into airport terminals in the form of cafes, fast food courts, and more. Amazon might be dominating the online shopping retail industry, but online shopping is still taking 10.5% of annual purchases.
This technology can help Amazon dovetail with the traditional physical retail stores. Also, Amazon could collect data on consumer behavior and can potentially enter additional industries such as finance.
*In December, Amazon submitted a patent form for hand scan identification. This move raised many questions regarding the privacy and identification steal as well as the moral question of – how much power and information does one commercial company allowed to hold?
>> https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-developing-biometric-payment-terminal-2020-1
10.New Offices for Amazon in the UK
Amazon launched new offices in Manchester UK. The offices employ 600 workers in various professions.
>> https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-manchester-uk-office-opens-begins-hiring-2020-1
Finally, if you still haven’t purchased your Purim costume, Amazon is running a special promotion targeting the Israeli market. The promotion offers free shipping for any order over $49. With the new collaboration with DHL, returns are also simple. It is now more affordable to buy things online than ever before.
Have a Great Month,
Meirav
