Amazon’s earnings calls are usually ho-hum affairs. None of the big execs show up. It's not a chance to put on a show or try to convince anyone of anything - just present the numbers and take questions.

The CFO leads the call, the CEO and other execs are not present. This gives employees the feeling that earnings calls are for investors; they don't have much to do with running the company.

You would think this was accidental if you didn't notice the opposite approach to so many other earnings calls. Shopify played a full-on marketing user testimonial during a quarterly call. Wayfair goes into mind-numbing detail about the supply chain of a table.

Ricardo Belmar noted “Amazon's use of earnings calls is quite the contrast to how they leverage press releases. You can tell which one they want you to focus on!” Dr. Vijayender Nalla added “Possibly, they see earnings call[s] as the past and press releases as the future. One can't do much about the past other than to report but the future is where all the opportunity lie[s].” Well, here’s the press release.

Now to results:

• 3P units volume is up to 54% of total units.

• Amazon grew its fulfillment network 50% this year.

• No information was shared about Amazon's Logistics offering in the UK. Keeping it quiet. [Though Miles Thomas noted that he saw a “CSR-type” Amazon ad on terrestrial TV in the UK just this week, focusing on being carbon-neutral by 2040. He postured that this is likely “trying to generate good PR as the Christmas shopping season starts (trying to offset concerns about the relatively low amount of corporate tax paid in UK and the impact of small physical retail businesses).”]

• Lots of COVID-related cost discussions, as expected.

Jon Derkits pulled this excerpt as the “scariest statement in the earnings call for Amazon’s competitors”:

...we're seeing Prime member engagement. So it's strengthening our Prime program. We're adding -- the renewal rates are going up, and the engagement is going up. And so people are buying more frequently and across more categories, they're using more of our digital benefits. So we like the trends on kind of connectiveness to our Prime program, and we think that will have lasting value.

In the end, who will win Q4 this year? I feel it will be Amazon and Target - the two best-positioned companies in the last-mile supply chain. We'll see if I'm right later.