Amazon Q1 Earnings: Advertising & Logistics Accelerate

eCommerce
Written By Rick Watson

Listening to Amazon Q1 earnings call. Let's get to the heart of it: Advertising and Logistics are runaway freight trains. One marketplace tidbit.

Advertising experienced ridiculous growth:

  • 73% growth year on year.

  • Up to $6.9B in the quarter.

  • "Other" is a proxy for advertising.

  • Largest quarter ever except in Q4 2020.

The other item? Logistics.

  • AMZL Logistics increased capacity 50% in the trailing 12 months (compared to the prior period)

  • Capex increased 80% TTM.

Two big areas they are investing in:

  1. Middle-mile: sort centers, air, line haul, etc.

  2. Last-mile: delivery service partners (DSP - 100k drivers) + delivery stations.

Big investments throughout 2022 in AMZL. Majority of units going through AMZL today. Can you say UPS in the cross-hairs?

Marketplace tidbits

  • 3P up 60% year on year

  • 3P paid units up to 55% (up from 52% prior year)

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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