eCommerce Strategy Consultant - Rick Watson - RMW Commerce Consulting

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Notes on Amazon’s Q2 2020 Investor Updates

Amazon: Jeff Bezos is here for two reasons: chew bubble gum and kick ass. And he's all out of bubble gum. No longer is he sipping rose' on billionaire yachts.

A few notes from Amazon's recent investor releases.

  • You may have heard Jeff said he would give up all his profits to pay for this crisis. Including telling investors to "take a seat." Not only is your margin his opportunity, but his margin, as well.

  • Jeff has always been brilliant at managing investor expectations regarding the company, in my opinion, and this continues. They will spend $4B+ on COVID-related expenses.

  • Amazon's CFO on the earnings call said that it was taking longer for items to get into their warehouse than to get out of their warehouses, which explains the FBA category restrictions and delays there. It seems like the significant restriction right now, more than the outbound times, their CFO mentioned. Replenishment!

Marketing spend decreased in the short-term.

1-day shipping costs were supposed to be $1B in Q1, and the actual costs were about in line with that. Most of those costs are in infrastructure and network improvements. Things like: Inventory closer to the customer, building up Amazon logistics network, and multiple pull and ship-times during the day.