Thanks to its biggest Prime Day ever, combined with substantial cost savings, Amazon was able to come out with better-than-expected profit figures.
Marketplace grows
Regardless of inflation, shoppers continue to shop at Amazon. In the second quarter, sales grew by 4 % to 53 billion dollars (48 billion euros) as the e-commerce player experienced the best Prime Day in its history. The company’s total revenue – including cloud and ad services among others – rose 11 % to 134 billion dollars (120 billion euros).
Net profit rose to 6.7 billion dollars (6 billion euros), far better than last year’s loss of two billion. This is due to the hefty cost cuts that Amazon recently implemented: 27,000 employees had to leave the company, office space was cancelled and marketing investments went down.
The growth of the marketplace also increases profitability: third-party sellers account for 60 % of sales on the platform. They pay a commission on sales, advertise on the website and use its logistics services, while Amazon itself does not run any inventory risks.