Amazon results. Online sales fall 3% in Q1

In Q1 2022, Amazon‘s e-commerce sales declined for the first time in 20 years. While Amazon’s total revenue increased by 7.3% to US$116.4 billion, online sales (which represent 44% of the business) fell by 3%. In the 4th quarter of 2021, they showed a stagnating trend of up by 1%. This lack of growth for e-commerce is simply the result of comparison with the unprecedented performance of the previous year. A year ago, Amazon’s e-commerce jumped by 46% in Q4 2020 and by 44% in Q1 2021.

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Between Q1 2016 and Q1 2020, Amazon's online sales grew by an average of 17% (year-on- year). If growth occurred at the same rate in the last two years, it would have been 18% (instead of up by 44% in 2021 and down by 3% in 2022). The strong increase in 2020 was offset by weak growth in the last 4 quarters. As a result, online sales have only grown by 1.8% compared to the pre-Pandemic trend. According to Marketplace Pulse, "Q1 2022 is the
last quarter where Covid-19 history is a valid excuse". These results show that for Amazon, Covid has not accelerated e-commerce development.
In Q1 2022, Amazon posted a net loss of US$3.8 billion. According to C.E.O. Andy Jassy, "the exceptional growth of e-commerce in 2020 required doubling the size of Amazon's 25-year-old fulfillment network in just 24 months. After struggling to catch up with peak demand, Amazon currently has excess capacity in the fulfilment and transportation network.

"Our teams are focused on improving productivity and cost efficiency," concluded the C.E.O., for whom the disruption of the global supply chain remains the last major hurdle this year.

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Sophie Baqué