Amazon hit by slowing sales
Amazon has reported its first loss since 2015 after trading was impacted by slowing sales, rising costs and its investment in electric carmaker Rivian.
The online retail giant saw its revenues grow by 7% to $116.4 billion in its first quarter which marked its slowest growth rate in two decades.
It also posted a $3.8 billion loss compared with a profit of $8.1 billion at the same time in the prior year.
Giving an update on its second quarter, Amazon said it its operating income is expected to be between a $1 billion loss and a $3 billion gain. This compares with $7.7 billion in second quarter of 2021.
Andy Jassy, Amazon chief executive, said the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent war in Ukraine had brought both unusual growth and challenges.
He added: “Today, as we’re no longer chasing physical or staffing capacity, our teams are squarely focused on improving productivity and cost efficiencies throughout our fulfilment network. We know how to do this and have done it before.
“This may take some time, particularly as we work through ongoing inflationary and supply chain pressures, but we see encouraging progress on a number of customer experience dimensions, including delivery speed performance as we’re now approaching levels not seen since the months immediately preceding the pandemic in early 2020.”
