E-retail giant Amazon.com announced excellent quarterly results yesterday, confirming its global dominance in the internet retail market. While profits went down 8% compared to last year, sales went up a staggering 51% tot $9.91 billion (almost €7 billion).
Huge sales growth leads to investment, not profit
“Low prices, expanding selection, fast delivery and innovation are driving the fastest growth we’ve seen in over a decade,” said Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, in a statement.
Amazon paid a high price for its expansions though, as operational costs soared with 63% – causing net profits to drop to 191 million dollar (133 million euro). More employees, acquisitions of other companies and logistic and technological renovations cut a huge part of Amazon’s income.
Amazon’s new tablet
Amazon still had no sales figures for the Kindle, its successful e-reader, but announced that the “Worldwide Electronics and Other General Merchandise” (including the Kindle) saw its quarterly sales increase by 69%
The only disappointed noises came from tech followers, who had expected that Amazon would introduce its own tablet computer, competing with rival Apple’s iPad. The e-retail giants however made no such move.
