By
Chimamanda U. Martha
March 11th, 2024
Including beating revenue expectations, Amazon revealed in its Q2 2023 report that it set a new record for Prime deliveries.
Amazon Inc has published Q2 results for 2023 with figures that beat analysts’ estimates, showing the company is on course to accelerate growth.
Amazon reported earnings per share at 65 cents, well over the 35 cents expected by analysts Refinitiv polled. The company also beat analyst expectations for revenue, pulling in $134.4 billion over the expected $131.5 billion. Other notable wins include Amazon Web Services revenue at $22.1 billion over $21.8 billion and Advertising revenue at $10.7 billion over $10.4 billion, both according to StreetAccount.
Amazon now expects between $138 billion and $143 billion in sales for Q2 2023, or growth of up to 13%.
Throughout Q2 2023, Amazon announced several updates. In June, Amazon received approval from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to acquire iRobot Corporation, maker of the Roomba vacuum cleaner. The CMA approved the deal, concluding that Amazon’s acquisition would cause any undue competition in the country.
Amazon also introduced artificial intelligence into its delivery process to boost speed. According to Amazon’s vice president of customer fulfillment and global op services for North America and Europe, Stefan Perego, Amazon will use AI to evaluate transportation by planning routes with reference to factors like weather. The tool will also help customers find the right goods closest to them so that the company can complete delivery on the same or the next day.
The Amazon Q2 2023 report showed the company’s biggest earnings beat since the Q4 2020 release. To achieve this, CEO Andy Jassy had begun to cut costs and reduce company expenditure. For instance, Amazon cut 27,000 jobs last fall and also suspended corporate hiring.
Other Figures for Amazon’s Q2 2023
According to the report, AWS sales climbed 12% YoY to $22.1 billion, while net income hit $6.7 billion. The company’s operating cash flow rose 74% to $61.8 billion for the trailing 12 months, compared with the $35.6 billion reported for the same period ended June 30, 2022. According to Jassy:
“It was another strong quarter of progress for Amazon. We continued lowering our cost to serve in our fulfillment network, while also providing Prime customers with the fastest delivery speeds we’ve ever recorded… We’re also continuing to see strong demand for our advertising services as the team keeps innovating for brands…We remain excited about what lies ahead for customers and the company.”
The report also contained a few customer-focused highlights. For instance, Amazon said it recorded the fastest speeds for the largest product range of popular products to US Prime customers. The company says it now offers same-day or one-day delivery on “tens of millions” of items. Furthermore, Amazon reported that so far this year, more than 1.8 billion units reached US Prime customers on the same day or the next. According to the report, this is nearly four times the delivery speed recorded in 2019.