Inventory problem LOL???
"EATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--January 5, 2000--
More Than 2.5 Million New Customers in Holiday Season;
Company Achieves $2.6 Billion Sales Run-Rate
Powered by a strong holiday season, Amazon.com (Nasdaq:<A
HREF="aol://4785:AMZN">AMZN</A>) announced today that its 1999 fourth-quarter
sales totaled more than $650 million, more than two and one-half times 1998's
fourth quarter sales of $253 million and greater than its $610 million in
sales for the whole year of 1998.
Based on fourth quarter sales, Amazon.com has reached a $2.6 billion
annualized sales level less than four and one-half years after opening for
business.
Shoppers seeking to save time and money, avoid holiday shopping hassles, and
select the ideal gift produced strong sales across all Amazon.com product
lines. Customer demand in Amazon.com's newer stores was so strong that they
accounted for more than half of total company revenues, with U.S.-based book
sales accounting for the rest. As recently as 18 months ago, Amazon.com only
sold books from its U.S. base.
Amazon.com began the holiday shopping season on Nov. 10, with the launch of
its home improvement, software, video games, and gift stores. From then until
Dec. 31 (just over 7 weeks):
-- More than 2.5 million new customers shopped with Amazon.com
for the first time.
-- Amazon.com shipped roughly 20 million items.
-- The company experienced peak shipping of approximately $16
million in one day, more than total company sales in 1996.
-- Well over 99% of orders shipped in time to meet holiday
deadlines -- even orders placed as late as Dec. 23.
-- Amazon.com was the top-ranked e-commerce site for the holiday
shopping season from Nov. 22 to Dec. 26, with an average of
5,693,000 unique visitors a week, according to Media Metrix.
Amazon.com was also the sixth most-visited Internet property and
the No. 1 e-commerce site in November, according to Media Metrix
(most recent data).
-- Amazon.com was the No. 1 shopping destination for 42 percent of
online shoppers during the holiday season, according to a survey
of online shoppers by Ernst & Young.
"We're especially grateful that so many customers chose Amazon.com for tools,
electronics and toys," said Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. "Everyone
at Amazon.com worked hard and succeeded at delivering a great shopping
experience for our customers."
"We invested heavily in distribution capability, and we are very pleased that
we shipped well over 99% of orders in time for the holidays," said Joe Galli,
Amazon.com president and chief operating officer. "In 2000, we'll continue to
raise our standard for customer service while driving productivity, capital
efficiency and operational excellence across our entire distribution
network."
"Consistent with our strategy, we went all-out to make sure we delivered for
customers this holiday season," said Warren Jenson, Amazon.com chief
financial officer. "As a result, our higher seasonal sales will not translate
into lower net losses in the fourth quarter. In addition, we will incur
higher-than-expected inventory-related charges and write-downs, in large part
because we carried deep inventory in start-up businesses such as toys and
electronics." Amazon.com expects to release complete 1999 fourth quarter and
fiscal year financial results on February 2, 2000.
Only four years after it opened its virtual doors, Amazon.com has become the
most widely recognized e-commerce brand in the United States, as rated by
online shoppers in a nationwide survey by Opinion Research Corp. Some 117.8
million adults, or 60 percent of the adult population in the U.S., recognize
the Amazon.com brand, according to the survey. In addition, Amazon.com was
ranked the 57th most valuable brand worldwide, just above Hilton, Guinness,
and Marriott, and just below Pampers, in a June study of global brands by
Interbrand Newell and Sorrell.
About Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com (Amazon.com, Inc. and its subsidiaries) is the Internet's No. 1
music, No. 1 DVD and video, and No. 1 book retailer. Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN)
opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers
Earth's Biggest Selection with online auctions and free electronic greeting
cards. Amazon.com lists more than 18 million unique items in categories
including books, CDs, toys, electronics, videos, DVDs, home improvement
products, software, and video games. Through Amazon.com zShops, any business
or individual can sell virtually anything to Amazon.com's more than 15
million customers, and with Amazon.com Payments, any seller can accept credit
card transactions, avoiding the hassles of offline payments.
Amazon.com seeks to be the world's most customer-centric company where
customers can find and discover anything they may want to buy online.
Amazon.com's All Product Search scours the Web to help customers find
merchandise that is not available at Amazon.com, Amazon.com Auctions, or
Amazon.com zShops, making Amazon.com the shopping destination to find
anything.
Amazon.com operates two international Web sites: www.amazon.co.uk in the
United Kingdom and www.amazon.de in Germany. Amazon.com also operates
PlanetAll (www.planetall.com), a Web-based address book, calendar, and
reminder service. It also operates the Internet Movie Database
(www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of
information on more than 150,000 movies and entertainment programs and
500,000 cast and crewmembers dating from the birth of film in 1892 to the
present. Amazon.com also operates Amazon.com LiveBid Auctions
(http://livebid.amazon.com), the leading provider of live-event auctions on
the Internet.
Amazon.com has invested in leading Internet retailers that are improving the
lives of customers by making shopping easier and more convenient:
drugstore.com, an online retail and information source for health, beauty,
wellness, personal care and pharmacy, at www.drugstore.com; Pets.com, the
online leader for pet products, expert information and services, at
www.pets.com; HomeGrocer.com, the first fully integrated Internet
grocery-shopping and home-delivery service, with operations in Seattle,
Portland, Oregon, and Southern California, at www.homegrocer.com; Gear.com,
which offers brand name sporting goods at prices from 20% to 90% off retail,
at www.gear.com; and Ashford.com (Nasdaq:<A HREF="aol://4785:ASFD">ASFD</A>),
the leading Internet retailer of luxury and premium products and the Web's
No. 1 retailer of watches and jewelry, at www.ashford.com. Amazon.com also
has a minority interest in Della.com, which brings together leading retailers
with gift registry, expert advice, and personalized gift suggestions to help
everyone give better gifts, at www.della.com; and NextCard, Inc., considered
the industry's leading issuer of consumer credit on the Internet, at
(www.nextcard.com).
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding expectations
of revenues and other results of operations in the fourth quarter. These
results are preliminary and unaudited. Actual results could differ materially
for a variety of reasons, including the ones discussed above, final
inventory-related adjustments, customer returns and refunds, other
revenue-related adjustments, and actual operating expenses.
CONTACT:
Amazon.com
Bill Curry, 206/266-7180
KEYWORD: WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL EUROPE " |
