Shock sales surge sends Amazon shares soaring Amazon shares rose at least 16 per cent in pre-market trading today after the etailing giant reported a lift in first quarter revenue. Analysts had been concerned that spending on new products like the Kindle Fire and the usual cost-cutting behaviour of the online firm could heavily impact on profits. But Amazon said its net …
I don't think there is any requirement for a shock to be nasty, just surprising, though they often go together.
Chambers: 1 a strong emotional disturbance, especially a feeling of extreme surprise, outrage or disgust.
Concise OED: 1. a sudden upsetting or surprising event or experience
but I made my first real block of purchases on Amazon as a result of getting one of their cards for Christmas, which puts them in 1st Quarter. I wasn't overly impressed (okay, actually I think it sucked) with the system and I don't expect to be making any similar purchases through them in the near future. I placed what I thought was a single order that would be gathered and shipped as one delivery. Turned out to have been a conglomeration of shippers, and the photos on one set of items were piss-poor for figuring out what it really was, but the cost was too small to be worth paying to ship them back and ask for a refund. I'll probably use them at some point in the future to buy a book or maybe a CD since they seem to be destroying the brick and mortar stores, but I'm not looking forward to it.
You must be special. I've been buying from Amazon for years now. Haven't been into a town centre to buy anything for at least two years. Most people seem to think Amazon is excellent. If stuff comes from different sources then so be it. Can't say it bothers me. The ordering experience itself seems to be very well thought out.
Amazon is the only etailer that has never leaked my email address to a third party which considering their use of resellers is miraculous.
If the buggers don't stop sending me books that have clearly been savaged by a small dog when I've paid for a new and perfect copy then their profits for next year might be diminished! Likewise their attempts to foist mangled Blu-Ray slipcases off on me. Their warehouse staff are either blind or stupid or instructed to send out any old leavings off the floor in the hope that the recipient might be too dumb to send it back.
Well ... if they really hate someone who spends several thousands of pounds on good from their store every year then their business model is clearly intrinsically flawed. I'm guessing that you buy items on a few and far between basis? I estimate that 60% of books arrived in good condition, likewise anything else that can be bent or scuffed. Blu-Ray and DVD boxes that don't have cardboard slipcases have a very high success rate. Electrical good always arrive intact as do other consumer items. It's books that are the main problem and I order from other online booksellers too and they have a similar success rate so it's a general stock and warehouse problem across the industry. Thank you for your comment.
So a profit in one quarter that is about $20m more than expected is enough to encourage investors to buy, buy, buy and increase the 'value' of the company by $15 BILLION. Who are these loonies? I really, really hope my pension funds don't have any holdings in amazon or (or Stalkerbook, or Google etc), if they do, then today is a good time to sell!
Why don't they just stick to the gee-gees?
This isn't really a case of 'high sales' inflating the value of Amazon. Amazon was trading at around this the $220 mark for a good few months last year, and peaked at $246.71 last October, and has been trading below value for the past few months, on the basis of lack of trust in some of Amazon strategies.
I think prices returned to normal on the basis of lack of disaster, rather than on the basis of 'spectacular profits'.
No, the Amazon shareholders really are totally crazy. Amazon's price to earnings ratio is 186, which means it would take you 186 years to get your money back if you bought and kept the company. This is bubble territory. Must be because they are growing so fast. Over three years their income has grown - oh, it's shrunk. What about comparable companies? Walmart PE 13; 3 year growth 15%; Apple PE 14; growth 420%.
Perhaps Amazon's share price should be $20. Then you could get your money back in under 20 years.
of how an eTailer can adapt to it's growing and changing customer base organically.
It really is.
Having used them since 1998, I've seen them slowly add value to the Amazon site, so that it is so much more than a glorified shop window. Reviews. "People who liked that like this". Wishlists. Developing the marketplace, so that Amazons marketing clout can benefit smaller outfits. While world+dog was going Flash crazy in the early noughties, Amazon was working on slow, incremental changes.
I hope courses in online marketing are using Amazon to show how "right" looks.
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