Amazon surpassed sales expectations during the 2023 holiday shopping season. The net product sales for the last quarter of 2023 were 76,7 $ billion, reflecting a 9 percent increase from the previous year. Despite facing challenges from cost-conscious consumers and increased expenses, Amazon’s holiday sales events provided optimistic signs of a potential recovery in its retail business.
The obsession with improving customers’ lives every day comes at a cost. The total cost of fulfillment rose from 31% in 2021 to almost 36% in 2023: over 90 $ billion. Coming from 21% in 2017. In 2011 fulfillment costs were only 11% of sales. Are fulfillment costs still not under control despite the growth of business and economy of scale?