Compiled 14 February, updated 16 February 2025
I recommend, before reading the following piece, reading this article on marketplaces.
Amazon, 2024 revenues close to $638 billion (11%). Physical shops grow more than online
Seattle (USA) – Amazon ended the 2024 financial year with revenues of $637,959 million (EUR 614,106 million), up 11% from last year, when it reported revenues of $574,785 million (EUR 553,399 million). The e-commerce giant’s net profit increased 94.7 per cent to $59.248 billion (€56.999 billion). This was reported in a detailed note issued by the company.
The real news is that the physical channel is growing faster than e-commerce in year-on-year figures. The former, through its three brands(Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go) is growing 8% compared to 7% for e-commerce [ the brands, in reality, are four, there is also Amazon Grocery, a new experiment ]. Overall, the physical shops register a turnover of 21 billion dollars [ this is 3.3%, a percentage that is decreasing compared to the past ] , despite the recent negative performance of Amazon Go, which led to the closure of some shops.
Amazon Web Services (Aws), its cloud business, grew 19% and advertising services saw 18% growth for the full year.
Sales in North America increased by 10% to USD 387.5 billion (EUR 373.019 billion); in the rest of the world, sales increased by 9% to USD 142.9 billion (EUR 137.55 billion).
Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2025, Amazon expects to achieve sales of between $151bn and $155.5bn (EUR 145,352m and EUR 149,196m, 5 to 9 per cent higher), as well as an operating profit of between $14bn and $18bn (EUR 13,475m and EUR 17,326m).
The US giant also announced a $100 billion investment inartificial intelligence, in what it sees as ‘the biggest technological change and opportunity since the invention of the internet‘[as well as a boundless market].
This shift towards AI is not without risk as investors, such as hedge funds, have moved away, at least temporarily, from the Magnificent Seven (among whom is Amazon).
Conclusion: the real news is that the physical channel is growing faster than e-commerce in year-on-year data. But its share within the group drops from 3.8% in 2022, to 3.3% in 2024. Most likely, other sectors, such as the cloud, give Amazon greater satisfaction in terms of profitability than physical distribution.
Rival Walmart is expected to end the last fiscal year with $681 billion in sales and according to analysts Walmart and Amazon “play in a league of their own” ( Costco is also among the top retailers).
