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SEATTLE — Amazon.com Inc. reported net sales of $134.4 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2023, an 11% increase compared to the same period in 2022 when net sales stood at $121.2 billion. Sales in North America totaled $82.5 billion for the quarter, up 11% versus the prior year period, while the company’s international sales increased 10% year over year to total $29.7 billion. Amazon’s segment sales posted sales of $22.1 billion, up by 12% compared to the second quarter of 2022.
Net income for the second quarter of 2023 amounted to $6.7 billion, translating to $0.65 per diluted share. This is a significant turnaround from the net loss of $2.0 billion, or $0.20 per diluted share, reported in the second quarter of 2022. The substantial improvement in net income is attributed to a pre-tax valuation gain of $0.2 billion from Amazon’s common stock investment in Rivian Automotive, Inc. This stands in stark contrast to the pre-tax valuation loss of $3.9 billion recorded from the same investment in the second quarter of 2022.
One of the highlights of Amazon’s Q2 2023 financial results was the impressive growth in operating cash flow, which soared by 74% to $61.8 billion in the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2023. Comparatively, the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2022, reported an operating cash flow of $35.6 billion. Furthermore, free cash flow saw a drastic improvement, turning from an outflow of $23.5 billion in the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2022, to an inflow of $7.9 billion for the same period in 2023.
Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, attributed the company’s success to a relentless focus on customer experience.
“It was another strong quarter of progress for Amazon,” Jassy said in a statement. “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. Our AWS growth stabilized as customers started shifting from cost optimization to new workload deployment, and AWS has continued to add to its meaningful leadership position in the cloud with a slew of generative AI releases that make it much easier and more cost-effective for companies to train and run models (Trainium and Inferentia chips), customize Large Language Models to build generative AI applications and agents (Bedrock), and write code much more efficiently with CodeWhisperer. We’re also continuing to see strong demand for our advertising services as the team keeps innovating for brands, including the ramp up for Thursday Night Football with the ability for advertisers to tailor their spots by audience and create interactive experiences for consumers. We remain excited about what lies ahead for customers and the company.”
According to the company, recent accomplishments include:
- Delivering its largest selection of products to U.S. Prime members at the fastest speeds ever in the quarter. The company now offers U.S. Prime members free Same-Day or One-Day Delivery on tens of millions of the most popular items. Across the top 60 largest U.S. metro areas, more than half of Prime member orders arrived the same or next day in the quarter. So far this year, Amazon has delivered more than 1.8 billion units to U.S. Prime members the same or next day—nearly four times the number of units delivered at those speeds by this point in 2019.
- Holding its biggest Prime Day event ever on July 11-12, in the third quarter, as Prime members worldwide purchased more than 375 million items and saved more than $2.5 billion. This year, Amazon said it offered more deals than any past Prime Day, with Home, Fashion, and Beauty among the top-selling deal categories. This was the largest Prime Day ever for Amazon’s independent sellers, most of which are small and medium-sized businesses, and the first where U.S.-based Prime members could shop deals directly from merchant sites using Buy with Prime.
- Increasing selection in the U.S. Amazon store. Amazon added new beauty and fashion brands, including D’Amelio Footwear, Dyson hair care, IT Cosmetics, Ralph Lauren Fragrances, and Urban Decay, and extended its collaboration with Victoria’s Secret. This marks the first time Victoria’s Secret lingerie and apparel are available through a retail partner in North America. Amazon also expanded its selection of grocery items from brands such as General Mills and Coca-Cola.
- Announcing that Amazon Business represents one of the company’s fastest growing efforts. With a $35 billion annualized gross sales run rate and serving more than 6 million customers. Amazon Business allows businesses, municipalities, and organizations to procure products like office supplies and other bulk items easily and at discounted prices.
Looking ahead, Amazon is upbeat about its prospects in the third quarter. The company is projecting that net sales will be between $138.0 billion and $143.0 billion, up 9% to 13% versus the last year’s third quarter. Operating income is expected to be between $5.5 billion and $8.5 billion, compared with $2.5 billion in third quarter of 2022.
