The document is a SWOT analysis of Amazon.com, detailing its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as of 2017. Amazon is characterized by its vast product selection, low-cost structure, and significant growth in revenues, competing with major players like Walmart and Alibaba. The analysis also highlights the increasing e-commerce market and potential expansion strategies for Amazon in global markets.

1. AMAZON.COM SWOT
ANALYSIS 2017

2. SLIDE | 2
ABOUT AMAZON
Name Amazon.com, Inc.
Logo
Industries served
• Internet, Amazon Web Services, Amazon Video)
• Retail (Amazon Marketplace, Amazon Prime
• Consumer Electronics (Amazon Kindle, Fire HD, Fire TV, Amazon Echo)
Geographic areas served Worldwide
Headquarters Seattle, Washington U.S.
Current CEO Jeff Bezos
Revenue US$107.006 billion (2015) increased 20.2% over $88.988 billion (2014)
Profit US$595 million (2015) increased 347% over $(241) million (2014)
Employees 230,800 (2016)
Main Competitors
Alibaba Group, Apple Inc., eBay Inc., Facebook Inc., Google Inc., IBM, Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation, Netflix, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.,, and many other Internet and retail
Internet and retail companies.

3. Amazon.com business overview from the company’s financial report:
“Amazon.com opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July
Earth’s most customer-centric company. We are guided by four
rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to
long-term thinking. In each of our two geographic segments, we serve
consisting of consumers, sellers, enterprises, and content creators. In
services, such as advertising services and co-branded credit card
We serve consumers through our retail websites and focus on selection,
We design our websites to enable millions of unique products to be sold
across dozens of product categories. Customers access our websites
mobile websites and apps.
SLIDE | 3
BUSINESS DESCRIPTION (1/4)
“
”

4. We also manufacture and sell electronic devices, including Kindle e- readers, Fire tablets, Fire
TVs, Echo, and Fire phones.
We strive to offer our customers the lowest prices possible through low everyday product pricing
and shipping offers, and to improve our operating efficiencies so that we can continue to lower
prices for our customers.
We also provide easy-to-use functionality, fast and reliable fulfillment, and timely customer
service.
In addition, we offer Amazon Prime, an annual membership program that includes unlimited free
shipping on millions of items, access to unlimited instant streaming of thousands of movies and
TV episodes, and other benefits.
SLIDE | 4
BUSINESS DESCRIPTION (2/4)
“ ”

5. 1. online, offline, and multichannel retailers, publishers, vendors, distributors, manufacturers, and
producers of the products we offer and sell to consumers and businesses;
2. publishers, producers, and distributors of physical, digital, and interactive media of all types and all
distribution channels;
3. web search engines, comparison shopping websites, social networks, web portals, and other online
and app-based means of discovering, using, or acquiring goods and services, either directly or in
collaboration with other retailers;
4. companies that provide e-commerce services, including website development, advertising, fulfillment,
customer service, and payment processing;
5. companies that provide fulfillment and logistics services for themselves or for third parties, whether
online or offline;
6. companies that provide information technology services or products, including onpremises or cloud-
based infrastructure and other services; and
7. companies that design, manufacture, market, or sell consumer electronics, telecommunication, and
electronic devices.
SLIDE | 5
BUSINESS DESCRIPTION (3/4)
Our current
and potential
competitors
include
“ ”

6. We believe that the principal competitive factors in our retail businesses include:
• Selection
• Price
• Convenience
• Fast and reliable fulfillment
SLIDE | 6
BUSINESS DESCRIPTION (4/4)
“ ”

7. SLIDE | 7
STRENGTHS
1. Low cost structure, the largest merchandise selection and a huge number of third
party sellers
S W
O T
22.5%
26.1%
38.5%
28.9%
27.9%
39.5% 40.5%
27.0%
21.9%
19.5%
16.3%
26.0%
24.0%
20.5%
3.8%
2.6%
16.6%
17.2%
14.7%
16.5%
15.4% 15.0%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
45.0%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Amazon Growth Rate U.S. E-commerce Growth Rate
In 2006-2015, Amazon has
grown much faster than the
entire U.S. e-commerce
market.

8. SLIDE | 8
STRENGTHS
Amazon follows a cost leadership
strategy, but so do many other online
and offline retailers. Why then does
Amazon outperform them?
S W
O T
What is the key to such success? According to
Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of
Amazon.com, the company’s success lies in its:
• Low-cost structure
• Selection
• Third-party sellers

9. Amazon sells around 339.7 million of
stock keeping units (SKU’s) in its
Amazon.com Marketplace. In
comparison, Walmart offers only 8
million SKU’s[5] in its online shop, or
just 2.35% of the number of products
that Amazon offers.
SLIDE | 9
STRENGTHS
S W
O T
Figure 3. Walmart prices compared to Amazon.com prices
Source: Boomerang[6]

10. 1. Increasing long-term obligations-to-assets ratio
Amazon’s debt-to-asset ratio has risen significantly over the past few years and it is now
one of the highest among its competitors.
SLIDE | 10
WEAKNESSES
Company 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Total long-term debt
Amazon 2.625 5.361 7.433 15.675 18.161
Wal-Mart 47.079 41.417 44.459 40.889 38.214
Long-term debt growth
Amazon 68% 104% 38.6% 110% 15.9%
Wal-Mart 7.4% (12%) 7.3% (8.0%) (6.5%)
Debt/asset ratio
Amazon 10.3% 16.5% 18.5% 28.7% 27.8%
Wal-Mart 24.3% 20.4% 21.8% 20.1% 19.14%
Figure 7. Amazon’s and Wal-Mart’s long-term obligations and debt-to-asset ratios (debt in US$ billions)
Source: The respective companies’ financial reports [1][5]
S W
O T

11. 1. The e-commerce market is forecast to reach US$2.5 trillion by 2018, a
projected growth of 89.1% in 4 years
SLIDE | 11
OPPORTUNITIES
S W
O T
Figure 10. Total e-commerce sales worldwide (actual and forecast), 2013-2018
1.077
1.316
1.592
1.888
2.189
2.489
25.9% 22.2% 20.9% 18.6% 16.4% 13.3%
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Total E-Commerce Sales (in trillions, US$) Change (%)
Source: eMarketer[30]

12. • Amazon currently
operates in 7 of the 10
largest e-commerce
markets in the world,
including China, the
U.S., the U.K., Japan,
Canada, France and
Germany.
• China is also forecast to
become the largest e-
commerce market in the
world
• Amazon should open in
Brazil, South Korea and
Russia.
SLIDE | 12
OPPORTUNITIES
Countries 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
1. China 315.75 426.26 562.66 871.79 1,011.28
2. U.S. 264.28 305.65 349.06 442.55 493.89
3. UK 70.39 82.00 93.89 114.64 124.96
4. Japan 62.13 70.83 79.33 96.87 106.07
5. Germany 51.91 63.38 73.46 91.97 99.33
6. France 34.21 38.36 42.62 49.71 53.26
7. South Korea 29.30 33.11 36.76 44.07 47.82
8. Canada 20.98 24.63 28.77 37.61 42.67
9. Russia 15.06 17.47 20.30 26.88 30.91
10. Brazil 13.34 16.28 18.80 23.79 26.17
Figure 11. Top 10 countries ranked by total e-commerce sales worldwide (actual and forecast, 2014-2018 (in US$ billions)
Source: eMarketer[30]
S W
O T

13. 1. Wal-Mart’s efforts to establish itself as a leading online retailer
The retail sales of physical stores compared to e-commerce sales are declining. Many
retail companies, including Amazon’s key rival Wal-Mart, are making huge efforts to
establish themselves as electronic commerce retailers.
• In 2016, Wal-Mart’s e-commerce sales grew to over US$13 billion.[5]
• Wal-Mart now has e-commerce websites in 11 countries and competes with Amazon
in the U.S., U.K., Canada, China, India and Japan.
SLIDE | 13
THREATS
S W
O T

14. Wal-Mart cannot compare to Amazon.com yet, but the company is strongly focusing on
expanding its e-commerce operations:
• New fulfillment centers
• Fastest-growing retail app
• Grocery deliveries
• In-store pick up service
SLIDE | 14
THREATS
S W
O T
Although Walmart is still new to the e-commerce market, it already has some strengths that
even Amazon cannot match.

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19. SLIDE | 19
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SWOT 2017