Eurozone woes blamed for Amazon’s first three-month loss in five years

By MARTIN FLANAGAN
Published on 27/10/2012 00:00

INTERNET retailing giant Amazon.com has posted its first quarterly loss in more than five years as it revealed it had been hit by the eurozone economic slowdown.

The third-quarter net loss came in at $274 million (£170m), against a profit of $63m in the corresponding period last year.

The group said it had also been partly hit by a writedown on its investment in the internet discounts group, LivingSocial.

Amazon’s Q3 revenues rose 27 per cent to $13.8bn from a year earlier.

Group chief executive Jeff Bezos said that the group’s three best-selling products were the new $199 Kindle Fire tablet, the latest Kindle Paperwhite e-reader and the “entry level” Kindle e-reader. Since the Kindle Fire tablet was launched last month demand had been “fantastic”, Tom Szkutak, Amazon’s chief financial officer, said.

Analysts at US fund manager Morningstar said the backcloth to the tougher trading at the company was “increased competition from mass merchants and big box retailers”.

But Szkutak said that, despite the trading headwinds, Amazon would continue to invest heavily in technology, infrastructure and digital content.

Analysts said the firm was also facing more competition in the coming US holiday period embracing Thanksgiving and Christmas from big retail rivals such as Best Buy and Target, which have said they are planning to match some of the company’s prices online.

Wal-Mart, the biggest US retailer, says it is also close to testing same-day delivery in some cities.