Amazon is the largest online retailing company in the world.

Its net sales in 2020 reached $386

billion. Amazon generates its revenue from many different businesses- 83% of its total revenue

comes from online retailing, 12% comes from Amazon Web Services' cloud computing, storage,

database, and other offerings, and approximately 6% comes from advertising services and co-

branded credit cards. 

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Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, and it went public three years later in 1997.

Amazon is listed on Nasdaq. Amazon is considered as one of the largest companies in the world

since its market cap has reached 1.7 billion in 2021, which ranks the fourth in the world, after

Apple, Microsoft, and Saudi Aramco. 

Because Amazon has ventured into so many different businesses, it faces different competitors in

different markets. In the retail market, Amazon faces many strong competitors such as

Taobao.com, Tianmao.com, JD.com and eBay. In 2019, Amazon has 13% market share in the

online E-commerce business. In comparison, the market share of the major competitors of

Amazon in the onliner retail market are 15%, 14%, 9% for Taobao.com, Tmall.com, and JD.com

respectively. In addition, Amazon also faces many other strong competitors, such as Alphabet,

Microsoft, and Alibaba in the cloud computing industry. Cloud computing is a fast-growing

industry. Amazon has reached 32% of market share in the cloud computing industry in 2021.

The market share for the major competitors of Amazon are 19%, 7%, and 6% for Microsoft,

Google, and Alibaba Cloud respectively. In the credit card market, Amazon faces not only many

new competitors because more and more major retailers started to issue their own co-branded
credit cards, but also many traditional major players in the credit card market, such as Visa and

Marstard. 

Amazon's total revenue increased 37.85% from 2019 to 2020, which is much higher than the

20.17% increase from 2018 to 2019. This dramatic increase in revenue is caused by the Covid-19

pandemic since people are not willing to go out shopping anymore. However, this surge in

revenue did not translate into higher profit since the company's total cost of goods and services

increased around 42% from 2019 to 2020, compared with 20% from 2018 to 2019. The increase

in cost of goods and services are mainly caused by the production and distribution disruption

caused by Covid-19 restrictions. The increase in gross profit is 25% from 2019 to 2020, which is

the same from 2018 to 2019. The company is doing fairly well during the Covid-19 pandemic

since more people are switching to online platforms to avoid the crowd during the pandemic. 

One of the significant issues I want to address is how Amazon treats its warehouse workers.

There have been many reports on Amazon's unethical treatment of its employees during the

pandemic. They were forced to work in the unsafe environment without being equipped with

necessary PPE to protect themselves. Amazon has also been accused of inhuman treatment of its

employees because they used tracking devices to track the productivity of each worker and fired

the ones that do not match its productivity standard. As a global corporation, Amazon should pay

more attention to its public image. If Amazon continues to disrespect its workers, more and more

customers might unite to boycott its products. Bad publicity can also take a toll on its reputation,

and drag down the stock price. 

 
The inhuman treatment of employees by Amazon can be explained by its obsession with

efficiency. In order to fulfill customer orders as quickly as possible, Amazon forces its

employees to work brutal hours at breakneck speed. We cannot treat humans as machines, and if

we force them too much, humans are also prone to more error. As a result, Amazon should focus

on automating most of its process to alleviate the burdens on its employees. 

The Covid-19 pandemic is one of the biggest opportunities and challenges the company faces

recently. Covid -19 drove up the revenues of Amazon by 42% in 2020 because people are trying

to avoid the brick-and-mortar stores to avoid the crowds. Covid-19 is also one of the biggest

challenges the company faces since the travel restrictions across the globe and also inside each

country are making the transportation of goods more costly and less efficient. However, the long-

term prospects for the company remain optimistic since the travel restrictions are only temporary

and many people who are not customers of online retailing have formed the habit of ordering

their necessities online instead of in store. 

I have demonstrated thorough knowledge while describing relevant concepts. I have

demonstrated skill in choosing appropriate accounting vocabularies. I have organized my reports

in a logical progression. I have demonstrated skills in applying various accounting theories,

principles to evaluate the company's financial performance. I have demonstrated skill in selecting

appropriate tools for financial analysis.