Amazon has reportedly scrapped multiple private label brands as it looks to further cut costs.
The move was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which said the company has decided to eliminate 27 of its 30 in-house private label brands, leaving it with just Amazon Essentials, Amazon Collection and Amazon Aware.
FN has reached out to Amazon for comment.
This is the latest move from the e-commerce giant to cut costs as profits slipped in the back half of 2022. In January, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced it would cut 18,000 jobs in a memo to employees and said the planning and review process for 2023 had been “more difficult given the uncertain economy” and the company’s rapid hiring over the last few years.
In March, Jassy announced the elimination of an additional 9,000 positions after concluding the second phase of a strategic review. According to Jassy, the reductions would affect roles at its Amazon Web Services (AWS), People, Experience and Technology (PXT), advertising and Twitch divisions.
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This series of cost-cutting measures seemed to have paid off when the retail giant reported its most recent quarterly earnings last week. Amazon reported net sales increased 11 percent to $134.4 billion in the second quarter of 2023, compared with $121.2 billion in the same time last year. Net income was $6.7 billion in the second quarter, or 65 cents per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $2 billion, or 20 cents per diluted share, in second quarter 2022.
Altogether, the numbers make for Amazon’s best quarter since late 2020 — and the company’s not done yet. In the third quarter, the company expects net sales to be between $138 billion and $143 billion, or to grow between 9 percent and 13 percent, compared with third quarter 2022.
Jassy said in a statement last week that it was “another strong quarter of progress” for Amazon. “We remain excited about what lies ahead for customers and the company,” the CEO said.
These numbers come nearly a month after Amazon reported its biggest Prime Day shopping event in company history. Across both days, Americans spent $12.7 billion online, representing 6.1 percent growth over last year’s $11.9 billion in sales, setting a new record for Prime Day, according to Adobe Analytics data.
