Brian Olsavsky, CFO of Amazon, laid out the company's strategy amid the challenging macroeconomic environment during its third quarter conference call Oct. 27, as transcribed by The Motley Fool.
He said performance was impacted by inflation, heightened fuel prices and rising energy costs. Mr. Olsavsky also said customers are cutting their budgets and trying to save money in the short term.
"As we've done at similar times in our history, we're taking actions to tighten our belt, including pausing hiring in certain businesses and winding down products and services where we believe our resources are better spent elsewhere," he said. "We aim to strike the right balance between investing for our customers for the long term while driving operational efficiency improvements and accomplishing more with less."
Although Amazon reported its first profitable quarter this year, the company still reported a $3 billion net loss for the year overall. Headed into next year, the company will focus on what it does best: the customer experience.
"When faced with an uncertain economy or some kind of discontinuous event, customers tend to double-down on companies that they believe have the best customer experience and that take care of them the best," Mr. Olsavsky said. "That is where our efforts remain focused. … We remain heads-down focused on driving a fantastic customer experience, and we believe putting customers first is the only reliable way to create lasting value for shareholders."
Amazon recently added Venmo as a new payment option for U.S. customers to boost the customer experience. In early October, the company launched a new two-day shopping event for Prime members with deals across multiple product categories and reported customers ordered more than 100 million items.
The company is also focused on employee experience and set aside nearly $1 billion in pay increases for fulfillment network employees in the next year, so pay will jump to more than $19 per hour. Amazon also expanded their "Anytime Pay" program so employees can access up to 70 percent of their pay any time during the month.
Finally, Amazon provides a free mental wellness program to employees and families in the U.S.