It is learned that on April 29th local time, Amazon released its first quarter financial report for fiscal year 2022. Amazon's Q1 revenue was US$116.444 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7%, and its net loss reached US$3.844 billion, the first quarterly loss since 2015.
Regarding the challenges faced in this quarter's performance, Amazon said that they were mainly due to macroeconomic headwinds brought about by the Russia-Ukraine war, ongoing supply chain problems and rising costs related to high inflation levels. Looking ahead to the second quarter, Amazon expects revenue of $116 billion to $121 billion, lower than the market expectation of $125.5 billion. Cross-border navigation27 ▲ Video account focuses on cross-border navigation Amazon's poor Q1 financial report surprised many sellers, and they inevitably worried that it would transfer profit pressure to sellers and continue to increase operating costs. ▲ The picture comes from the seller communication group Amazon's performance has been sluggish, and the sellers who experienced the "baptism" of last year's account ban wave have been through several turbulent times. While it is difficult to achieve a breakthrough in performance, they are also facing the crisis of layoffs that may break out at any time. Bantian Daimai was reported to have laid off 4,000 employees. Is the cross-border layoff trend increasing? Recently, news of a large-scale layoff at a supermarket in Bantian has gone viral. According to reports, the company has reduced its staff from 6,000 to around 2,000, and will lay off another 1,000 employees after Prime Day. Since the wave of account bans swept the industry, there have been constant rumors of layoffs and reductions in recruitment in cross-border companies. From the top sellers to the small and medium-sized sellers, all have been caught up in the vortex of internal changes. One seller admitted: The temperature in Shenzhen has risen to 30 degrees Celsius, but the temperature inside the company is below zero. Since the account closures last year, the company has not achieved a breakthrough in performance and has been experiencing losses almost every month. According to him, the company had carried out three layoffs before, and the number of employees remained at around 200. Recently, a new round of layoffs began. Many operations staff faced the reality and waited to be laid off. The atmosphere in the whole company was extremely depressing. ▲ The picture comes from Zhiwubuyan Many Amazon employees feel that they share the same plight as this seller: "Half of the people in our company have left, and now I am the only one left." "Although there were very few bans, there were also various internal rectifications, and a number of senior executives were laid off. Anyway, all the high-paid ones were replaced." "There are only about 70 people left in the company, and it is only operating at half capacity. The company is hiring while laying off people." "The company used to have more than 100 employees, but now only has a single-digit number left. There are no new products to launch, and the old products are still losing money." Even if they avoid the hammer of layoffs, the iron fist of salary cuts may still fall on many sellers at any time. Some sellers reported that the company's overall performance this year was not good, so the boss carried out internal reforms and replaced a large number of senior executives and non-operational personnel in high-paying positions. A salary reform system was implemented for operational personnel, and their salaries were directly cut in half. Many employees had no choice but to resign. However, this seller has not had the courage to leave because of the pressure of finding a job under the epidemic. A seller in Shenzhen said that he has been receiving a basic salary since the brand incident in May last year. His salary has not been adjusted in the three years since he joined the company. When there was a commission, it was deducted in disguise, and the commission he received was no more than 3,000 yuan. Some sellers also stated that although there was no salary cut, various policies were introduced to control performance, and they were scrambling to meet KPI targets every day. 3,000 cross-border companies fell silently? Streamlining business has become a trend! Earlier, industry media reported that a search on Tianyancha at the beginning of the year showed that there were more than 7,000 cross-border e-commerce companies in Shenzhen, but this number dropped to more than 6,000 in early April. Therefore, it is speculated that about 1,000 cross-border companies in Shenzhen have gone bankrupt this year.
Recently, a seller searched again, but only showed more than 3,000 results. The seller exclaimed: Could it be that 3,000 companies have gone bankrupt in just one month? ▲ The picture comes from Zhiwubuyan Although it is biased to use this method to prove that a large number of cross-border companies have closed down, some sellers speculate: "There should be more! There are more than 1,000 companies. We have more than 3,000 companies registered on our platform. Of course, some companies have multiple accounts. But after counting the data, nearly 500 companies have changed their careers. How can the number of bankruptcies in Shenzhen be limited to this number?" However, there is always a cycle of new and old players in the industry, and some sellers even said frankly: In fact, there are still 30,000+ new accounts entering the internal competition. "The era of making money on Amazon is a thing of the past" seems to be a common perception in the cross-border circle today. The current environment is unstable due to internal and external troubles. On the one hand, the platform's crackdown measures continue to escalate, and the sword of Damocles hanging over the store's head may cause a heavy blow to the store at any time. At the same time, there is also a wave of rising costs, with advertising fees, FBA fees, etc. rising, squeezing the inventory space for profits. On the other hand, due to the turbulent international political and economic situation, supply chain crisis, and intensified inflation, the popularity of online retail has cooled and the consumption capacity of foreign people has also declined. Not only that, the double-edged sword effect of the epidemic has gradually become apparent. The resurgence of the epidemic in China has led to logistics obstructions, and the gradual recovery of foreign manufacturing has also led to the disappearance of the domestic productivity advantage, and orders have gradually been diverted to other countries. Under the constraints of various factors, more and more cross-border companies have streamlined their staff and saved costs. From the massive expansion, piling up a large number of SKUs on multiple platforms and multiple accounts, to the current drastic reduction of business and the race to ship, whoever clears the inventory first will be considered successful. "The current environment of cross-border e-commerce is similar to the situation of Taobao's transition to Tmall many years ago. The strong will wash away the weak." After the dividends faded and things returned to normal, more and more cross-border sellers are seeking transformation . The two major trends at present are undoubtedly moving towards a small and beautiful branded, intensive and high-quality operation route, and getting rid of Amazon dependence. Relevant data from Amazon shows that the number of Chinese sellers who have completed brand registration on Amazon has increased 40 times in the past four years. In 2021, the time it takes for Chinese sellers to complete brand registration from entering Amazon has been shortened by an average of 40%. On the other hand, there are also many sellers who are increasingly motivated to "de-Amazonize" . In recent years, the growth rate of Chinese sellers on the Amazon market has slowed down, the number of top sellers has been decreasing, and many Chinese sellers banned by Amazon have turned to independent sites and third-party platforms such as Walmart. However, the road to transformation is also full of thorns and challenges. How to find a development path that suits you under the general trend is a hurdle that many sellers need to overcome. There have been controversies recently regarding layoffs and recruitment cuts in cross-border companies, but at the same time, the trend of having two days off a week seems to be becoming mainstream. Another major sales outlet will implement a two-day weekend, but is questioned by sellers? It is learned that following the big sellers such as Savi and Yibai Network, another big seller in South China City has recently joined the ranks of the two-day weekend.
Recently, the company announced that in order to promote the company's high-quality and sustainable development and improve the happiness of employees, it will implement a two-day weekend work system starting from May 1. The work and rest time will be adjusted as follows: 9:00-12:30 in the morning and 14:00-18:30 in the afternoon, with a total working time of 8 hours per day. ▲ The picture comes from the seller communication group The big seller said it would cancel flexible working hours and the 10-minute cumulative rule per month for exemption from lateness/early departure, while other attendance rules remain unchanged. Discussions about odd-even days off and long-and-short weeks have always been hot topics in the cross-border industry. Faced with heavy daily operational tasks, cross-border people are eager to have sufficient rest time and a warm and quality entertainment life. Therefore, they also hope that more big sellers can take the lead in having two days off a week and set an example. However, some sellers pointed out that when the seller had a big week, the working hours were 7.5 hours a day from Monday to Friday, and 5 hours on Saturday. Although the company now has a two-day weekend, the average daily working hours have been extended to 8 hours, which is equivalent to making up for the original working hours on Saturday. At present, the argument that "Amazon employees don't have a break" and PUA techniques are increasingly being sneered at by cross-border people. In fact, order growth and working hours are like two parallel lines with no correlation. For Amazon employees, they need enough rest and relaxation to better balance work and life and improve operational efficiency. The cross-border circle is quietly undergoing new changes. Both the wave of layoffs and the trend of two-day weekends are microcosms and signs of industry change. Now, one third of 2022 has passed in the blink of an eye. In just a few months, sellers seem to have experienced a lot of changes. Some are pessimistic, while others are optimistic. There are risks and opportunities ahead. After the cold winter of the off-season, as Amazon officially announced that this year's Prime Day will be held in July , sellers may usher in a rebirth in the hot summer peak season.
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