Amazon has reported second-quarter earnings that match analysts’ modest expectations, but its revenue gains have come up short of forecasts during a quarter when the retailer continued to invest in ecommerce innovation.
Net income in the three months to June 30 came to just $7m (£4.5m), or a penny per share, a drop of 96% from $191m, or 41 cents, a year ago. Amazon’s profit was hurt by a $65m loss related to its acquisition of Kiva Systems. Revenue grew 29% to $12.83bn, short of the $12.9bn expected by analysts, having been negatively impacted by currency movements to the tune of $272m.
In recent days Amazon has begun rolling out a redesign to its UK retail portal that it introduced across its US website in the first quarter of last year. The new look is slicker and more tablet-friendly, doing away with the thick blue and orange navigation bars and drawing more focus to the search bar and the featured products on the front page.
With slightly different offerings in the UK than in the US, Amazon draws focus to its LoveFilm video streaming service, its Amazon MP3 service, Kindle products, official apps and Audible audiobook subscriptions.
Earlier this week Amazon also announced plans for a new hub in central London to focus on the development of digital media products. The eight-storey workplace in Glasshouse Yard, near Barbican and close to Old Street’s “Silicon Roundabout”, will house the design and development teams from LoveFilm and Pushbutton – which are both owned by Amazon – along with software development engineers, graphic designers and user interface (UI) professionals.
Back in April Amazon added in-app purchasing to its Android AppStore and Kindle platform, stepping up the challenge to Apple and Google, which already support the capability.
