Impact of Internet of Book Industry

Impact of Internet of Book Industry

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Impact of Internet of Book Industry

Introduction

Retailing encompasses different business activities which focus on selling its goods and services to the end consumers which are used by them personally, for their families or household. It takes into account sale of different products and services to the end consumer. Today the face of retailing has changed dramatically. Companies are focusing on adopting different online techniques so as to attract more and more consumers.

The companies are focusing on Creating a powerful retail experience which begins with a commitment to consistency. It begins with an understanding of what the brand is intended to mean. It begins with an appreciation for how the brand meaning should shape the retail experience. It begins with the realization that for retail brands, the retail experience is very much the brand experience.

The importance of technology in our daily lives is undeniable. It is technology which has revolutionized communication, and made the world a smaller place to live. The invention of computer and introduction of internet have facilitated an easy exchange of information across the globe. Now with the availability of Web 2.0 and growth of social networks sites, we have new and varied ways to communicate via the internet – making communication easier and more interactive. The social networking sites are changing the way in which we communicate with and relate to others.

Businesses across the globe are focusing on adapting and utilizing different modes of advertising and media so as to attract more and more consumers.

The Internet and the technology today have dramatically changed the way that the marketing is done. The concept of marketing is the same as being used in the past years, different technologies and internet provides new ways to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of strategic marketing activities. Internet today is changing consumer behavior and increasing consumer power. With the advent of the technology and internet, the consumers are also getting updated about the new technologies and aspects due to which they have vast knowledge about the prevailing technologies and products in the market.

The Internet lets companies establish relationships directly with customers, offering customized service without high costs. Companies can deliver highly targeted, individualized promotions, and they can deliver them quickly. The digital era brings new strategic choices and possibilities. One of the most exciting new strategic choices is a trust-based marketing strategy.

Impact of Internet on Book selling industry

The bookselling industry is one of the steady growing industries which have estimated the sales of $70 billion in the year 2013. The sales of the books highly depend on different seasons. The industry has diverse customers who buy different categories of books which includes the trade books, college books, professional books, mass market paper-back books. With stiff competition across the market, the companies are strongly focusing on adopting different ways and means so as to attract more and more consumers and achieving high market share in the industry.

There are several traditional retail outlets as well as online book stores in the industry. But with internet and e-commerce, the traditional retail outlets started facing several issues in respect to their sales, with the internet and companies like Amazon.com, the customers were able to get their books at their doorstep.

Thus internet greatly affected the sales of the traditional outlets, to beat the competition, many traditional brick and mortar stores like Barnes and Noble had to emphasize on the opening internet based website to compete the competition.

In this paper, we will analyze Amazon, which has changed the face of the book selling industry.

Company overview

Amazon.com is considered to be the market player in the e-commerce industry (bookselling). Amazon.com was founded by Jeff Bezos, who focused on enhancing the book shopping experience of consumers, with innovation and new ways to sell books online. One of the major players of Amazon.com is Barnes and Noble.

With the increasing globalization and advancement of technology the need of online business has increased considerably. When a traditional book shop sets up their e-commerce set up, it will help in attracting more and more consumers and people will be able to know different offerings along with the pricing and discount schemes, which will help in increasing the sales and business of the organization. With an ecommerce set up the consumers will have convenience which will also help in increasing sales.

With the intense competition of Amazon.com, Barnes and Nobles started the online store of the books in 1997 and worked on the same lines as Amazon so as to attain more and more consumers across the market and survive in the competitive market. In 1997, barnes and Noble faced looming crisis for which it opened its online store, Barnesandnoble.com so as to retrieve from the losses. That was the time when Barnes and Noble was considered as one of the dominant and leading player as one of the largest bookstore. The company focused on proving itself to be one the world’s biggest bookstore. Barnes and Nobles strongly focused on offering heavy discounts on books so as to attain the competitive edge in the market. The company along with its brick and mortar bookstores and online store, the company focused on building a strong base. The company focused on attaining a strong leadership position in the bookstore business by hiring the best talent across the globe in book publishing, distribution and management, so as to build a strong organization platform particularly for online selling. (McCray P. J, Gonzalez J. J, & Darling R. J, 2012)

Technology Solution

In order to have a strong edge in the market through the deployment of information technology, the company focused on building a strong e-commerce platform for selling the books online. Barnes and Noble highly focused on providing value to its consumers, by providing them increased selection, product diversity, discounted prices, informative products, high convenience and high level of customization through the online e-commerce platform. The company focused on opting for innovative means and ways so as to attract more and more consumers, the company made the website consumer friendly to provide consumers value which is one of the strongest aspects which helped the company in creating competitive advantage. With a focus on these strategies the company is able to achieve competitive edge in the market of its operations. The technology deployed by the company focused on Convenience, Selection, Service and Price which are considered as the core value of the company.

Creating value

By selling books online a company is able to reduce on its inventory, warehousing and handling cost. It is also able to cater to a vast market which was restrained in a traditional shop. The company was able to keep a vast variety of books which can be classified in different sections. With the deployment of online platform, the company was able to provide value added services to its customers along with the increased selection, discounted pricing and greater convenience to the consumers.

Competitive Advantage of Amazon.com:

Amazon.com is highly focuses on providing value to its consumers, the company has a strong focus on providing value to its consumers with a strong focus on increased selection, product diversity, discounted prices, informative products, high convenience and high level of customization for the consumers. The company opts for innovative means and ways to attract more and more consumers and make themselves consumer friendly so as to provide consumers value which is one of the strongest aspect which helps in creating competitive advantage. With a focus on these strategies the company is able to achieve competitive edge in the market of its operations. Amazon.com has a strong focus on Convenience, Selection, Service and Price which are considered as the core value of the Amazon.com. With a strong focus on the innovation and technology, Amazon.com is able to enhance the shopping experience to the target consumers.

One-click shopping – Amazon.com focused on providing convenience to its consumers, to save the time and provide enhanced value the company focused on providing a single click shopping experience, it helped in reducing the transactional burden on the customers. The company was able to pioneer on this by collecting the information of customers and creating a database of the same.

Product Review Information – All products on Amazon can be reviewed which helped the customers to review about the product they want to purchase

Purchase Circles – Amazon.com focuses on providing information about the books one is interested in.

E-Mail Alerts – Amazon allows consumers to keep tabs on their favorite author.

Recommendations – The company uses collaborative and other personalization techniques to recommend books to users.

Wish List – The Company focuses on enabling the creation of wish list of the products or items one wants to purchase in the near future.

Amazon.com focuses on 7 c’s framework which helped in creating value proposition, these are convenience, content, customization, community, connectivity, customer care, and communication.

So as to have a competitive edge in the market, Amazon.com focused on diversification by selling different products online. The company also focused on collaborating with different virtual companies to showcase and sell their product through Amazon.com. It also signed the contract with different brick and mortar stores so as to increase its products to be sold. Despite of the diversification, the company was able to have a strong focus on customer value and satisfaction.

Market Opportunity Analysis

With the increase in the technological innovations, the consumers today are focusing on online services and purchasing for this it is important for the company to have a strong edge in the market of operations. The company has a strong base of online technology and technological innovation. With the changing lifestyle of the consumers today, consumers are highly inclined towards online shopping and purchasing goods online with which they are able to get the products at their foot step at reasonable prices.

Identification and Analysis of Value Drivers

Amazon.com has a strong focus on information technology as well as customer service which is considered as the main value drivers of the company. The company has a strong focus on building a strong customer base with which the consumers are able to relate themselves with the company. The company is able to create a strong value proposition in the company with a strong focus on primary as well as supporting activities.

Apart from the information technology, some of the major value drivers of the company is supply chain, distribution and customers of the company. Amazon.com focuses on 7 c’s framework which helped in creating value proposition, these are convenience, content, customization, community, connectivity, customer care, and communication.

So as to have a competitive edge in the market, Amazon.com focused on diversification by selling different products online. The company also focused on collaborating with different virtual companies to showcase and sell their product through Amazon.com. It also signed the contract with different brick and mortar stores so as to increase its products to be sold. Despite of the diversification, the company was able to have a strong focus on customer value and satisfaction.

Value Delivery

The company delivers value with a strong focus on delivering the products to the consumers with a strong focus on delivery and inbound and outbound logistics.

Value Servicing

Amazon provides service to customers via internally and externally managed contact centers and features on the company Web site. These features allow customers to perform various activities, including tracking orders and shipments, reviewing estimated delivery dates, and cancelling unshipped items. Customers who cannot resolve their inquiries using the Web site features can call or e-mail customer service representatives (CSRs) available in the contact centers 24 hours. To handle growing sales and their inherent seasonality (the traditional retail variety and that due to Internet usage, which generally declines during the summer), Amazon must size appropriately the capacity of its contact centers (processing network). It must make decisions about hiring and training at internally managed centers and about the volume of voice calls and e-mail messages to allocate to external service providers

The company’s perception is to be the world’s prime establishment for the entire needs of every online shopper/customer. The services provided by Amazon.com are through an assortment of third party businesses, such as, Target, Toys R Us, and Expedia. By choosing to utilize a third party Amazon.com has an advantage over its competitors. The advantage is that there is no need for minimal products to be ordered since there isn’t a warehouse. Amazon.com purchase’s the items directly from the company and the third-party vendor ship’s the customer’s purchase(s) directly to them, therefore, creating the opportunity for volume purchases and more revenue for Amazon. “Sometimes criticized for its focus on market share over profits, Amazon.com put investor fears to rest when it secured its first net profit during the fourth quarter of 2001. Selling products over the Internet offered a variety of choices and opportunities. One of the pioneers of e-commerce was Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com,” How stuff works (Layton 1998-2011).

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Amazon.com is the largest online retailer in United States, whose sales revenue is more than three time its nearest competitor Staple. The company has a market cap of nearly $80 billion with yearly revenues of around $35 billion CITATION Ama111 l 1033 (Amazon Financials, 2011). The products of Amazon.com include books, movies, music, games, digital downloads, electronics and computers etc. The business model of Amazon.com is based on e-commerce technology. The e-commerce business is characterized by large volumes of transactions, small value of individual orders, odd place of delivery, speed in internal movement, wider product portfolio, and a large number of customer spread over a wide geographical area. Manual operations have no scope in e-commerce logistics operations. The component of logistics, such as order processing, transportation, inventory management, packaging, and delivery require close coordination using IT solutions. The latest bestselling product of the company is Kindle that gives a digital and portable experience to book reading CITATION Rit09 l 1033 (McGrath, 2009).

Weaknesses

The primary weakness of the company is its strategy is based on low prices. This means that it is employing a cost differentiation but not focused differentiation in the market. Another weakness of the company remains the complexity of its business.

Opportunity

The increase of pre-sale products/purchases (advance purchasing) would allow customer to pay products before they are available and months before they have to pay the provider. Markets underdeveloped, with the rapid increase of internet usage and broadband in other countries Amazon can increase its’ number of potential online customers. Amazon.com is an example of what an e commerce business should embody. They not only look out for the best interest of their customers with security featured protection but, they also allow individuals and businesses alike to earn profits through the use of their web site. This is what creates revenue for Amazon. Continued success, attracting loyal consumers and associates, and becoming the world’s largest e commerce business is Amazon’s mission.

Threats

Primary threat of the Amazon remains the growing competition from competitors. A company like Barnes Noble and Chapters are posing continues competition for Amazon. Other threats of the company are risk inventory and pressure to performance.

Environmental Analysis

Amazon.com being the market leader in online retailing has a huge consumer base and high turnover. Barnes Noble being the immediate rival for Amazon lacks behind many miles as the turnover of Amazon is nearly 5 times more than that of Barnes Noble. Chapters.com is still a small player in the online retailing market which caters a niche segment and is showing a high growth rate. Websites of all the three companies are based on certain communication technologies having some similarities and dissimilarities. The websites are based on visual communications while transactions in all of them take place through e-commerce technologies. Also the communication technologies in websites show renovation into e-business especially in case of Amazon. Amazon.com has identified four distinct phases of e-business. The first phase is marked by the implementation of a website that will enable the concentrated organization to buy and sell online. The second phase involves putting supply chain management processes online by linking suppliers with the enterprise using extranets and intranets. In the third phase, the organization forms alliances (content, marketing and commerce) with other online players indicating adoption of e-business as a commercial tool. This alters the way in which the organization operates. In the fourth and final stage, there is a convergence that will lead to innovative products and services.

In the online retailing business an organization can either score on cost leadership or differentiation. In this business cost leadership is not an option; hence only feasible option is to differentiate and survive. With ecommerce capabilities the organization can differentiate about two competitive positioning strategies –differentiation or cost leadership. A differentiator invests in creating high offering value while a cost leader has the lowest costs of the product in the market. If a firm can provide a differentiated product in the market it will create a niche for itself, while if it provides same product – then it should do that at a lower cost. If the case is involving a niche then this strategy is termed as focus. Hence this strategy creates trades off for the firm –either invest in offering higher value or invest in lower cost.

Financial Analysis

The primary source of revenue for Amazon.com is the sale of products and services to customers. The company offers everything from books, electronics, sportswear, tennis rackets, food, children toys, and gold- silver-and diamond jewelry. It was one of-the-first major companies to sell goods over the internet, which its main source of revenue. The revenue generated by the company in 2012 was $42000 as compared to $30792 in 2011 and $22273 in 2010. Thus, we can say that the product revenue of the company is growing by more than 37% yearly. The revenue for services is recorded at $6077 for the year 2012.

Considering the investment in assets, we can say that the company has purchased fixed assets which includes the internal use software as well as web development software in 2012 of $1811 million, the company has also invested in acquisition of other companies with which the company has been able to expand on its market base as well as technologies. The investment done in year 2012 on acquisitions has been recorded at $705 million.

Amazon has been expanding its business operations and product offering through various acquisitions. In 2009, the company acquired Zappos.com, an online apparel, footwear and accessories retailer. This acquisition enabled Amazon to tap the internet sales of apparel, the largest online shopping category and one in which Amazon has had limited success in the past. Later, in February 2010, the company acquired Touchco, a touch screen technology company. Amazon merged Touchco’s technology and staff members into its Kindle hardware division. This acquisition expanded Amazon’s platform to encompass more functionality and more content on Kindle. It also helps Amazon to address some of the form-factor issues with the Kindle.

Further in October 2010, the company acquired BuyVIP.com, a fashion and lifestyle online buying community. This acquisition strengthened Amazon’s position in the retail of fashion apparel. BuyVIP.com has more than six million members in countries such as Spain, Germany, and Italy. It offers members top fashion and lifestyle products at lower price points. In November 2010, Amazon acquired Quidsi, which operates Diapers.com and Soap.com. Diapers.com is an online baby care specialty site, and Soap.com is an online site for everyday essentials. The acquisition of Quidsi also brought the ownership of BeautyBar.com under Amazon. BeautyBar.com is a prestige beauty boutique. Later in January 2011, Amazon acquired the remaining shares in LOVEFiLM International, one of the leading European subscription entertainment service providers. It offers online DVD and games rental-by-post, and streams films and TV shows over the internet to personal computers, internet enabled TVs, and Playstation3. LOVEFiLM operates in the UK, Germany, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

These acquisitions have added new customer base and complement Amazon’s existing product portfolio which has affected the prices of the company in a positive way.

The focus on Kindle has also improved on the share prices of the company tremendously. Amazon has dominated the fast-growing electronic book market for the past few years through its e-reader device, Kindle. In 2007, the company launched its e-reader, Kindle, in the US market. Kindle is Amazon’s portable reader that wirelessly downloads books, blogs, magazines and newspapers to a high-resolution electronic paper display that looks like real paper.

Thus we can say that the company is making investment on its assets with which the company is expanding its market base as well as improving its services.

Considering the prices of the company i.e. Amazon.com we can say that the prices of the shares has increased tremendously over last 5 years, On 1st January’ 2010, the prices of the shares was $133.9 whereas in 2011 it increased to 184.22 and in 2012 it decreased to 179.03 whereas it is currently being sold at $256.41, which shows that the shares of the company has increased by about 67% in last 3 years.

Ratio Analysis:

2003-12 2004-12 2005-12 2006-12 2007-12 2008-12 2009-12 2010-12 2011-12 2012-12 TTM

Revenue USD Mil 5,264 6,921 8,490 10,711 14,835 19,166 24,509 34,204 48,077 61,093 70,133

Gross Margin % 23.9 23.1 24.0 22.9 22.6 22.3 22.6 22.3 22.4 24.8 26.6

Operating Income USD Mil 271 440 432 389 655 842 1,129 1,406 862 676 640

Operating Margin % 5.1 6.4 5.1 3.6 4.4 4.4 4.6 4.1 1.8 1.1 0.9

Net Income USD Mil 35 588 359 190 476 645 902 1,152 631 -39 132

Earnings Per Share USD 0.08 1.39 0.84 0.45 1.12 1.49 2.04 2.53 1.37 -0.09 0.29

Dividends USD — — — — — — — — — — —

Payout Ratio % — — — — — — — — — — —

Shares Mil 419 425 426 424 424 432 442 456 461 453 462

Book Value Per Share USD -2.58 -0.56 0.59 1.05 2.88 6.23 11.84 15.22 17.05 18.04 19.85

Operating Cash Flow USD Mil 392 567 733 702 1,405 1,697 3,293 3,495 3,903 4,180 —

Cap Spending USD Mil -46 -89 -204 -216 -224 -333 -373 -979 -1,811 -3,785 —

Free Cash Flow USD Mil 346 477 529 486 1,181 1,364 2,920 2,516 2,092 395 —

Free Cash Flow Per Share USD 0.83 1.12 1.24 1.15 2.79 3.16 6.61 5.52 4.54 0.87 —

Working Capital USD Mil 568 919 1,000 841 1,450 1,411 2,433 3,375 2,594 2,294 —

Margins % of Sales 2003-12 2004-12 2005-12 2006-12 2007-12 2008-12 2009-12 2010-12 2011-12 2012-12 TTM

Revenue 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

COGS 76.12 76.85 75.98 77.07 77.40 77.72 77.43 77.65 77.56 75.25 73.45

Gross Margin 23.88 23.15 24.02 22.93 22.60 22.28 22.57 22.35 22.44 24.75 26.55

SG&A 14.74 13.27 13.62 13.12 12.67 12.50 17.54 12.86 14.28 15.92 16.86

R&D 3.95 3.63 5.31 6.18 5.51 5.39 — 5.07 6.05 7.47 8.62

Other 0.05 -0.12 — — — — 0.42 0.31 0.32 0.26 0.16

Operating Margin 5.14 6.36 5.09 3.63 4.42 4.39 4.61 4.11 1.79 1.11 0.91

Net Int Inc & Other -5.14 -1.22 -0.05 -0.11 0.03 0.31 0.13 0.27 0.15 -0.22 -0.36

EBT Margin — 5.14 5.04 3.52 4.45 4.70 4.74 4.38 1.94 0.89 0.56

Profitability 2003-12 2004-12 2005-12 2006-12 2007-12 2008-12 2009-12 2010-12 2011-12 2012-12 TTM

Tax Rate % — — 22.20 49.60 27.88 27.41 21.79 23.51 31.16 78.68 45.01

Net Margin % 0.67 8.50 4.23 1.77 3.21 3.37 3.68 3.37 1.31 -0.06 0.19

Asset Turnover (Average) 2.54 2.56 2.45 2.66 2.74 2.59 2.22 2.10 2.18 2.11 2.56

Return on Assets % 1.70 21.75 10.34 4.72 8.78 8.72 8.15 7.07 2.86 -0.13 0.48

Financial Leverage (Average) — — 15.02 10.12 5.42 3.11 2.63 2.74 3.26 3.97 3.51

Return on Equity % — — — 56.13 58.48 33.34 22.75 19.01 8.63 -0.49 1.59

Return on Invested Capital % — — 16.93 8.09 20.23 20.90 20.73 17.44 7.03 -0.97 0.42

Interest Coverage — — — — — — 35.15 39.38 15.37 6.91 4.03

2003-12 2004-12 2005-12 2006-12 2007-12 2008-12 2009-12 2010-12 2011-12 2012-12 Latest QtrRevenue %

Year over Year 33.84 31.49 22.67 26.16 38.50 29.19 27.88 39.56 40.56 27.07 23.80

3-Year Average 23.98 30.39 29.24 26.72 28.93 31.18 31.77 32.11 35.87 35.59 —

5-Year Average 53.88 33.38 25.18 27.96 30.41 29.49 28.77 32.14 35.03 32.72 —

10-Year Average — — — 92.04 58.55 41.16 31.05 28.61 31.45 31.56 —

Operating Income %

Year over Year 321.99 62.76 -1.91 -9.95 68.38 28.55 34.09 24.54 -38.69 -21.58 -10.71

3-Year Average — — 88.87 12.86 14.14 24.91 42.64 29.00 0.79 -15.71 —

5-Year Average — — — — 59.16 25.49 20.72 26.62 17.25 0.63 —

10-Year Average — — — — — — — — — 26.56 —

Net Income %

Year over Year — 1567.85 -38.99 -47.08 150.53 35.50 39.85 27.72 -45.23 — —

3-Year Average — — — 75.28 -6.83 21.57 68.07 34.26 -0.73 — —

5-Year Average — — — — — 78.81 8.92 26.26 27.13 — —

10-Year Average — — — — — — — — — — —

EPS %

Year over Year — — -39.57 -46.43 148.89 33.04 36.91 24.02 -45.85 — -85.00

3-Year Average — — — 77.84 -6.95 21.05 65.50 31.21 -2.76 — —

5-Year Average — — — — — 79.48 7.98 24.67 24.94 — —

10-Year Average — — — — — — — — — — —

Cash Flow Ratios 2003-12 2004-12 2005-12 2006-12 2007-12 2008-12 2009-12 2010-12 2011-12 2012-12 TTM

Operating Cash Flow Growth % YOY — — — -423.00 — — — 613.00 — 710.00 —

Free Cash Flow Growth % YOY — — — -813.00 — — — — — — —

Cap Ex as a % of Sales 0.87 1.29 2.40 2.02 1.51 1.74 1.52 2.86 3.77 6.20 —

Free Cash Flow/Sales % 6.57 6.90 6.23 4.54 7.96 7.12 11.91 7.36 4.35 0.65 —

Free Cash Flow/Net Income 9.81 0.81 1.47 2.56 2.48 2.11 3.24 2.18 3.32 -10.13 —

Balance Sheet Items (in %) 2003-12 2004-12 2005-12 2006-12 2007-12 2008-12 2009-12 2010-12 2011-12 2012-12 Latest QtrCash & Short-Term Investments 64.51 54.77 54.11 46.28 47.99 44.83 46.09 46.61 37.88 35.17 24.13

Accounts Receivable 6.11 6.13 7.41 9.15 10.87 9.95 7.15 8.44 10.17 10.33 9.59

Inventory 13.59 14.77 15.31 20.10 18.50 16.83 15.72 17.03 19.75 18.53 19.05

Other Current Assets — 2.51 2.41 1.79 2.27 2.45 1.97 1.04 1.39 1.39 1.63

Total Current Assets 84.22 78.17 79.25 77.31 79.63 74.06 70.93 73.13 69.19 65.42 54.41

Net PP&E 10.37 7.58 9.42 10.47 8.37 10.27 9.34 12.84 17.47 21.69 31.36

Intangibles 3.22 4.28 4.30 4.47 3.42 5.27 8.93 7.18 7.73 7.84 8.27

Other Long-Term Assets 2.19 9.97 7.03 7.75 8.57 10.40 10.80 6.85 5.60 5.06 5.97

Total Assets 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Accounts Payable 37.92 35.15 36.96 41.62 43.10 43.23 40.58 42.83 44.09 40.91 31.50

Short-Term Debt 0.20 0.07 — — — 0.71 — — — — —

Taxes Payable — — — — — — — — — — —

Accrued Liabilities 14.70 11.12 15.23 16.41 14.17 13.15 12.73 12.35 14.84 17.46 19.14

Other Short-Term Liabilities 5.13 3.54 — — — — — — — — —

Total Current Liabilities 57.94 49.88 52.19 58.03 57.27 57.08 53.31 55.18 58.93 58.37 50.64

Long-Term Debt 89.98 57.11 41.15 28.58 19.77 4.92 0.79 0.98 1.01 9.47 9.55

Other Long-Term Liabilities — — — 3.51 4.50 5.86 7.84 7.33 9.38 6.99 11.29

Total Liabilities 147.92 106.99 93.34 90.12 81.54 67.86 61.94 63.48 69.31 74.84 71.48

Total Stockholders’ Equity -47.92 -6.99 6.66 9.88 18.46 32.14 38.06 36.52 30.69 25.16 28.52

Total Liabilities & Equity 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00

Liquidity/Financial Health 2003-12 2004-12 2005-12 2006-12 2007-12 2008-12 2009-12 2010-12 2011-12 2012-12 Latest QtrCurrent Ratio 1.45 1.57 1.52 1.33 1.39 1.30 1.33 1.33 1.17 1.12 1.07

Quick Ratio 1.22 1.22 1.18 0.96 1.03 0.96 1.00 1.00 0.82 0.78 0.67

Financial Leverage — — 15.02 10.12 5.42 3.11 2.63 2.74 3.26 3.97 3.51

Debt/Equity — — 6.18 2.89 1.07 0.15 0.02 0.09 0.18 0.38 0.33

Efficiency 2003-12 2004-12 2005-12 2006-12 2007-12 2008-12 2009-12 2010-12 2011-12 2012-12 TTM

Days Sales Outstanding 8.47 8.73 10.17 11.47 13.58 14.59 13.51 13.74 15.78 17.73 14.18

Days Inventory 22.61 26.54 29.58 31.90 33.01 31.84 34.33 36.92 40.10 43.76 39.44

Payables Period 65.50 67.30 70.94 70.35 73.29 78.28 88.46 93.83 93.95 97.12 65.21

Cash Conversion Cycle -34.42 -32.03 -31.19 -26.98 -26.70 -31.85 -40.62 -43.17 -38.06 -35.63 -11.59

Receivables Turnover 43.08 41.80 35.89 31.83 26.88 25.02 27.01 26.57 23.13 20.59 25.74

Inventory Turnover 16.14 13.75 12.34 11.44 11.06 11.46 10.63 9.89 9.10 8.34 9.25

Fixed Assets Turnover 22.70 29.42 28.58 26.61 29.67 27.44 22.86 18.47 14.08 10.65 8.96

Asset Turnover 2.54 2.56 2.45 2.66 2.74 2.59 2.22 2.10 2.18 2.11 2.56

Liquidity ratios: Considering the liquidity, we will be able to analyze the ability of the companies to meet their short term obligations, considering the current ratio of amazon.com we can say the current ratio of the company has decreased over last three years the current ratio of the company in 2010 was 1.35 and in 2011 it was 1.75, which states that the ability of the firm to meet short term obligations has decreased over the period.

Solvency ratio: Solvency and leverage ratio helps in analyzing