Saturday, September 23

 

You’ve probably noticed that Amazon stock has been on a downward swing recently. Starting with a peak in early February, the stock has continued to fall, reaching a record low of $1,814 this morning. It’s easy to see why — we’ve seen major shake-ups at the company’s headquarters, with CEO Jeff Bezos even questioning their longer-term strategy. The question is why? And is it something you should worry about? Here’s why Amazon stock is falling, and what you can do about it.

Amazon has lost its leading position

Amazon stock forecast has been promising since IPO as the company has always dominated the ecommerce world, with CEO Jeff Bezos famously stating that the company would be “big enough to be successful, and not too big to be able to see what is going on.” Those grand ambitions have been diluted as the company has branched out into many different areas, including grocery delivery, smart speakers, and even its own line of clothing. In its early days, Amazon focused almost exclusively on ecommerce, but as the company expanded, it began dabbling in areas like grocery delivery and smart speakers that could compete with the likes of Amazon itself. As the company has expanded into many different areas, it has lost its early lead in almost all of those categories — it’s currently behind Google and Walmart in search, and is trailing Apple’s smart speaker ecosystem.

It’ll be hard to make money from the bottom line

Ecommerce sales are projected to hit $2 trillion by 2021 — that’s an enormous market and an opportunity for any company to tap into. However, it’s also incredibly competitive and has seen numerous companies falling by the wayside. Amazon has been the clear leader since its inception, but the race for the bottom line has seen others like eBay and Etsy enter the fray, and many analysts think that Amazon will soon be pushed out of the top spot. Amazon is expected to see its revenue fall, possibly to $100 billion by 2021. While that’s still a massive amount of cash, it would be a massive return on investment for Amazon, and it would mean that the company would have to make a lot of money from a smaller percentage of customers.

The Whole Foods acquisition has yet to pay off

Amazon has become an essential part of many consumers’ lives and for many analysts is the best stocks to buy. Not only do they shop on the site for essentials like food and household items, but they also use Alexa, their voice assistant, to control their homes and more. The company’s expansion into groceries has been one of the key drivers behind its fall, and its acquisition of Whole Foods has been lauded as a way to disrupt the industry. However, the Whole Foods deal hasn’t yet seen the benefits that Amazon hoped it would. Many analysts have pointed to the deal as a key factor behind the stock’s decline, as it’s seen Amazon’s potential to disrupt the grocery industry fall short.

It’s time for an Alexa rebrand

Amazon’s Alexa has been a clear win for the company — it’s one of its best-selling products, and it’s seen as a key part of the company’s future plans. However, Alexa’s branding has become confusing for consumers, especially when it comes to the smart speakers. The name Alexa is often used to refer to other Alexa-enabled devices, and the word has also been used in a crude sense. Both of these factors are contributing to a rebrand, which could finally bring some clarity to Alexa’s place at Amazon. Rebranding Alexa could help consumers understand which devices use the assistant, and it could also help to avoid the crude use of the word.

Bottomline

This is just the start of a rough quarter for Amazon, and it’s clear that investors are getting nervous. It’s not clear what the company’s future holds, but it seems likely that this will only get worse in the coming months. From an investment perspective, it’s important to remember that Amazon is still a massive company — with a $100 billion revenue goal, Amazon is still a long way off. The stock is only one part of the Amazon ecosystem, but it’s one worth considering as you decide which stocks to invest in. Amazon might soon be listed on the Dow. The Dow Jones today is trading at $32,977.