Some takeaways for me include having a better understanding of
how to analyze financial statements and look at past
statements/numbers in order to gain an idea of where a company is
headed. I learned how we need to make adjustments for uncommon
factors - the pandemic affected everyone and it was important to
understand how numbers for the past few years aren't necessarily
indicative of future potential. In my current role, this class reinforced
how to examine and interpret financial statements. I certainly
appreciate any help in strengthening my understanding of balance
sheets and income statements.
For my project, I chose Amazon. They're currently the largest e-
commerce retailer, but competition is increasing. Some trends to
look for this year and beyond include conventional bank loans being
replaced with revenue-based financing, e-commerce businesses are
going global to overcome growth bottlenecks, and competition in the
industry is heating up. By the end of this year e-commerce will
account for just over 20% of global retail sales, up from 10% five
years ago. b (Hung, 2022). b Amazon will need to keep up with the
increase in competition. Currently, Wal-Mart is their biggest
competitor so Amazon will have to find creative ways to keep their
position as #1. Amazon continues to raise the cost of their Prime
membership, but they also continue to add more perks to that
membership. While Wal-Mart provides two-day shipping on many of
their items, Amazon includes music streaming, film and tv streaming,
free e-books books, and grocery discounts at their Whole Foods
stores.
Reference
Hung, P. b (2022, March 14). E-commerce trends 2022: what the future holds.
Forbes.com. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/03/14/e-
commerce-trends-2022-what-the-future-holds/?sh=76d1aaa758da
