• From The Information:
"E-commerce sales as a percentage of total retail flatlined in 2022 after rising sharply for several prior years, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released Friday. The data underscores the challenge facing an array of companies that rely on growth in online shopping, including small online sellers, big ecommerce firms like Amazon and payment processors like Stripe.
"While online sales continued to grow last year, physical retail sales grew at roughly the same rate, leaving e-commerce’s share of the total market flat at 14.6% in 2022, the latest report shows. The stagnation follows a period of rapid growth during the pandemic, when e-commerce grew from 11% of total retail sales in 2019 to 13.6% in 2020 and 14.6% in 2021, according to previous census reports.
"E-commerce giant Amazon built out infrastructure over the past few years based on the assumption that rapid online shopping growth would continue at a breakneck pace even after the pandemic. But that growth has failed to materialize, leaving Amazon with a glut of excess warehouses and delivery stations. It will take Amazon through the end of 2025 to grow into its current fulfillment center capacity, according to a Morgan Stanley analysis published in January."
• From CNBC:
"A group of Amazon employees is urging CEO Andy Jassy to reconsider a new return-to-office mandate.
"On Friday, Jassy announced Amazon would require corporate staffers to spend at least three days a week in the office beginning May 1. Jassy said he and Amazon’s leadership team, known as the S-team, decided it would be easier for employees to collaborate and invent together in person and that in-person work would strengthen the company’s culture. The move marks a shift from Amazon’s pandemic-era policy, last updated in October 2021, which left it up to managers to decide how frequently their teams needed to be in the office. Since then, there’s been a mix of fully remote and hybrid work among Amazon’s white-collar workforce.
"Staffers on Friday created a Slack channel to advocate for remote work and share their concerns about the new return-to-work policy, according to screenshots viewed by CNBC. Almost 14,000 employees had joined the Slack channel as of Tuesday morning.
"The employees have also drafted a petition, addressed to Jassy and the S-team, that calls for leadership to drop the new policy, saying it 'runs contrary' to Amazon’s positions on diversity and inclusion, affordable housing, sustainability, and focus on being the 'Earth’s Best Employer'."
