Amazon chief backs Royal Mail
Amazon UK chief executive Brian McBride has urged retailers not to turn their backs on Royal Mail as strike action continues to threaten online retailers, reports Retail Week. The article continues:
McBride said Amazon is still a customer of Royal Mail and that now is not the right time to make a “strategic decision” about whether to continue the relationship in the future. He said: “We have contingencies in place and there are several couriers we can use. It is not wise to make hasty decisions.” He added: “Let’s see when they settle and how it is settled.”
Amazon’s international arm, which includes the UK, increased sales by 33% in the three months to 30 September to £2.6bn. McBride said there is now great momentum for its fourth quarter as it enters the crucial Christmas trading period.
The US etail giant has forecast growth of between 21% and 36% in its final quarter across the business. McBride said the etailer expected netbook computers and TVs to be big sellers this Christmas, and that shoppers will be trading up in electricals. He also expected entertainment to perform well with products such as Robbie Williams’ comeback album and Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle’s debut album already achieving massive pre-orders.
McBride added that there had been a lot of pent up demand for Amazon’s Kindle e-reader, which is now available to order for customers in the UK.
The Kindle has been a huge success in the US and helped the business achieve a 68% increase in profits for its third quarter.
Amazon UK launched its standalone shoes and accessories site Javari at the start of this month but McBride said there are no plans to launch other categories in a standalone format. “There are things we wanted to do in the shoes category that we would not want to roll out to all other categories,” he said.
Javari has free next-day delivery and returns as well as a price match promise and zoom function for products.
