Amazon sees e-commerce struggle amid AI turmoil

While Amazon’s cloud services are posting record growth, the online retailer’s core business is faltering. Product sales are growing by barely 2%, and advertising revenue is also losing momentum. Moreover, AI shopping assistants threaten to put pressure on the e-commerce giant’s lucrative revenue model.

An early Prime Day

Amazon’s quarterly results paint a mixed picture. The American tech giant saw its total revenue rise 12% in the third quarter to $201.9 billion (€181.4 billion), but its core retail operations are growing at a significantly slower pace. Direct product sales rose by a mere 2% to $68.5 billion (€61.5 billion), the slowest growth rate in three years. This stands in stark contrast to the AWS cloud service, which grew by 39% to $46 billion (€41.3 billion).