亞馬遜 (AMZN) 2016 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. Good day, everyone and welcome to the Amazon.com Q3 2016 financial results teleconference.

謝謝你的支持。大家好，歡迎參加 Amazon.com 2016 年第三季度財務業績電話會議。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Today's call is being recorded. For opening remarks, I will be turning the call over to the Director of Investor Relations, Darin Manney. Please go ahead.

今天的電話正在錄音。對於開場白，我將把電話轉給投資者關係總監 Darin Manney。請繼續。

Hello and welcome to our Q3 2016 financial results conference call. Joining us today to answer your questions is Brian Olsavsky, our CFO. As you listen to today's conference call, we encourage you to have our press release in front of you which includes our financial result as well as metric and commentary on the quarter. Please note, unless otherwise stated, all comparisons in this call will be against our results for the comparable period of 2015.

您好，歡迎參加我們的 2016 年第三季度財務業績電話會議。今天加入我們回答您的問題的是我們的首席財務官 Brian Olsavsky。當您收聽今天的電話會議時，我們鼓勵您將我們的新聞稿放在您面前，其中包括我們的財務業績以及本季度的指標和評論。請注意，除非另有說明，否則本次電話會議中的所有比較都將與我們 2015 年可比期間的結果相反。

Our comments and responses to your questions reflect Management's view as of today, October 27th, 2016, only and will include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially. Additional information about factors that could potentially impact our financial result is included in today's press release and our filings with the SEC, including our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent filing.

我們對您的問題的評論和答复僅反映管理層截至 2016 年 10 月 27 日的觀點，並將包括前瞻性陳述。實際結果可能大不相同。有關可能影響我們財務業績的因素的其他信息包含在今天的新聞稿和我們向 SEC 提交的文件中，包括我們最近的 10-K 表格年度報告和後續文件。

During this call, we may discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. In the press release, slides accompanying this webcast and our filings with the SEC, each of which are posted on our IR website, you will find additional disclosures regarding these non-GAAP measures, including reconciliations of these measures with comparable GAAP measures.

在這次電話會議中，我們可能會討論某些非公認會計原則的財務措施。在新聞稿、本網絡廣播隨附的幻燈片和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中，每一個都發佈在我們的投資者關係網站上，您會發現有關這些非公認會計原則措施的額外披露，包括這些措施與可比公認會計原則措施的對賬。

Our guidance incorporates the order trends that we have seen to date and what we believe today to be appropriate assumptions. Our results are inherently unpredictable and may be materially affected by many factors, including fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, changes in global economic conditions and customer spending, world event, the rate of growth of the Internet, online commerce and cloud services and the various factors detailed in our filings with the SEC. Our guidance also assumes, among other things, that we don't conclude any additional business acquisitions, investment restructurings or legal settlements. It is not possible to accurately predict demand for our goods and services and therefore our actual results could differ materially from our guidance.

我們的指導包含了我們迄今為止看到的訂單趨勢以及我們今天認為是適當的假設。我們的結果本質上是不可預測的，並可能受到許多因素的重大影響，包括外匯匯率波動、全球經濟狀況和客戶支出的變化、世界事件、互聯網、在線商務和雲服務的增長率以及各種因素在我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中有詳細說明。除其他外，我們的指導還假設我們不會完成任何額外的業務收購、投資重組或法律和解。無法準確預測對我們的商品和服務的需求，因此我們的實際結果可能與我們的指導存在重大差異。

With that, we will move to Q&A. Operator, please remind our listeners how to initiate a question.

有了這個，我們將進入問答環節。接線員，請提醒我們的聽眾如何發起提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our first question comes from Douglas Anmuth with JPMorgan. Please state your question.

我們的第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Douglas Anmuth。請陳述你的問題。

Thanks for taking the question. The international retail segment margin was the lowest we have seen in quite a while. I was hoping that you could provide some of the key drivers there in terms of the drag and any color on how to think about the incremental international investment that might be impacting the 4Q guide. Thanks.

感謝您提出問題。國際零售部門的利潤率是我們在相當長一段時間內看到的最低點。我希望您能提供一些關鍵驅動因素，包括拖累以及如何考慮可能影響第四季度指南的增量國際投資。謝謝。

Sure. Thanks, Doug. Specifically to international, we are seeing expansion to support selection expansion fulfillment network increases. We're also investing in digital content and additional prime benefits, Fresh location and Prime Now. By far the biggest individual thing is the investment in India that we continue to make. Very excited about the initial reaction in India from both customers and also sellers. That is essentially the international margin guidance in Q4.

當然。謝謝，道格。具體到國際，我們看到支持選擇擴展履行網絡的擴展。我們還投資於數字內容和其他主要福利、新鮮地點和 Prime Now。到目前為止，最大的個人問題是我們繼續在印度進行的投資。對印度客戶和賣家的初步反應感到非常興奮。這基本上是第四季度的國際利潤率指導。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

Thank you. Our next question comes from Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray. Please proceed with your question.

謝謝你。我們的下一個問題來自 Gene Munster 和 Piper Jaffray。請繼續您的問題。

Great. Thanks. I guess when we think about the progression in margins in the second half versus the second half of 2015 and kind of the flat lining of overall margin at this point, excluding AWS, should we think about this as a temporary plateau that will at some point will resume once you start leveraging your fulfillment build-out or is there something structural that is philosophically changing with the way that you operate your business. Thanks.

偉大的。謝謝。我想當我們考慮到 2015 年下半年與 2015 年下半年相比的利潤率進展以及此時整體利潤率的持平（不包括 AWS）時，我們是否應該將其視為暫時的高原，在某個時候一旦您開始利用您的履行構建，或者是否存在某些結構性的東西隨著您經營業務的方式而發生哲學上的變化，它將恢復。謝謝。

Yes. Thanks, Gene. We will continue to invest in the business where we are seeing significant customer traction. The things that I'm about to mention fall into that category. The largest individual reasons for the ramp-up in investment between the first half and second half of this year and also second half of this year versus second half of last year are the things that I mentioned on the call last quarter.

是的。謝謝，吉恩。我們將繼續投資於我們看到顯著客戶吸引力的業務。我將要提到的事情屬於這一類。今年上半年和下半年以及今年下半年與去年下半年相比，投資增加的最大個人原因是我在上個季度的電話會議上提到的事情。

First, video content and marketing associated with that is nearly doubling year over year in the second half of the year. It continues to be a large increase for both Q3 and Q4. In the quarter in Q3, we added 18 fulfillment centers and we have added 5 more in October. For the year, we will add 26. Most of those are in North America.

首先，與此相關的視頻內容和營銷在下半年幾乎同比翻了一番。第三季度和第四季度繼續大幅增長。在第三季度，我們增加了 18 個履行中心，並且在 10 月份又增加了 5 個。今年，我們將增加 26 個。其中大部分在北美。

That compares to 14 last year and I would -- looking back, there is -- the last time we had double-digit increase in fulfillment centers was 2012 when we added 11 in the third quarter. There was a rare aggregation of startups in Q3 and into Q4. It is helping us position better for Q4 volumes, because paid unit growth continues to be strong and Amazon fulfilled unit growth, which includes what we ship, includes FBA is significantly higher than even that. We are continuing to build for high AFN, or Amazon fulfilled network demand, including both retail and FBA.

與去年的 14 個相比，我會 - 回首過去，有 - 我們上一次在履行中心實現兩位數增長是在 2012 年，當時我們在第三季度增加了 11 個。第三季度和第四季度出現了罕見的初創公司聚集。它幫助我們更好地定位第四季度的銷量，因為付費單位增長繼續強勁，亞馬遜實現的單位增長，包括我們發貨的產品，包括 FBA 遠高於此。我們將繼續為高 AFN 構建，或亞馬遜滿足網絡需求，包括零售和 FBA。

The number of warehouses that we added represent the 30% increase in square footage year over year. Last year we increased square footage by just under 20%. The definition of square footage in this case is all of our warehouses, plus our sortation and delivery centers, so it's pretty much our end-customer service centers. It's pretty much our square footage that support operations.

我們添加的倉庫數量代表了面積同比增長 30%。去年，我們的建築面積增加了不到 20%。在這種情況下，平方英尺的定義是我們所有的倉庫，加上我們的分揀和交付中心，所以它幾乎是我們的最終客戶服務中心。支持運營的幾乎是我們的平方英尺。

Those will dissipate as we -- as they burn in. We've talked about fulfillment centers initial startup costs include increase in fixed cost but also variable cost as we train workers and also bring in inventory. There's a number of transportation costs also related to the startup of a new fulfillment center, both inbound and outbound. They are inherently less efficient than more established, mature buildings. There will be a cycle where those will be more productive next year than they are this year and more productive in 2018 than they are in 2017.

這些將隨著我們的消耗而消散 - 隨著它們的燃燒。我們已經討論過履行中心的初始啟動成本包括固定成本的增加以及我們培訓工人和引入庫存時的可變成本。還有一些運輸成本也與新的履行中心的啟動有關，包括入站和出站。它們本質上比更成熟的成熟建築效率低。將會有一個週期，明年的生產力將高於今年，2018 年的生產力將高於 2017 年。

What you are seeing, essentially, in the second half of this year is a step-up investment, primarily around digital content and also the fulfillment center investment, but also things like Echo and Alexa which we're adding a lot of resources to, India and AWS as we add people there to support additional service rapid growth in that business.

從本質上講，您在今年下半年看到的是一項逐步投資，主要圍繞數字內容和履行中心投資，還有我們正在添加大量資源的 Echo 和 Alexa 之類的東西，印度和 AWS，因為我們在那裡增加人員以支持該業務的額外服務快速增長。

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Brian Nowak with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed with your question.

謝謝你。我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Brian Nowak。請繼續您的問題。

Thanks for taking my question. I have two. The first one, just to go back, Brian, to the fulfillment build. In the past you talked about how it takes time to kind of get the fulfillment centers to peak efficiencies. With these new FCs opening, can you talk about if you become more efficient, so if you get into a lower volume quarter next year, there's less risk of deleverage or should we still think about it's going to take time to get up to peak efficiency?

感謝您提出我的問題。我有兩個。第一個，只是為了回去，布賴恩，完成構建。過去，您談到過如何讓履行中心達到最高效率需要時間。隨著這些新FC的開放，您能否談談您是否變得更有效率，因此，如果您明年進入較低銷量的季度，去槓桿的風險就會降低，或者我們是否仍應考慮達到最高效率需要時間?

The second one at AWS, Amazon the Company is good in removing friction in the purchase process. Can you talk about some of the main hurdles you have to overcome for large enterprises to start using AWS more? Thanks.

AWS 的第二個，亞馬遜公司擅長消除購買過程中的摩擦。您能否談談大型企業開始更多地使用 AWS 必須克服的一些主要障礙？謝謝。

Sure. In the fulfillment network, as we build it yes, they will be more productive next year than this holiday peak and probably even more productive in 2018. I can't forecast it for you into next year quite yet, but we certainly had productivity and additional costs in Q3 and even into Q4 of this year as we built the additional capacity. Again, the underlying reason for that capacity build is the strength in paid units and even more so in the units that we're fulfilling, driven by our FBA program.

當然。在履行網絡中，正如我們建立的那樣，他們明年的生產力將比這個假期高峰期更高，並且可能在 2018 年更有生產力。我還不能為你預測到明年，但我們當然有生產力和隨著我們建立額外的產能，第三季度甚至到今年第四季度的額外成本。同樣，這種能力建設的根本原因是付費單位的實力，在我們的 FBA 計劃的推動下，我們正在履行的單位更是如此。

The FBA program is the key pillar of our Prime offering. It adds selection. It makes Prime stronger. That's a self-reinforcing loop where Prime -- the Prime success attracts more sellers. We're glad to have that problem. We are just working very hard to get capacity in place and productive use for Q4 and beyond.

FBA 計劃是我們 Prime 產品的關鍵支柱。它增加了選擇。它使 Prime 更強大。這是一個自我強化的循環，Prime——Prime 的成功吸引了更多的賣家。我們很高興有這個問題。我們正在非常努力地為第四季度及以後的時間準備好容量並進行生產性使用。

Hi, Brian. This is Darin. On the AWS question, we continue to invest in AWS on behalf of our customers. In addition to the technologies that make integrations easier and it helps companies move from an on-prem or a hybrid IT environment into AWS if we're going to continue to do that. Specifically, the database migration tool that are helpful for customers when they move production databases from on premises to the cloud with virtually no downtime.

嗨，布賴恩。這是達林。在 AWS 問題上，我們繼續代表客戶對 AWS 進行投資。除了使集成更容易的技術之外，如果我們要繼續這樣做，它還可以幫助公司從本地或混合 IT 環境遷移到 AWS。具體來說，當客戶將生產數據庫從本地遷移到雲時，該數據庫遷移工具對他們很有幫助，幾乎沒有停機時間。

Also, many of our AWS customers are beginning to choose and continue to choose the AWS schema conversion tool which really switches database engines to get out of old-guard proprietary databases and on to AWS. We will continue to react to customer needs and that will include opening up new regions. We have opened up Ohio this past quarter. We've highlighted that we will have a number of regions coming online in a few months. Yes, we're doing a lot of things to help make it easier for all customers to migrate to AWS.

此外，我們的許多 AWS 客戶開始選擇並繼續選擇 AWS 架構轉換工具，該工具真正將數據庫引擎從老式的專有數據庫切換到 AWS。我們將繼續對客戶需求做出反應，其中包括開闢新地區。我們在上個季度開放了俄亥俄州。我們已經強調，我們將在幾個月內讓多個地區上線。是的，我們正在做很多事情來幫助所有客戶更輕鬆地遷移到 AWS。

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mark Mahaney with RBC Capital Markets. Please proceed with your question.

謝謝你。我們的下一個問題來自 RBC Capital Markets 的 Mark Mahaney。請繼續您的問題。

Okay. Hey, Brian, would you give us any commentary on two categories in particular, groceries and fashion and apparel? Particularly on groceries, I know in the release there was a couple of data points about Fresh rolling out into newer areas like Maryland. Great to see that. Can you just talk about that in the investment horizon? Is that moving the needle for you and how big that -- any way to help us quantify how big that already is to your -- to the revenue growth that you're seeing, particularly on groceries and any particular comment on fashion and apparel. Same line of thinking. Thanks.

好的。嘿，布賴恩，你能給我們評論一下，特別是雜貨、時尚和服裝這兩個類別嗎？特別是在雜貨方面，我知道在發布中有幾個關於 Fresh 向馬里蘭等新地區推出的數據點。很高興看到這一點。你能談談投資範圍內的事情嗎？這是否為您帶來了影響，以及這對您所看到的收入增長有多大 - 任何幫助我們量化已經對您有多大影響的方式 - 對您所看到的收入增長，特別是在雜貨和對時尚和服裝的任何特別評論。同樣的思路。謝謝。

Sure. Thanks, Mark. I will start with Fresh and groceries in general. Yes, this quarter we launched in Northern Virginia, Maryland, Dallas and Chicago. We also launched a new pricing plan, which is a monthly $14.99 add-on to Prime in the US. We have expanded, as you know, previously into London.

當然。謝謝，馬克。我將從一般的新鮮食品和雜貨開始。是的，本季度我們在北弗吉尼亞、馬里蘭、達拉斯和芝加哥推出。我們還推出了一項新的定價計劃，在美國向 Prime 會員提供每月 14.99 美元的附加費。如您所知，我們之前已經擴展到倫敦。

We're very happy with the progression both in the geographies that we have been in for a long time where we are at, continuing to add zip codes and additional neighborhoods and also in these new cities. Certainly a business where we continue to work on costs and profitability. We are finding at the very attractive service to our customers, which is what we're after.

我們對我們長期以來所處的地理區域的進展感到非常滿意，繼續添加郵政編碼和其他社區以及這些新城市。當然，我們繼續致力於成本和盈利能力的業務。我們正在尋找對我們的客戶非常有吸引力的服務，這就是我們所追求的。

Similarly, but not exactly the same, is the Prime Now business which has similar overlap on things besides groceries. It is a slightly different model, obviously, where we're more about immediacy and smaller list items available in one to two hours. There's certainly a lot of people who are using that for groceries and consumable items. That is now up to 40 cities across 7 countries versus 17 this time last year. We're also adding Amazon Restaurant Delivery to the Prime Now offer in 19 metropolitan cities in the US. That is up from two last year.

同樣，但不完全相同的是 Prime Now 業務，它在雜貨以外的事物上有類似的重疊。顯然，這是一個稍微不同的模型，我們更多的是在一到兩個小時內提供即時性和較小的列表項。肯定有很多人將其用於雜貨和消耗品。現在有 7 個國家的 40 個城市，而去年這個時候是 17 個。我們還在美國 19 個大城市的 Prime Now 優惠中添加了 Amazon Restaurant Delivery。這比去年增加了兩個。

We continue to believe consumables, groceries are a key part of the offer to customers. We are playing with very different models to see which works and for what needs. We're very happy with the Amazon Fresh and we have now expanded quite a bit as you see in this year. Prime Now we're also very happy with, although obviously the economics in that business are even tougher, but we do feel that our scale makes that possible because of our geographic footprint and how close we already are to customers.

我們仍然相信消耗品、雜貨是向客戶提供的關鍵部分。我們正在使用非常不同的模型來查看哪些有效以及滿足哪些需求。我們對 Amazon Fresh 感到非常滿意，正如您在今年看到的那樣，我們現在已經擴展了很多。 Prime Now 我們也很滿意，儘管顯然該業務的經濟狀況更加艱難，但我們確實認為，由於我們的地理足跡以及我們與客戶的距離，我們的規模使這成為可能。

Hi, Mark, this is Darin. On fashion, fashion and apparel continue to be a large part of our EGM business and one that we're very excited about. We continue to make it easier for brands and manufacturers to come on board in that category. We continue to work with brands to come on board. We're happy with the traction that we're seeing with those brands. As we get more and more selection, we're really pleased with the customer engagement that we have there, both from the discoverability, the technology that goes behind making it easier to shop fashion on our site, as well as the (inaudible) selection by adding the brand.

嗨，馬克，我是達林。在時尚方面，時尚和服裝仍然是我們 EGM 業務的重要組成部分，我們對此感到非常興奮。我們繼續讓品牌和製造商更容易加入該類別。我們將繼續與品牌合作以加入進來。我們對這些品牌的吸引力感到滿意。隨著我們獲得越來越多的選擇，我們對我們在那裡的客戶參與感到非常滿意，包括可發現性、使在我們網站上更容易購買時尚產品的背後技術，以及（聽不清）選擇通過添加品牌。

Sorry. To answer your question about whether that is part of investment. Yes, it certainly is part of our investment. The larger ramp, if you will, in investment that we're seeing from the back end of last year and also the first half of this year is more related to digital content and the building our fulfillment network, which I already discussed.

對不起。回答您關於這是否屬於投資的問題。是的，這當然是我們投資的一部分。如果你願意的話，我們從去年年底和今年上半年看到的更大的投資增長與我已經討論過的數字內容和建立我們的履行網絡有關。

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mark May with Citi. Please proceed with your question.

謝謝你。我們的下一個問題來自 Mark May 與 Citi 的對話。請繼續您的問題。

Thanks a lot. In some of these incremental investment areas like warehouses, logistics and also content, I know in some cases you expense up front. In some cases you amortized over time. Wondering if you can give us a sense of how much of the recent step-up is being expensed. I'm particularly looking at your COGS as a percent of retail revenues that was up year over year for the first time in quite a while. How much of that was because of content that expensed in the period? Just trying to better understand that.

非常感謝。在一些增量投資領域，如倉庫、物流和內容，我知道在某些情況下你會預先支出。在某些情況下，您會隨時間攤銷。想知道您是否可以讓我們了解最近的升級費用有多少。我特別關注您的銷貨成本佔零售收入的百分比，這是很長一段時間以來首次同比增長。其中有多少是因為在此期間花費的內容？只是想更好地理解這一點。

I think also you have been changing around, and this is happening here shortly, FBA pricing, including increasing your storage fees but also reducing your handling fees. I guess the question is, are these changes designed to just pass through kind of increasing shipping costs or is this more of a net neutral change where really the goal is to try to free up capacity in some of your facilities? Thanks.

我認為你也一直在改變，這很快就會發生在這裡，FBA 定價，包括增加你的倉儲費，但也降低你的手續費。我想問題是，這些變化是為了通過增加運輸成本而設計的，還是更多的是一種淨中性變化，真正的目標是嘗試釋放一些設施的容量？謝謝。

Let me start with your second question on FBA. Yes, we did make some changes to the pricing formula for this holiday season. They're essentially meant to incent the right behavior among sellers around holiday. The biggest issue you're trying to get at is having the most valuable products for holiday in the warehouse, in the Prime space and not having the warehouse filled with things that may not sell until after the New Year. We are trying to incentivize that behavior. We're also trying to incentivize getting inventory into the warehouse quicker. Yes, the formulas were -- the changes to the pricing formulas were really with that in mind, to help the flow and the space utilization in Q4.

讓我從你關於 FBA 的第二個問題開始。是的，我們確實對這個假期的定價公式進行了一些更改。它們本質上是為了在假期期間激勵賣家的正確行為。您試圖解決的最大問題是在倉庫、Prime 空間中擁有最有價值的假期產品，並且倉庫裡沒有裝滿可能要等到新年之後才能出售的東西。我們正試圖激勵這種行為。我們還試圖鼓勵讓庫存更快地進入倉庫。是的，這些公式是——定價公式的變化確實考慮到了這一點，以幫助第四季度的流量和空間利用率。

Yes. Hi, Mark. This is Darin. On the capitalization point, I'd say the things that get capitalized are the core buildings and the leasehold improvements in the buildings. The things that we're seeing hit the P&L are the fixed and variable expenses that it takes to run the building. I think that is what Brian is pointing out most pointedly in terms of what is impacting our profitability of second half. Yes, the capitalization is relatively small in terms of -- other than the building itself.

是的。嗨，馬克。這是達林。在資本化點上，我會說資本化的東西是核心建築物和建築物的租賃改進。我們看到影響損益的是運行建築物所需的固定和可變費用。我認為這就是布賴恩最尖銳地指出的影響我們下半年盈利能力的因素。是的，就建築物本身而言，資本化相對較小。

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Youssef Squali with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please proceed with your question.

謝謝你。我們的下一個問題來自 Cantor Fitzgerald 的 Youssef Squali。請繼續您的問題。

Yes. Two quick questions. With the step-up in investments and content from Prime Video as you mentioned before, you would also be stepping up the international expansion? Maybe you can just remind us how many countries you're in with Prime Video and whether there is a potential chance of stripping Prime Video from Prime to allow it to be extended to other countries. Do you -- I know you're not guiding to 2017, but just looking at the capacity increase that you had for FCs for 2016, should we expect that kind of as an ongoing expense going forward or is the current build-up enough to give you spare capacity to cool that down for 2017? Thanks.

是的。兩個快速的問題。正如您之前提到的，隨著 Prime Video 投資和內容的增加，您是否也會加快國際擴張？也許您可以提醒我們您使用 Prime Video 在多少個國家/地區，以及是否有可能從 Prime 中剝離 Prime Video 以允許將其擴展到其他國家/地區。你——我知道你不是在指導 2017 年，而只是看看你在 2016 年對 FC 的容量增加，我們是否應該期待這種持續的費用，或者目前的積累足以給你多餘的能力來為 2017 年降溫嗎？謝謝。

Sure. First on your video comment, we're in four countries right now, the US, UK, Germany and Japan and we have stated that we will be in India soon. The content that we are creating, through Amazon studios, we are generally holding the worldwide rights to and can use that in other countries as well. The cost of that then get amortized to the country and becomes part of the international segment results. Yes, we consider that to be very valuable as opposed to versus licensing many times, by country the third-party rights to content that we don't create ourselves.

當然。首先關於您的視頻評論，我們現在在四個國家，美國、英國、德國和日本，我們已經聲明我們將很快在印度。我們通過亞馬遜工作室創建的內容通常擁有全球權利，也可以在其他國家/地區使用。然後，其成本將攤銷到該國，並成為國際部門業績的一部分。是的，與多次許可相比，我們認為這是非常有價值的，按國家/地區劃分，我們不是自己創建的內容的第三方權利。

Your question on fulfillment expenses, I can't extend the guidance into next year. We will do that, obviously, at the end of next quarter. I would say we are -- this was in extraordinary step-up as I mentioned in Q3 that is tied to very rapid growth in not only paid units but Amazon fulfilled units. Really our forecast for additional capacity additions and the rate of addition will be tied to those growth factors as well.

您關於履行費用的問題，我無法將指導延長到明年。顯然，我們將在下個季度末這樣做。我會說我們是——正如我在第三季度提到的那樣，這是一個非凡的進步，這不僅與付費單位的快速增長有關，而且與亞馬遜履行單位的快速增長有關。實際上，我們對額外產能增加的預測和增加的速度也將與這些增長因素相關聯。

We will have to see. We right now are working on getting the capacity in. It was very lumpy this time, with 18 warehouses in one quarter and another 5 in the first three weeks of the next quarter. Obviously we will be working on the efficiencies of all of the warehouse we have, including the ones that we just started up this year.

我們將不得不看到。我們現在正在努力增加產能。這次非常不穩定，一個季度有 18 個倉庫，下個季度的前三週還有 5 個倉庫。顯然，我們將致力於提高我們所有倉庫的效率，包括我們今年剛剛啟動的倉庫。

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Colin Sebastian with Baird Equity Research. Please proceed with your question.

謝謝你。我們的下一個問題來自 Baird Equity Research 的 Colin Sebastian。請繼續您的問題。

Thanks. A follow-up on the FC question. I guess more specifically, it sounds like you have enough capacity in terms of fulfillment centers for the holidays. Also wondering what your comfort level is in terms of your shipping partners to manage those deliveries. Secondly, was wondering how you would characterize the pricing environment for AWS, in particular with more deep pocketed competitors in the space now. Google in fact highlighted this on their conference call today. Thank you.

謝謝。 FC問題的後續行動。我想更具體地說，聽起來您在假期的履行中心方面有足夠的能力。還想知道您的運輸合作夥伴管理這些交付的舒適度如何。其次，想知道您將如何描述 AWS 的定價環境，尤其是現在該領域擁有更多財力雄厚的競爭對手。事實上，谷歌在今天的電話會議上強調了這一點。謝謝你。

Sure. Let me start with transportation. Yes, we are looking forward to a great holiday. That includes working with our shipping partners, both in the US and globally. We have worked very closely with them to line up capacity, share capacity plans. We certainly have additional delivery capability of our own, but with all of our partners, we work well in advance of the holiday to get our plans in place. We feel very confident we're looking forward to a great holiday not only for customers but also for sellers.

當然。讓我從交通開始。是的，我們期待著一個美好的假期。這包括與我們在美國和全球的運輸合作夥伴合作。我們與他們密切合作，安排產能，分享產能計劃。我們當然有自己的額外交付能力，但與我們所有的合作夥伴一起，我們會在假期前做好工作以製定我們的計劃。我們非常有信心，我們期待著一個不僅為客戶而且為賣家的美好假期。

On your question on AWS, I didn't listen to the Google call. You will have to fill me in on that later. The thing that I can tell you about pricing is that our pricing is -- price reductions are a core part of our philosophy, of course. We had a price decrease in Q3. That was our 52nd since we started this business. It's -- we are comfortable with price decreases. Not only did we lower the prices of our products but we also create new services that are cheaper that customers can switch to. They can also benefit from that as well.

關於你在 AWS 上的問題，我沒有聽谷歌的電話。稍後您將不得不填寫我的信息。關於定價，我可以告訴你的是，我們的定價是——當然，降價是我們理念的核心部分。我們在第三季度降價。這是我們開展這項業務以來的第 52 次。這是 - 我們對價格下跌感到滿意。我們不僅降低了產品的價格，而且還創造了更便宜的新服務，客戶可以轉而使用。他們也可以從中受益。

If you step back and say, why do people choose AWS? I'll give you the points I said last quarter. Basically what we hear are the functionality and pace of innovation. It is greater than our competition. We have added new -- more new significant features and services this year already than we had all of last year when we added 722. We have a partner and customer ecosystem. You've read about the VMware deal that we signed this quarter. We continue to extend with partners and build ecosystems that better can support customers.

如果您退後一步說，人們為什麼選擇 AWS？我會給你我上個季度所說的分數。基本上我們聽到的是創新的功能和速度。它比我們的競爭對手更大。今年我們添加了新的重要功能和服務，比去年添加 722 時的所有重要功能和服務都要多。我們有一個合作夥伴和客戶生態系統。您已經閱讀了我們本季度簽署的 VMware 交易。我們將繼續與合作夥伴擴展並建立能夠更好地支持客戶的生態系統。

Finally, experience. We have been in this business a long time, longer than anyone else. We've used that time to make our product and services better. There's going to be a lot of winners in the space, as we said, but we are very happy with our position and the customer reception to our products.

最後，體驗。我們從事這項業務已經很長時間了，比其他任何人都長。我們利用這段時間來改進我們的產品和服務。正如我們所說，該領域將會有很多贏家，但我們對我們的立場和客戶對我們產品的接受度感到非常滿意。

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Justin Post with Merrill Lynch. Please proceed with your question.

謝謝你。我們的下一個問題來自美林公司的賈斯汀波斯特。請繼續您的問題。

Great. Thank you. I guess when you look at fourth-quarter guidance and you back out AWS, it suggests that margins are -- on the core business are going to be pretty down versus last year. Do you view this as an abnormal investment cycle or just part of the overall kind of ebbs and flows of the business? Long term, I know several years ago you talked about maybe high-single-digit, low-double-digit margins long term. I wonder if you could refresh us on that and also let us know if you think international has structural marginal differences than the US, the core retail business.

偉大的。謝謝你。我想當您查看第四季度的指導並退出 AWS 時，這表明核心業務的利潤率將與去年相比大幅下降。您認為這是一個異常的投資週期，還是只是整個業務潮起潮落的一部分？從長遠來看，我知道幾年前你談到了長期可能高個位數、低兩位數的利潤率。我想知道您是否可以讓我們對此進行更新，並讓我們知道您是否認為國際與核心零售業務美國之間存在結構性邊際差異。

Sure. Yes. As far as the continuation of the investment and into next year, I cannot give you as much color on that today. What I can tell you again is that we have ramped up considerably. We have been investing quite openly in a lot of areas and continue to do so. We are experiencing a ramp-up, if you will, in the second half of this year, particularly tied again to the fulfillment center and expanded also the video content spend.

當然。是的。至於投資的延續和明年，我今天不能給你太多的色彩。我可以再次告訴你的是，我們已經大大提高了。我們一直在很多領域進行相當公開的投資，並將繼續這樣做。如果你願意的話，今年下半年我們正在經歷一次增長，特別是再次與履行中心相關聯，並擴大了視頻內容支出。

We will continue to invest in video content. We will continue to invest in fulfillment space to handle higher and higher paid unit volumes than shipped unit volumes. We will continue to invest in things that we believe enhance the customer experience, particularly the Prime experience. Devices we will invest in, particularly Alexa and the Echo products. We will continue to invest in getting faster and faster shipping methods for our consumers. We believe that is working. We are very happy with the results. We're very happy with all of the customers we have but particularly the Prime customers that we have.

我們將繼續投資於視頻內容。我們將繼續投資於履行空間，以處理越來越高的已付單位數量，而不是裝運單位數量。我們將繼續投資於我們認為可以增強客戶體驗的事物，尤其是 Prime 體驗。我們將投資的設備，尤其是 Alexa 和 Echo 產品。我們將繼續投資，為我們的消費者提供越來越快的運輸方式。我們相信這是有效的。我們對結果非常滿意。我們對我們擁有的所有客戶感到非常滿意，尤其是我們擁有的 Prime 客戶。

As far as long-term operating margins, I can't forecast that right now. I can't forecast that for our AWS business, either. We are, again, working on two fronts. We are honing the businesses that we're in and making them as efficient, as profitable as possible while also investing very pointedly and very wisely, we believe in things that will enhance customer experience and create lasting businesses for us down the line.

至於長期營業利潤率，我現在無法預測。對於我們的 AWS 業務，我也無法預測。我們再次在兩個方面開展工作。我們正在磨練我們所從事的業務，使它們盡可能高效、盡可能有利可圖，同時也非常有針對性和非常明智地投資，我們相信能夠增強客戶體驗並為我們創造持久業務的事情。

We have said we want things that customers will love, can grow to be large, will have strong financial returns and durable and can last for decades. That is still our mission. We have pillars of the business right now with Marketplace, AWS and Prime and we're actively looking for a fourth and fifth pillar.

我們已經說過，我們想要客戶喜歡的東西，可以發展壯大，具有強大的財務回報和耐用，並且可以持續數十年。這仍然是我們的使命。我們現在擁有 Marketplace、AWS 和 Prime 的業務支柱，我們正在積極尋找第四和第五個支柱。

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Heath Terry with Goldman Sachs. Please proceed with your question.

謝謝你。我們的下一個問題來自高盛集團的希思特里。請繼續您的問題。

Great. I'm wondering, there obviously have been some headlines since the call that you did earlier with the press on the scale of this investment cycle relative to other investment cycles that you have been through. With the 2014 cycle sort of being the most recent, could you quantify a little bit more how you would compare this investment cycle to that most recent one? To the extent that we're in the midst of this investment cycle, would you say we're in sort of the earlier or later stages? Any sort of clarity around that would be useful. Thank you.

偉大的。我想知道，自從你早些時候與媒體就這個投資週期相對於你所經歷的其他投資週期的規模進行電話會議以來，顯然有一些頭條新聞。由於 2014 年的周期是最近的，您能否進一步量化一下您將如何將此投資週期與最近的周期進行比較？就我們處於這個投資週期的程度而言，你會說我們處於早期或後期階段嗎？任何形式的澄清都是有用的。謝謝你。

Sure. Yes. The word cycle, if I mentioned that, was an omission. It was a misspeak. The investment that we are seeing is a step-up versus what we have experienced in particularly the first half of this year and the last half, the second half of last year, which I mentioned.

當然。是的。如果我提到這一點，循環這個詞是一個遺漏。這是一個誤會。我們看到的投資與我們在今年上半年和去年下半年，尤其是我提到的去年下半年所經歷的相比有所增加。

We have said investments are going to be lumpy. They are going to be high sometimes and they will be moderate at other times. We are right now, the second half of this year looks like a big step-up compared to the first half, and it is. But, again, it is all areas that we will continue to investment in, some of which I just actually went through the laundry list.

我們已經說過，投資將是不穩定的。它們有時會很高，有時會適中。我們現在，與上半年相比，今年下半年看起來是一個很大的進步，而且確實如此。但是，同樣，這是我們將繼續投資的所有領域，其中一些我實際上只是通過了洗衣清單。

I would not characterize it as the cycle. I would characterize it as continued investments. We make investments with the idea that they are going to pay off and they pay off in either directly in the business they're in or in their contribution to the total business, many times as a part of the Prime program.

我不會將其描述為循環。我將其描述為持續投資。我們進行投資的想法是，他們將獲得回報，並且他們直接在他們所在的業務中或在他們對整個業務的貢獻中獲得回報，多次作為 Prime 計劃的一部分。

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of John Blackledge with Cowen and Company. Please proceed with your question.

謝謝你。我們的下一個問題來自 Cowen and Company 的 John Blackledge。請繼續您的問題。

Great. Thanks. Two questions. It seems that you're increasing your efforts in the auto vertical with the recent launch of Amazon Vehicles. Just wondering if you can discuss some of the dynamics of the auto industry that make it attractive and maybe how it aligns with the Prime value prop. Also wondering if you had any plans to work directly with auto shops, just given your ability to service most areas in one to two days.

偉大的。謝謝。兩個問題。隨著最近推出的 Amazon Vehicles，您似乎正在加大在汽車垂直領域的努力。只是想知道您是否可以討論一些使其具有吸引力的汽車行業動態，以及它如何與 Prime 價值支柱保持一致。還想知道您是否有計劃直接與汽車商店合作，因為您有能力在一到兩天內為大多數地區提供服務。

The second question, on grocery, would you consider physical locations in an effort to kind of expand and/or accelerate growth in that vertical? Thank you.

第二個問題，關於雜貨，您是否會考慮實體店以努力擴大和/或加速該垂直領域的增長？謝謝你。

Hi, John. This is Darin. On vehicle, Amazon Vehicles is really a car research destination and built the automotive community for customers. Gets information that they need when shopping for vehicles offsite or shopping for parts and accessories on-site. The features include research tools, community engagement, where you can talk to other customers. Certainly we try to build a one-stop shop for vehicles as an extension to the automotive store, which engages customers to add information about their cars in the garage which makes it actually easier to shop for parts and accessories for your particular vehicle.

你好，約翰。這是達林。在車輛方面，Amazon Vehicles 是真正的汽車研究目的地，並為客戶建立了汽車社區。獲取他們在場外購買車輛或在現場購買零件和配件時所需的信息。這些功能包括研究工具、社區參與，您可以在其中與其他客戶交談。當然，我們試圖建立一個汽車一站式商店，作為汽車商店的延伸，讓客戶在車庫中添加有關他們汽車的信息，這實際上使購買特定汽車的零件和配件變得更加容易。

We think there's a lot of opportunity there to add convenience for customers. On the b2b side, certainly we do have an Amazon business offering. Businesses of all shapes and sizes can sign up to be a b2b customer. The selection that we have in our parts and automotive categories are certainly open to that channel. I wouldn't speculate on anything that we might do in a particular vertical for those business customers.

我們認為那裡有很多機會為客戶增加便利。在 b2b 方面，我們當然有亞馬遜業務。各種形式和規模的企業都可以註冊成為 b2b 客戶。我們在零件和汽車類別中的選擇肯定是對該渠道開放的。我不會推測我們可能會在特定垂直領域為那些商業客戶做些什麼。

Sure. Your comment on -- your question on grocery and physical stores, I can't comment on any rumors or speculations there might be regarding that. What I will tell you is that we have experimented with physical stores. As you may know, we have three physical bookstores, one in Seattle, one in San Diego and one in Portland and two more coming, one in Boston and one in Chicago.

當然。您對雜貨店和實體店的問題的評論，我無法評論可能存在的任何謠言或猜測。我要告訴你的是，我們已經嘗試過實體店。您可能知道，我們有 3 家實體書店，1 家在西雅圖，1 家在聖地亞哥，1 家在波特蘭，還有兩家，波士頓一家，芝加哥一家。

What we're finding is they're great places for customers to browse what ends up being a curated selection of books and they also get to try out our devices, which is very beneficial. They get to touch and try our e-readers, tablets, Fire TV and Echo. We like what we see with that connection. We also have pop-up stores that you may see and also college pick-up points. We will try different delivery methods or pick-up points or ways of getting product to customers, but nothing specific to point out on the grocery side right now.

我們發現它們是客戶瀏覽最終精選書籍的好地方，他們還可以試用我們的設備，這非常有益。他們可以接觸並試用我們的電子閱讀器、平板電腦、Fire TV 和 Echo。我們喜歡我們所看到的這種聯繫。我們也有您可能會看到的快閃店以及大學接送點。我們將嘗試不同的送貨方式或取貨點或向客戶提供產品的方式，但目前在雜貨店方面沒有什麼特別需要指出的。

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ben Schachter with Macquarie. Please proceed with your question.

謝謝你。我們的下一個問題來自本·沙赫特與麥格理的觀點。請繼續您的問題。

Given the low unemployment rates that you are seeing in the US, do you expect any unusual impact on wages for seasonal workers this year? Are you seeing overall wage pressure in the fulfillment centers? Separately, if you could talk about trend lines you are seeing in paid units versus shipping units. Are they diverging meaningfully versus the past? Thanks.

鑑於您在美國看到的低失業率，您預計今年季節性工人的工資會受到什麼不尋常的影響嗎？您是否看到履行中心的整體工資壓力？另外，如果您可以談論您在付費單位與運輸單位中看到的趨勢線。與過去相比，它們是否存在有意義的分歧？謝謝。

Yes. On wages, nothing to point out for this holiday. Our challenge generally is the volume of head count that we're looking to hire. We work well in advance with agencies to help to get seasonal employees and many of them turn into full-time employees after the holiday. Nothing specific on the wage pressure front. As you probably saw, head count is up 38% year over year in Q3 and that is continuation of a lot of ops roles that are supporting this high demand, the opening the fulfillment centers we talked about, new Fresh locations, Prime Now, but also and a lot of hiring in our tech areas, strictly around AWS and also the Echo/Alexa areas.

是的。關於工資，這個假期沒什麼可指出的。我們面臨的挑戰通常是我們希望招聘的人數。我們提前與機構合作，幫助招聘季節性員工，其中許多人在假期後轉為全職員工。在工資壓力方面沒有具體說明。正如您可能看到的那樣，第三季度員工人數同比增長了 38%，這是許多支持這一高需求的運營角色的延續，我們談到的履行中心的開放，新的新鮮地點，Prime Now，但是我們的技術領域也有大量招聘，嚴格圍繞 AWS 和 Echo/Alexa 領域。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

I'm sorry. The second question?

對不起。第二個問題？

Sorry, go ahead. Okay. Our final question will come from the line of Neil Doshi with Mizuho. Please proceed with your question.

對不起，繼續。好的。我們的最後一個問題將來自 Neil Doshi 和 Mizuho。請繼續您的問題。

Thanks. Can you provide a little more color into the investments that you're making in India? What is driving that growth and what stage is India in today relative to some of the other large international markets that you have launched in the past?

謝謝。您能否為您在印度的投資提供更多色彩？與您過去推出的其他一些大型國際市場相比，是什麼推動了這種增長？今天的印度處於什麼階段？

Yes, sure. We are very encouraged by what we're seeing in India, but it is certainly very early on still. Most recent highlights would be the launch of the Prime program in India this past quarter. It's now one of the top-selling units on Amazon.India. It has been well received by customers.

是的，當然。我們對我們在印度看到的情況感到非常鼓舞，但現在肯定還很早。最近的亮點將是上個季度在印度推出的 Prime 計劃。它現在是 Amazon.India 上最暢銷的產品之一。它受到了客戶的好評。

It is hard to compare India to any other country. It is very different in its stage and structure. Being a third-party market has caused a lot of invention on our side. We're being creative. The team there in India has been very creative on whenever they find a roadblock or something that has not existed in another country, they create it themselves, whether that's from delivery stations to working with small merchants to you name it. We're very happy with both the customer engagement that we're seeing and also the seller engagement, which is very important in India. Very pleased with the team that brought that over there and the way they work with teams throughout the world.

很難將印度與任何其他國家進行比較。它的階段和結構非常不同。作為第三方市場已經在我們這邊帶來了很多發明。我們正在發揮創造力。印度的團隊非常有創意，每當他們發現障礙或其他國家不存在的東西時，他們都會自己創造它，無論是從送貨站到與小商家合作，再到你的名字。我們對我們看到的客戶參與度和賣家參與度都非常滿意，這在印度非常重要。非常滿意將其帶到那裡的團隊以及他們與世界各地團隊合作的方式。

Brian, to step back to Ben's other question on units. Ben, this is Darin. Paid units grew at 28% again this year, as it did in the prior quarter. As Brian pointed out earlier, our AFN units, our Amazon Fulfilled Units, which includes our first-party units as well as FBA unit that's that go through our warehouses, are continuing -- are certainly higher than that 28%. That is a result of the traction we're getting with our FBA sellers.

布賴恩，回到本關於單位的其他問題。本，這是達林。與上一季度一樣，今年付費單位再次增長了 28%。正如布賴恩早些時候指出的那樣，我們的 AFN 單位、我們的亞馬遜配送單位（包括我們的第一方單位以及通過我們倉庫的 FBA 單位）仍在繼續——肯定高於 28%。這是我們與 FBA 賣家合作的結果。

Thank you for joining us on the call today and for your questions. A replay will be available on our investor relations website at least through the end of the quarter. We appreciate your interest in Amazon.com and look forward to talking with you again next quarter.

感謝您今天加入我們的電話會議並提出問題。至少在本季度末，我們的投資者關係網站上將提供重播。感謝您對 Amazon.com 的關注，並期待下個季度再次與您交談。