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.

感謝您的支持。大家好，歡迎參加亞馬遜 2016 年第三季財務業績電話會議。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

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.

今天的通話正在錄音。在開幕致詞時，我將把電話轉給投資者關係總監達林·曼尼 (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 2016 年第三季財務業績電話會議。今天，我們的財務長 Brian Olsavsky 將與我們一起回答您的問題。當您收聽今天的電話會議時，我們鼓勵您閱讀我們的新聞稿，其中包括我們的財務結果以及本季度的指標和評論。請注意，除非另有說明，本次電話會議中的所有比較都將針對我們 2015 年同期的結果。

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回應僅反映管理層截至 2016 年 10 月 27 日的觀點，並將包括前瞻性陳述。實際結果可能存在重大差異。有關可能影響我們財務結果的因素的更多資​​訊包含在今天的新聞稿和我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中，包括我們最近的 10-K 表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.

在本次電話會議中，我們可能會討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。在新聞稿、本次網路廣播附帶的幻燈片以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件（均發佈在我們的投資者關係網站上）中，您將找到有關這些非公認會計準則指標的更多披露，包括這些指標與可比公認會計準則指標的對帳。

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所看到的訂單趨勢以及我們今天認為合適的假設。我們的結果本質上是不可預測的，並且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、線上商務和雲端服務的增長率以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中詳述的各種因素。我們的指導還假設，除其他事項外，我們不會完成任何額外的業務收購、投資重組或法律和解。我們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有重大差異。

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

接下來，我們將進入問答環節。接線員，請提醒我們的聽眾如何提出問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

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道格拉斯·安穆斯。請陳述您的問題。

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.

感謝您回答這個問題。國際零售部門的利潤率是我們長期以來看到的最低水準。我希望您能提供一些關鍵驅動因素，例如拖累因素以及如何看待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。具體到國際方面，我們看到支持選擇擴展履行網路的擴張正在增加。我們還投資了數位內容和額外的主要福利、Fresh location 和 Prime Now。迄今為止最大的個人事件是我們持續對印度進行投資。我對印度客戶和賣家的初步反應感到非常興奮。這基本上就是第四季的國際利潤率指引。

Thank you.

謝謝。

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

謝謝。我們的下一個問題來自 Piper Jaffray 的 Gene Munster。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，當我們考慮下半年與 2015 年下半年相比利潤率的進展，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一個暫時的平台期，一旦您開始利用您的履行能力建設，這個平台期就會在某個時候恢復，還是存在一些結構性的東西，隨著您的業務運營方式的哲學變化而發生變化。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。我們將繼續投資那些我們看到顯著客戶吸引力的業務。我將要提到的事情就屬於這一類。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原因就是我在上個季度的電話會議上提到的。

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，下半年的影片內容和相關行銷年增近一倍。第三季和第四季均持續大幅成長。在第三季度，我們增加了 18 個履行中心，10 月又增加了 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.

相比之下，去年有 14 個，而且我想——回顧一下——上一次我們的配送中心數量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。第三季和第四季出現了罕見的新創企業聚集現象。它幫助我們更好地定位第四季度的銷量，因為付費單位成長持續強勁，而亞馬遜配送單位成長（包括我們運送的商品和 FBA）甚至遠高於此。我們正在繼續建立高 AFN 或亞馬遜配送網路需求，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.

我們新增的倉庫數量意味著其建築面積年增了 30%。去年我們的建築面積增加了近 20%。在這種情況下，平方英尺的定義是我們所有的倉庫，加上我們的分類和配送中心，所以它幾乎就是我們的最終客戶服務中心。這幾乎就是我們支援營運的平方英尺數。

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.

隨著我們的消耗，這些成本也會隨之消散。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，但也包括培訓工人和引入庫存時的變動成本。新的履行中心的啟動還涉及大量的運輸成本，包括入站和出站。它們本質上比更成熟的建築效率更低。將會有一個週期，明年的生產力將比今年更高，而 2018 年的生產力將比 2017 年更高。

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.

您在今年下半年看到的基本上是逐步增加的投資，主要圍繞數位內容和履行中心的投資，但也包括 Echo 和 Alexa 等領域，我們正在為印度和 AWS 增加大量資源，我們在那裡增加了人員以支持該業務中其他服務的快速成長。

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

謝謝。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?

感謝您回答我的問題。我有兩個。第一個，布萊恩，只是回到實現構建。過去您曾談到如何需要時間讓履行中心達到最佳效率。隨著這些新 FC 的開設，您能否談談您是否會變得更有效率，所以如果明年進入交易量較低的季度，去槓桿的風險就會更小，或者我們是否仍應考慮達到峰值效率需要時間？

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.

第二個是AWS，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 時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。在履行網路中，隨著我們建立它，明年的生產效率將比今年的假期高峰更高，甚至可能在 2018 年更高。我現在還無法預測明年的情況，但隨著我們建立額外產能，我們在今年第三季甚至第四季確實提高了生產力並增加了成本。再次強調，產能建設的根本原因是付費單位的實力，更重要的是我們在 FBA 計畫的推動下所履行的單位的實力。

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 產品的重要支柱。它增加了選擇。它使 Prime 變得更加強大。這是一個自我強化的循環，Prime 的成功會吸引更多的賣家。我們很高興有這個問題。我們正在努力確保第四季度及以後的產能到位並有效利用。

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.

你好，布萊恩。這是達林。關於 AWS 議題，我們代表客戶持續對 AWS 進行投資。除了讓整合更容易的技術之外，如果我們繼續這樣做的話，它還可以幫助公司從內部部署或混合 IT 環境遷移到 AWS。具體來說，資料庫遷移工具可以幫助客戶將生產資料庫從本地遷移到雲端，幾乎不會出現停機時間。

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 模式轉換工具，該工具可以真正切換資料庫引擎，擺脫老式的專有資料庫，轉而使用 AWS。我們將持續回應客戶的需求，包括開拓新的地區。我們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。我們的下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的馬克‧馬哈尼 (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，布萊恩，你能針對食品雜貨和時尚服飾這兩個類別給我們一些特別的評論嗎？特別是在食品雜貨方面，我知道新聞稿中有一些關於 Fresh 擴展到馬裡蘭州等新地區的數據點。很高興看到這一點。您能從投資角度談談這一點嗎？這對你有什麼影響嗎？有多大影響？有什麼方法可以幫助我們量化這對你的收入成長有多大影響？特別是對食品雜貨的收入成長，以及對時尚和服飾的任何具體評論。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。我將從新鮮食品和一般雜貨開始。是的，本季我們在北維吉尼亞、馬裡蘭、達拉斯和芝加哥推出了該產品。我們還推出了一項新的定價計劃，即在美國 Prime 會員每月附加 14.99 美元。如您所知，我們之前已將業務擴展到倫敦。

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.

我們對長期駐紮的地區的進展感到非常高興，我們將繼續增加郵遞區號和其他社區，以及在這些新城市。當然，我們會繼續致力於降低成本和提高獲利能力。我們發現我們為客戶提供的服務非常有吸引力，而這正是我們所追求的。

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.

Prime Now 業務與此類似，但並不完全相同，除了食品雜貨之外，其業務也有類似的重疊。顯然，這是一個略有不同的模型，我們更注重即時性，並且可在一到兩個小時內提供較小的清單項目。確實有很多人用它來購買雜貨和消耗品。目前，該活動已涵蓋 7 個國家的 40 個城市，而去年同期只有 17 個。我們也將亞馬遜餐廳外送服務加入美國 19 個大城市的 Prime Now 服務。這一數字比去年的 2 家有所增加。

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.

我們始終相信，消耗品、雜貨是向客戶提供產品的重要組成部分。我們正在嘗試不同的模型，以了解哪種模型有效以及適合哪種需求。我們對 Amazon Fresh 非常滿意，正如您所見，我們今年的業務已經擴大了不少。我們對 Prime Now 也非常滿意，儘管這項業務的經濟狀況顯然更加艱難，但我們確實認為，由於我們的地理覆蓋範圍以及我們與客戶的密切聯繫，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.

你好，馬克，我是達林。在時尚方面，時尚和服裝繼續成為我們 EGM 業務的重要組成部分，我們對此感到非常興奮。我們將繼續努力讓品牌和製造商更輕鬆地加入該類別。我們將繼續與各大品牌合作，爭取讓它們加入。我們對這些品牌所取得的進展感到非常高興。隨著我們的選擇越來越多，我們對客戶參與度感到非常滿意，這既包括可發現性，也包括使在我們的網站上購買時尚商品變得更容易的技術，以及透過添加品牌而實現的（聽不清楚）選擇。

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。回答你關於這是否屬於投資的一部分的問題。是的，這當然是我們投資的一部分。如果你願意的話，我們看到去年年底和今年上半年投資的大幅增長更多地與數位內容和建立我們的履行網絡有關，我已經討論過了。

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

謝謝。我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的馬克‧梅。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.

多謝。我知道，在一些增量投資領域，例如倉庫、物流和內容，在某些情況下，你需要預先支付費用。在某些情況下，您會隨著時間的推移而攤銷。想知道您是否可以告訴我們最近的增值支出是多少。我特別關注的是您的銷貨成本佔零售收入的百分比，這是相當長一段時間以來首次同比增長。其中有多少是由於該期間內容費用造成的？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.

我認為你們也一直在改變，而且這很快就會發生，FBA 定價，包括增加你們的倉儲費，但也降低你們的手續費。我想問題是，這些變化是否只是為了轉嫁增加的運輸成本，還是更是一種淨中性變化，其真正目標是試圖釋放一些設施的產能？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.

讓我先回答一下關於 FBA 的第二個問題。是的，我們確實對這個假期的定價公式做了一些改變。它們本質上是為了激勵賣家在假日期間採取正確的行為。您要解決的最大問題是將最有價值的假期產品存放在倉庫的 Prime 空間中，而不是讓倉庫堆滿可能要到新年之後才能售出的商品。我們正在嘗試激勵這種行為。我們也試圖激勵人們更快地將庫存送入倉庫。是的，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。你好，馬克。這是達林。關於資本化點，我認為可以資本化的是核心建築物和建築物內的租賃改良。我們看到影響損益表的是營運大樓所需的固定費用和變動費用。我認為這就是布萊恩在影響我們下半年獲利能力方面最尖銳的指出。是的，除了建築物本身以外，資本化程度相對較小。

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

謝謝。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。兩個簡單的問題。正如您之前提到的，隨著 Prime Video 的投資和內容的增加，您也會加強國際擴張嗎？也許您可以提醒我們有多少國家使用 Prime Video，以及是否有可能將 Prime Video 從 Prime 中剝離出來，以允許其擴展到其他國家。我知道您沒有對 2017 年做出預測，但僅從 2016 年 FC 的產能成長來看，我們是否應該將其視為未來的持續支出，還是當前的成長足以為您提供備用產能，從而為 2017 年降溫？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，關於您的影片評論，我們目前在四個國家，即美國、英國、德國和日本，並且我們已表示很快將前往印度。我們透過亞馬遜工作室創作的內容通常擁有全球版權，也可以在其他國家使用。這些成本隨後被攤銷到該國並成為國際部門業績的一部分。是的，我們認為這非常有價值，而不是像許多國家那樣向第三方授予我們自己未創建的內容的權利。

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.

關於您關於履行費用的問題，我無法將指導延伸到明年。顯然，我們將在下個季度末做到這一點。我想說的是——正如我在第三季度提到的那樣，這是一個非凡的增長，這不僅與付費單位的快速增長有關，而且與亞馬遜配送單位的快速增長有關。實際上，我們對額外產能增加和增加率的預測也將與這些成長因素相關。

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.

我們將拭目以待。我們目前正在努力提高產能。這次的情況非常不穩定，一個季度有 18 個倉庫，下個季度的前三週又有 5 個倉庫。顯然，我們將致力於提高所有倉庫的效率，包括今年剛啟動的倉庫。

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

謝謝。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。關於 FC 問題的後續問題。我想更具體地說，聽起來你們在假期期間的履行中心有足夠的容量。也想知道您的運輸合作夥伴對這些運輸進行管理的舒適度如何。其次，想知道您如何描述 AWS 的定價環境，尤其是現在該領域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。

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。我先從交通說起。是的，我們期待一個愉快的假期。這包括與我們在美國和全球的航運合作夥伴合作。我們與他們密切合作，協調產能，分享產能計畫。我們當然擁有自己的額外交付能力，但與所有合作夥伴一起，我們會在假期前做好充分的準備，制定計劃。我們非常有信心，我們期待不僅客戶而且賣家都能度過一個愉快的假期。

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.

關於您關於 AWS 的問題，我沒有聽到 Google 的電話會議。你必須稍後再告訴我這一點。關於定價，我可以告訴你的是，我們的定價——當然，降價是我們理念的核心部分。我們在第三季降低了價格。這是我們開展這項業務以來的第 52 次。我們對價格下降感到滿意。我們不僅降低了產品價格，還創造了更便宜的新服務供客戶選擇。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.

如果你退一步問，為什麼人們選擇 AWS？我會給你上個季度說過的要點。基本上，我們聽到的是功能性和創新的速度。它比我們的競爭對手更強大。我們今年增加的新功能和服務比去年全年增加的 722 項還要多。我們擁有合作夥伴和客戶生態系統。您已經讀到我們本季簽署的與 VMware 的協議。我們將繼續與合作夥伴一起擴展並建立更好地支援客戶的生態系統。

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。我們從事這個行業已經很長時間了，比任何人都要長。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，這個領域將會有許多贏家，但我們對我們的地位以及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。我們的下一個問題來自美林證券的賈斯汀波斯特 (Justin Post)。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。我想，當你查看第四季的指引並退出 AWS 時，它表明核心業務的利潤率將與去年相比大幅下降。您是否認為這是一個不正常的投資週期，還是只是整個商業起伏的一部分？從長期來看，我知道幾年前您就談到長期利潤率可能達到高個位數或低兩位數。我想知道您是否可以讓我們重新認識這一點，並讓我們知道您是否認為國際市場與美國的核心零售業務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。至於投資是否會繼續進行以及明年是否會繼續進行，今天我無法透露太多細節。我可以再次告訴你們的是，我們已經取得了顯著的進步。我們一直在許多領域公開地進行投資，並將繼續這樣做。如果你願意的話，今年下半年我們將經歷一個成長階段，特別是再次與履行中心聯繫在一起，並且還擴大了視訊內容支出。

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.

我們將繼續投資影片內容。我們將繼續投資於履行空間，以處理越來越高的付費單位數量而非發貨單位數量。我們將繼續投資於我們認為可以提升客戶體驗的事物，尤其是 Prime 體驗。我們將投資的設備，特別是 Alexa 和 Echo 產品。我們將繼續投資，為消費者提供越來越快速的運送方式。我們相信這是有效的。我們對結果非常滿意。我們對所有客戶都非常滿意，尤其是 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.

至於長期營業利益率，我現在無法預測。我也無法預測我們的 AWS 業務。我們再次在兩方面開展工作。我們正在磨練我們所從事的業務，使其盡可能高效、盈利，同時也進行非常有針對性和非常明智的投資，我們相信這些事情將提升客戶體驗並為我們創造持久的業務。

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.

我們說過，我們想要的是客戶會喜歡、可以成長、有豐厚財務回報、耐用且可以使用數十年的東西。這仍然是我們的使命。我們目前的業務支柱是 Marketplace、AWS 和 Prime，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。我們的下一個問題來自高盛的希思·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，自從您早些時候與媒體通話以來，顯然已經有一些頭條新聞報導了本次投資週期相對於您經歷過的其他投資週期的規模。 2014 年的週期可以說是最近的一個週期，您能否更詳細地說明一下，如何將本次投資週期與最近的投資週期進行比較？就我們目前所處的投資週期而言，您認為我們處於早期階段還是後期階段？對此的任何澄清都是有用的。謝謝。

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「週期」這個詞，那它就是一個遺漏。這是一次錯誤的說法。我們所看到的投資與我提到的今年上半年、去年下半年以及去年下半年相比有所增加。

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.

我們說過，投資將會不穩定。有時它們會很高，有時又會適中。目前來看，今年下半年與上半年相比看起來是個巨大的進步，事實也確實如此。但是，我們仍將繼續在所有領域進行投資，其中一些領域我剛才已經詳細列出了。

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.

我不會將其描述為週期。我將其描述為持續投資。我們進行投資，相信投資人會獲得回報，而投資回報要么直接體現在他們所從事的業務上，要么體現在他們對整個業務的貢獻上，很多時候這都是作為 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。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。隨著最近亞馬遜汽車的推出，你們似乎正在加強在汽車垂直領域的力度。只是想知道您是否可以討論汽車行業的一些動態，使其具有吸引力，以及它如何與 Prime 價值主張保持一致。也想知道您是否有計劃直接與汽車修理廠合作，因為您能夠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，關於雜貨店，您是否會考慮設立實體店來擴大和/或加速該垂直行業的成長？謝謝。

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。在汽車方面，亞馬遜汽車是一個汽車研究目的地，並為消費者建立了汽車社群。取得在場外購買車輛或在現場購買零件和配件時所需的資訊。其功能包括研究工具、社區參與，您可以在此與其他客戶交談。當然，我們嘗試建立一個一站式車輛商店作為汽車商店的延伸，讓客戶可以在車庫中添加有關他們的汽車的信息，這使得為您的特定車輛購買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.

我們認為有很多機會可以為顧客提供更多便利。在 B2B 方面，我們當然有亞馬遜業務產品。各種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當然對該頻道開放。我不會推測我們會在某個特定垂直領域為這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。關於您的雜貨店和實體店的問題，我無法對與此有關的任何謠言或猜測發表評論。我要告訴大家的是，我們已經嘗試過實體店。您可能知道，我們有三家實體書店，一家在西雅圖，一家在聖地牙哥，一家在波特蘭，另外還有兩家即將開業，一家在波士頓，一家在芝加哥。

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，它們是顧客瀏覽精選書籍的好地方，他們還可以試用我們的設備，這非常有益。他們可以觸摸並試用我們的電子閱讀器、平板電腦、Fire TV 和 Echo。我們喜歡透過這種聯繫所看到的結果。我們還有您可能會看到的臨時商店以及大學取貨點。我們將嘗試不同的送貨方式、取貨點或將產品送到客戶手中的方式，但目前在食品雜貨方面還沒有什麼特別值得指出的。

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

謝謝。我們的下一個問題來自麥格理的 Ben Schachter。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.

鑑於美國目前的低失業率，您預計今年季節性工人的薪資會受到任何異常影響嗎？您是否發現配送中心有整體薪資壓力？另外，如果您可以談談付費單位與運輸單位的趨勢線。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。就工資而言，這個假期沒有什麼值得指出的。我們面臨的挑戰通常是我們想要雇用的員工數量。我們提前與代理商合作，幫助招募季節性員工，其中許多人在假期後就變成了全職員工。在薪資壓力方面沒有具體措施。您可能已經看到，第三季的員工數量同比增長了 38%，這是許多營運職位的延續，這些職位支持了這種高需求，開設了我們談到的履行中心、新的 Fresh 地點、Prime Now，而且我們的技術領域也招聘了大量員工，嚴格圍繞 AWS 和 Echo/Alexa 領域。

Thank you.

謝謝。

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.

抱歉，請繼續。好的。我們的最後一個問題來自瑞穗的 Neil Doshi。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。能否詳細介紹一下您在印度的投資？推動這成長的因素是什麼？相對於你們過去推出的一些其他大型國際市場，印度目前處於什麼階段？

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。印度的現狀讓我們深受鼓舞，但目前還處於初期階段。最近的亮點是上個季度在印度推出的 Prime 計劃。它現在是亞馬遜印度站最暢銷的產品之一。受到了客戶的一致好評。

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，我們這邊有很多發明。我們正在發揮創造力。印度的團隊非常有創造力，每當他們發現障礙或其他國家不存在的東西時，他們就會自己創造它，無論是從配送站到與小商人合作等等。我們對所看到的客戶參與度和賣家參與度感到非常滿意，這在印度非常重要。我對把這個帶到那裡的團隊以及他們與世界各地團隊的合作方式感到非常滿意。

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.

布萊恩，回到本關於單位的另一個問題。本，這是達林。與上一季一樣，今年付費單位數量再次增加了 28%。正如 Brian 之前指出的那樣，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）仍在繼續增長 - 肯定高於 28%。這是我們與 FBA 賣家合作的成果。

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.

感謝您今天參加我們的電話會議並提出您的問題。重播將至少在本季末之前在我們的投資者關係網站上提供。感謝您對 Amazon.com 的關注，並期待下個季度再次與您交談。