Amazon has greatly improved its inventory turns.

True: Amazon's inventory turns (cost of sales divided by average inventory) rose substantially in 2000 compared with 1999 (by roughly 25% or more, or as reported by Amazon in its filings). Mostly true: inventory turns improved clearly but more modestly. Mostly false: there was only a marginal improvement, or one restricted to a single quarter. False: inventory turns were flat or fell.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 A N N U A L - media.corporate-ir.net Amazon.com, Inc. (annual report for fiscal 2000, hosted on media.corporate-ir.net) Own record

   “Increases in absolute dollars of gross profit during 2000 are primarily due to increased unit sales in our existing stores, enhancements and additions to our existing product offerings, increases in our service revenues from strategic partners, and improvements in inventory management and product sourcing.”

2. E2 A N N U A L - media.corporate-ir.net Amazon.com, Inc. (annual report for fiscal 2000, hosted on media.corporate-ir.net) Own record

   “Gross profit grew to $656 million in 2000, from $291 million in 1999, up 125%.”

3. E3 d10k405.txt U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (filed by Amazon.com, Inc.) Own record

   “Gross profit was $656 million, $291 million and $134 million for 2000, 1999 and 1998, respectively.”

4. E4 Amazon.com 2000 Annual Report (Form 10-K for fiscal year 2000, with shareholder letter) Amazon.com, Inc. (via media.corporate-ir.net) · 2001 Own record

   “improvements in inventory management and product sourcing.”

5. E5 Amazon.com Releases Preliminary Fourth Quarter Highlights -- Sales Up More Than 40% Over 1999, Fueled by Growth in Electronics, Kitchen and Tools Amazon.com (press.aboutamazon.com) · 8 January 2001 Own record

   “Gross Profit over $210 Million, an Increase of over 140%, and Inventory Under $175 million, a Decrease of over 20%, from 1999”

6. E6 Press Release dated January 22, 2002 - SEC.gov Amazon.com, Inc. (filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) · 22 January 2002 Own record

   “Annualized inventory turns improved 38% to 25 in fourth quarter 2001, up from 18.”

7. E7 [PDF] Amazon.com: Marching Towards Profitability - Gwern.net Stanford University Graduate School of Business (Case EC-25) · July 2001

   “In the last quarter of 2000, receivables took a day and Amazon had on average twenty days of inventory.”

The evidence suggests inventory turns improved in the fourth quarter of 2000: year-end inventory fell more than 20% while sales and gross profit rose [E5], and fourth-quarter 2000 turns were about 18 [E6, E7]. No item gives full-year 2000 or 1999 inventory turns, or the cost of sales and average inventory needed to calculate them, so the year-on-year comparison the criteria require is not settled.