Amazon Web Services, Inc.

Amazon reported huge sales and profit surges in the first quarter, increases that were fueled by its fast-growing cloud services business (AWS) and Prime loyalty members.

Amazon reported better-than-expected fourth quarter profit and revenue on Thursday, fueled by strong demand for its fast-growing cloud services business (AWS) and a big increase in online holiday shopping.

Now that Amazon’s voice-assistant Alexa supports business tasks, Brooks Brothers is wasting no time putting it to work.

Walmart is making a bold move as it continues to seek out ways to distance itself from Amazon.   The discount giant is investing in Nvidia chips. These high-level graphical processing units (GPUs) will be the foundation of a robust cloud network where Walmart data scientists can build out AI systems, reported Geek Wire.  

Target is using an unconventional way to send a message to Amazon.   In a move to take greater control of its infrastructure — and stop financing its rival — the discounter is scaling back its use of Amazon Web Services, reported CNBC.    Target plans to “aggressively” move e-commerce activities, mobile development and operations away from AWS through the end of the year and into 2018 — a plan it alluded to back in October, according to the report. 

Walmart is asking its technology suppliers to pick sides in its retailing war with Amazon.   The retailing giant reportedly warned some tech companies that if they want its business, they can't run applications on Amazon’s cloud platform, Amazon Web Services. Walmart currently partners with tech suppliers that already leverage cloud apps running on AWS, although the retailer didn’t reveal which applications or how many they use, sources told the Wall Street Journal.  

With its epic product launches, Nike’s digital channels can get unprecedented levels of interest and demand. And crashes are unacceptable.   The athletic goods giant is on pace to hit $50 billion in revenue by 2020, a goal that Nike expects to hit with the support of its digital strategy, according to Mike Wittig, VP infrastructure, Nike.   

There’s no denying that Amazon has changed the face of retail, but there are many misconceptions about how the company actually operates. Unfortunately, these fallacies are leading many retail companies into making bad strategic business decisions as they try to duplicate Amazon’s success.

The following is a breakdown of some myths — along with a few takeaways:

Amazon’s cloud computing platform is helping Dunkin’ Brands has secured its customer-facing processes by moving to the cloud.   

There’s no denying that Amazon has changed the face of retail, but there are many misconceptions about how the company actually operates. Many wrongly believe that Amazon makes most of its profits from e-commerce, while others incorrectly view Amazon as the long-tail poster child. Unfortunately, these fallacies are leading many retail companies into making bad strategic business decisions as they try to duplicate Amazon’s success.   The following is a breakdown of some Amazon myths along with a few takeaways: