Amazon and Home Depot 2021 Annual Reports

Two service leaders worth following are Amazon and Home Depot. You can learn a lot from their annual reports. I believe you learn from the best. Two firms worth benchmarking yourself against. Your leadership team should study the thinking and execution of plans laid out in the report.

Amazon Andy Jassy President and CEO

Andy Jassy is the new President and CEO of Amazon. He has been there 25 years. Jassy said, “In every business we pursue, we’re experimenting and inventing. We’re divinely discontented with customer experiences, whether they’re our own or not. We believe these customer experiences can always be better, and we strive to make customers’ lives better and easier every day.  In the early 2000s, it took us an average of 18 hours to get an item through our fulfillment centers and on the right track for shipment. Now it takes us two.”

They have over 200 million Prime customers, who will tell you very clearly that faster is almost a better. Amazon has a better grasp and execution of speed than any other company in the world. Throughout the report, they will talk about the customer experience, speed, reducing costs to keep prices low, taking risks, and invention. I spend hundreds of dollars at Amazon each month. They have flawless execution.

There are so many learning points in the report. Take a look at Amazon’s 2021 annual report. If you just read my yellow highlights you will have 90% of what you want to know. Amazon always reprints the 1997 letter to shareholders. They have never lost sight of their vision and Day One. Jeff Bezos is now Executive Chair. His salary is still the same as when he started, $81,800

Sales last year were $469,822 billion.  North America was 60%, International 27%, and AWS 13% which is the division Jassy ran. Net income was $33,364 billion. An increase in sales of $33.7 billion. Jeff Bezos’s net worth is $150 billion and his ex-wife is $60 billion. If there was a firm to learn from Amazon should be at the top of your list.

In my seminars, I talk about the proven process for driving a service culture. Amazon has execution of everything I talk about.

Home Depot 2021 Annual Report

Home Depot achieved $150 billion in sales in 2021. Sales grew 14.4%, They are now setting their sights on $200 billion. In the last two years, Home Depot grew its sales by over $40 billion. Net profit was $16.4 billion.

In the highlighted Home Depot annual report look at page 1 under Our Strategy. They are focusing on a frictionless shopping experience.

* We intend to provide the best customer experience in home improvement;

* We intend to extend our position as the low-cost provider in home improvement.

In fiscal 2021 they invested $2.6 billion in capital expenditures to support an interconnected customer experience. On page 2 of the proxy statement, they show the inverted chart with Customers at the top and the CEO at the bottom. A must-read. They have 490,600 employees with 2006 stores in the U.S., 182 in Canada and 129 in Mexico. Minnesota where I live has 33 stores. I spend several thousand dollars a month at the Bloomington store.

Amazon and Home Depot both walk the talk on the Relentless focus on customer service, keeping prices low, speed and frictionless shopping. In my book Relentless, I feature both companies. I find too many companies focus on customer service for a few months and sometimes even for a few years. These firms are Relentless. You can buy my book at Amazon here.