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Visualizing Amazon’s Rising Shipping Costs

by Aran Ali
This post is by Aran Ali from Visual Capitalist

amazon rising shipping costs

The Briefing

  • Amazon’s shipping and fulfillment costs have soared to over $150 billion
  • Global supply chain constraints have accelerated these costs, which are now 40x their 2009 levels

Visualizing Amazon’s Rising Shipping Costs

Most investors would agree that Amazon has been a winner during the COVID-19 pandemic. After all, in two short years from 2019 to 2021, sales soared to $469 billion from $280 billion and their market cap surged towards a $1.7 trillion valuation.

But even the best of companies have had to navigate choppy waters and uncertainty during this time. For Amazon, this has come in the form of cost pressures in their shipping and fulfillment department, which are now representing an increasingly large share of revenues.

Just how large are Amazon’s shipping and fulfillment costs becoming?

In 2021, shipping and fulfillment costs added up to $151.8 billion. Shipping, which includes sortation, delivery centers, and transportation costs amounted to $76.7 billion. Fulfillment costs, which include cost of operating and staff fulfillment centers, were $75.1 billion.

As a result of these trends, Amazon’s shipping and fulfillment expenses now represent 32% of their revenues:

YearCost as a % of revenue
202132%
202031%
201928%
201827%
201726%
201625%
201523%
201422%
201320%
201219%
201118%

As you can see, costs are escalating, and today’s figure is almost twice that of the 18% figure seen in 2011.

Amazon Web Services to the Rescue

While these expenses are rising, it’s important to remember (Read more...)

10 Ways You Can Build Leadership Communities in a Hybrid World of Work

by Katie Jones
This post is by Katie Jones from Visual Capitalist

The world has never been more connected. Yet many of us feel more disconnected than ever before.

In particular, CEOs and managers can often feel isolated from their peers, and therefore crave a greater sense of community and belonging. This lack of social connection can have a detrimental impact on both them and their team—putting the future of their company at risk.

Leading in a Hybrid World of Work

This infographic from bestselling author Vince Molinaro dives into the ways you can build a strong community of leaders in your organization, enabling you to more successfully execute on strategy, drive growth, and deliver results.

leadership

>>Download Dr.Vince Molinaro’s Community Builder Ebook Today

The Critical Need for Leadership Communities

In today’s world, many leaders have been conditioned to work and lead in a way that is individualistic and hyper-competitive, which leads to problematic outcomes including:

  • Limiting innovative ideas
  • Causing overwhelm and stress
  • Limiting diversity and a sense of inclusion
  • Promoting a macho culture
  • Creating heroes and zeros in organizations

This outdated model breeds a weak leadership culture. Even though leadership expectations are higher than ever, very few companies boast a strong leadership culture. In fact, just 15% of companies have the culture they need to succeed.

What does a weak leadership look like?

Weak Leadership Cultures

When leaders demonstrate the following behaviors, organizations are at risk of developing a weak leadership culture:

  1. They lack clarity around strategic priorities.
  2. They fail to inspire the people they lead.
  3. They tolerate ineffective and (Read more...)

How Does the COVID Delta Variant Compare?

by Omri Wallach
This post is by Omri Wallach from Visual Capitalist

How Does the COVID Delta Variant Compare

How Does the COVID Delta Variant Compare?

In late 2020, a variant of COVID-19 was detected in India that began to quickly spread.

Soon after it received the label “Delta,” it started to become the predominant strain of COVID-19 in countries of transmission. It spread faster than both the original disease and other variants, including “Alpha” that had taken hold in the UK.

Now the COVID-19 pandemic has essentially become the Delta pandemic, as the variant accounts for more than 90% of global cases.

But how does the COVID-19 Delta variant differ from the original disease? We consolidated studies as of September 2021 to highlight key differences between COVID-19 and the dominant variant. Sources include the CDC, Yale Medicine, and the University of California.

COVID-19 vs COVID-19 Delta Variant

At first glance, infections caused by the Delta variant are similar to the original COVID-19 disease. Symptoms reported from patients include cough, fever, headache, and a loss of smell.

But studies showed that the difference was in how quickly and severely patients got sick:

  • Spread rate: How quickly the infection spreads in a community (based on the R0 or basic reproductive number). The Delta variant spread 125% faster than the original disease, making it potentially as infectious as chickenpox.
  • Viral load: How much of a virus is detectable in an infected person’s blood, with higher loads correlating with more severe infections. Delta infections had a 1000x higher viral load.
  • Virus detectable: How long after exposure a virus is detectable in an (Read more...)

This Simple Chart Reveals the Distribution Of Global Wealth

by Anshool Deshmukh
This post is by Anshool Deshmukh from Visual Capitalist

Visualizing Global Wealth Distribution

The Global Wealth Distribution in One Chart

The pandemic resulted in global wealth taking a significant dip in the first part of 2020. By the end of March, global household wealth had already declined by around 4.4%.

Interestingly, after much monetary and fiscal stimulus from governments around the world, global household wealth was more than able to recover, finishing up the year at $418.3 trillion, a 7.4% gain from the previous year.

Using data from Credit Suisse, this graphic looks at how global wealth is distributed among the adult population.

How was Global Wealth Distributed?

While individuals worth more than $1 million constitute just 1.1% of the world’s population, they hold 45.8% of global wealth.

Wealth RangeWealthGlobal Share (%)Adult Population
Over $1M$191.6 trillion45.8%Held by 1.1%
$100k-$1M$163.9 trillion39.1%Held by 11.1%
$10k-$100k$57.3 trillion13.7%Held by 32.8%
Less than $10k$5.5 trillion1.3%Held by 55.0%
Total$418.3 trillion100.0%Held by 100.0%

On the other end of the spectrum, 55% of the population owns only 1.3% of global wealth.

And between these two extreme wealth distribution cases, the rest of the world’s population has a combined 52.8% of the wealth.

Global Wealth Distribution by Region

While wealth inequality is especially evident within the wealth ranges mentioned above, these differences can also be seen on a more regional basis between countries.

In 2020, total wealth rose by $12.4 trillion in North America and $9.2 trillion in Europe. These two regions (Read more...)

This Simple Chart Reveals the Distribution Of Global Wealth

by Anshool Deshmukh
This post is by Anshool Deshmukh from Visual Capitalist

Visualizing Global Wealth Distribution

The Global Wealth Distribution in One Chart

The pandemic resulted in global wealth taking a significant dip in the first part of 2020. By the end of March, global household wealth had already declined by around 4.4%.

Interestingly, after much monetary and fiscal stimulus from governments around the world, global household wealth was more than able to recover, finishing up the year at $418.3 trillion, a 7.4% gain from the previous year.

Using data from Credit Suisse, this graphic looks at how global wealth is distributed among the adult population.

How was Global Wealth Distributed?

While individuals worth more than $1 million constitute just 1.1% of the world’s population, they hold 45.8% of global wealth.

Wealth RangeWealthGlobal Share (%)Adult Population
Over $1M$191.6 trillion45.8%Held by 1.1%
$100k-$1M$163.9 trillion39.1%Held by 11.1%
$10k-$100k$57.3 trillion13.7%Held by 32.8%
Less than $10k$5.5 trillion1.3%Held by 55.0%
Total$418.3 trillion100.0%Held by 100.0%

On the other end of the spectrum, 55% of the population owns only 1.3% of global wealth.

And between these two extreme wealth distribution cases, the rest of the world’s population has a combined 52.8% of the wealth.

Global Wealth Distribution by Region

While wealth inequality is especially evident within the wealth ranges mentioned above, these differences can also be seen on a more regional basis between countries.

In 2020, total wealth rose by $12.4 trillion in North America and $9.2 trillion in Europe. These two regions (Read more...)

1.6 Billion Disposable Masks Entered Our Oceans in 2020

by Marcus Lu
This post is by Marcus Lu from Visual Capitalist

Disposable masks pollution ocean

The Briefing

  • 52 billion disposable face masks were produced in 2020 (this includes N95 respirators and surgical masks)
  • It’s estimated that 1.6 billion of these masks ended up in our oceans
  • This equates to roughly 5,500 tons of plastic pollution

Demand for Disposable Masks Skyrockets in 2020

Following the World Health Organization’s formal declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world quickly mandated the use of face masks in public spaces.

This led to a massive demand shock, prompting factories to begin producing disposable masks at full capacity. The majority of these masks were produced in China, and in April 2020, the country reported a staggering daily production figure of 450 million masks.

Plastic Pollution: A Lesser Known Side Effect

In Ocean Asia’s 2020 report, Masks on the Beach, researchers developed a formula to provide reasonable estimates for the number of disposable masks entering the environment.

Given an annual production figure of 52 billion disposable masks and a loss rate of 3% (the percentage of masks that escape water management systems), the team concluded that nearly 1.6 billion face masks wound up in our oceans in 2020. This amounts to approximately 5,500 tons of plastic pollution.

These masks are commonly made of polypropylene, which easily breaks up into microplastics. While the effects of microplastics on human health are not yet determined, these fragments are incredibly common in our water supply—for example, 94% of U.S. tap water is deemed to be contaminated.

Disposable Doesn’t Mean They’re Gone

Despite (Read more...)

Four Ways to Energize a Post-Pandemic Workforce

by Sponsored Content

The following content is sponsored by PwC

Four Ways to Energize a Post-Pandemic Workforce

The pandemic has put the workforce through the wringer, and shifted priorities for both employees and employers alike.

But as the world starts to look towards future growth and economic recovery, it’s important to recognize that each segment of the workforce has their own diverse needs.

Drawing from a year-long survey of 1,000+ full-time employees, PwC highlights the four biggest back-to-work priorities and challenges that employers must address to retain and recharge the workforce. We’ll also dive into some demographic gaps that emerge.

1. Physical Safety Remains #1

Almost half (48%) of employees felt that they were forced to sacrifice personal safety in order to remain employed throughout the pandemic. Women felt these effects even more strongly—60% said that feeling physically unsafe due to COVID-19 was distracting to their work.

Luckily, things took a turn for the better over the course of the year.

  • In June 2020: Only 33% of employees felt safe working on-site based on the modifications their company made
  • By May 2021: 73% of employees would feel comfortable attending a 10-person meeting in a conference room

Even with rising confidence to return to work safely, employers must do all they can to put their employees’ health first and bring this share back up to 100%.

2. Mental Health on the Mind

Shared feelings of isolation during the pandemic translated into a growing call for mental health support from employees.

Yet, while (Read more...)

How Media Consumption Evolved Throughout COVID-19

by Marcus Lu
This post is by Marcus Lu from Visual Capitalist

View the full-resolution version of this infographic

Knight Foundation Media Consumption

How Media Consumption Evolved Throughout COVID-19

View the full size version of this infographic by clicking here

Media consumption spiked in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak as Americans actively sought information and entertainment while at home. Whether this changed over the course of 2020 remains unclear, however.

To dive deeper into the issue, this infographic from the Knight Foundation explores each generation’s shifts in media consumption habits as the pandemic wore on.

Further below, we’ll also examine which media sources Americans deemed to be the most trustworthy, and why consumption habits may have changed for good.

Changes in American Media Consumption, by Generation

The data in this infographic comes from two surveys conducted by Global Web Index (GWI). The first was completed in April 2020 (N=2,337) and asked participants a series of questions regarding media consumption during COVID-19.

To see how consumption had changed by the end of the year, the Knight Foundation commissioned GWI to complete a follow-up survey in December 2020 (N=2,014). The following tables provide a summary of the results.

Gen Z

Unsurprisingly, a significant percentage of Gen Z reported an increase in digital media consumption in April 2020 in comparison to pre-pandemic habits. This bump was driven by higher use of online videos, video games, and online TV/streaming films such as Netflix.

By December 2020, these media categories became even more popular with this cohort.

CategoryApril 2020December 2020Change (percentage points)
Podcasts10.9%25.8%+14.9%
(Read more...)

The Biggest Business Risks in 2021

by Iman Ghosh
This post is by Iman Ghosh from Visual Capitalist

The Biggest Global Business Risks

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The Biggest Business Risks Around the World

We live in an increasingly volatile world, where change is the only constant.

Businesses, too, face rapidly changing environments and associated risks that they need to adapt to—or risk falling behind. These can range from supply chain issues due to shipping blockages, to disruptions from natural catastrophes.

As countries and companies continue to grapple with the effects of the pandemic, nearly 3,000 risk management experts were surveyed for the Allianz Risk Barometer, uncovering the top 10 business risks that leaders must watch out for in 2021.

The Top 10 Business Risks: The Pandemic Trio Emerges

Business Interruption tops the charts consistently as the biggest business risk. This risk has slotted into the #1 spot seven times in the last decade of the survey, showing it has been on the minds of business leaders well before the pandemic began.

However, that is not to say that the pandemic hasn’t made awareness of this risk more acute. In fact, 94% of surveyed companies reported a COVID-19 related supply chain (Read more...)

White Hot North: Residential Real Estate Investment in Canada

by Avery Koop
This post is by Avery Koop from Visual Capitalist

residential real estate investment

The Briefing

  • Residential investment made up 9.3% of Canada’s GDP as of Q4’2020
  • For context, U.S. residential real estate investment peaked in 2006 at 6.7% of the country’s GDP (just before the infamous housing crash) and it currently sits at 4.3%

White Hot North: Residential Real Estate Investment in Canada

Residential real estate is breaking records in Canada. As of Q4’2020, it accounted for 9.3% of the country’s GDP.

The purchase, sale, and construction of new homes in Canada currently makes up more of the country’s economy than it does in any other developed country.

There’s No Place Like Home

So why is there so much investment going into building residential structures? Here’s a look at just a few reasons:

  • Increased immigration to Canada
  • Falling mortgage rates
  • Increased saving rates

The steady flow of immigration into Canada is a significant factor behind increased residential real estate investment. Prior to the pandemic, the country welcomed around 300,000 newcomers per year—increasing the demand for housing, particularly in urban hubs like Toronto and Vancouver.

Mortgage rates have also been steadily falling, making it easier to purchase a home. As of the latest 2020 data Canadian 5-year uninsured mortgage rates sat at 2.1%, compared to a steep peak in the beginning of 2019 at 3.7%.

Additionally, some individuals may have become more capable of affording a new home as increased saving rates have become a widespread trend during the pandemic, potentially adding to demand. This combined with increasingly flexible remote work options are increasing (Read more...)