Amazon’s Razor Thin Margins – Poor Performance or Business Strategy?

Amazon is a fascinating company to study from the point of understanding a business model, for it is continually evolving. Regardless of whichever business the firm has entered however, it’s customer value proposition has remained consistent to delivering price, convenience & variety. The question however is whether we believe it has delivered on this value proposition effectively. Financial performance has been consistently poor with Amazon reporting razor thin margins YOY. Is this however the right metric to evaluate the company's business model? Or are it's operations and strategy tied to something else entirely?