Parcel Hero says AWS shutdown could cost billions of dollars in lost sales, disruption and supply chain issues

• A major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage affected more than 1,000 businesses, disrupting banks, airlines, social media platforms and delivery apps worldwide.

• Parcel Hero warns that the disruption could cost billions in lost revenue and service disruptions, citing CrowdStrike’s previous failure in 2024 that cost Fortune 500 companies $5.4 billion.

• David Jenks, director of consumer research at ParcelHero, said the incident highlights the weakness of global e-commerce as many companies rely on a few main cloud service providers.

• In the 2024 survey, 76 percent of global respondents reported using AWS, and 48 percent of developers relied on its services. Apps including Snapchat, Reddit and Lloyds Bank were among those affected.

The Amazon Web Services failure affected more than 1,000 businesses, and could cost companies and retailers billions of dollars in lost revenue and service disruptions, says home delivery specialist Parcel Hero.

Today’s Amazon Web Services outage disrupted access to banks, airlines, social media platforms and delivery apps. Home delivery specialist ParcelHero says when a similar incident happened last year at CrowdStrike, it cost Fortune 500 companies $5.4 billion and affected many companies worldwide.

“Once again, global e-commerce companies and services are reminded of how fragile the online ecosystem is, when most businesses rely on a few key providers,” says David Jenks-Millet, director of consumer research at ParcelHero.

In the 2024 survey, 76 percent of global respondents reported that they ran applications on AWS and 48 percent of developers used its services. Snapchat, Reddit, and Lloyds Bank are among the apps and websites affected by today’s outage. Downdetector reported that the AWS outage affected more than 1,000 companies.

“Even if e-commerce companies and delivery organizations have escaped the immediate impact of the AWS outage, payments may have failed due to banking and other issues.

With airline systems affected, there may also be problems in global supply chains, as most of the world’s air cargo is transported in the belly of passenger planes. So far, the impact on airlines appears to be limited to minor delays, but during the Crowdstreak shutdown, airports and ports alike are affected.

Today’s outage is believed to have occurred primarily in Amazon’s US-EAST-1 region in Virginia, the main and largest location of the web service. Although the initial issue that caused the issue was resolved within hours, ongoing issues could affect some businesses for hours, if not days, if the impact of the Crowdtrike incident is repeated.

A subsequent AWS outage could cost billions of dollars in sales, disruption and supply chain losses, says ParcelHero, which first appeared in Air Cargo Week.