Amazon's (NASDAQ: AMZN) struggles with rising inflation aren't new. In fact, the e-commerce giant has wrestled with this problem in two ways for more than a year. It's added to Amazon's overall costs -- from transporting goods to running warehouses. Higher inflation also is hurting customers' wallets, and that means they're looking to spend less on their shopping.

The bright spot always has been Amazon's cloud computing business, Amazon Web Services (AWS). Until recently. Yes, the business's revenue still is growing in the double digits. But growth has slowed, and even here, customers are looking to cut costs. Should you worry about this latest shift?

First, let's talk about how AWS generally fits into the Amazon earnings picture. Prior to this difficult period -- and back when Amazon's earnings were climbing -- AWS was a key contributor to profit. For example, in 2021, AWS' operating income represented more than 70% of Amazon's total operating income.

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Source Fool.com