More than half of items sold on Amazon are from SMBs

Internet Retailing

2nd Aug 2017

In a statement released this week, US e-commerce giant Amazon revealed that more than half of the items it sells worldwide come from small businesses and entrepreneurs.

“We started working with small businesses to sell online back in 2000 and have helped hundreds of thousands achieve success,” Peter Faricy, vice president for Amazon Marketplace, said.

Faricy added that 2017 is off to “a record-start” with over 2 billion units already sold through Marketplace.

“We love hearing the stories from these small business owners who are able to quit their day jobs to sell on Amazon full-time, hire more employees to grow their business, and, in many cases, start other businesses – it’s very energizing for Amazonians to know that the technology we are building is helping so many people pursue their dreams,” he said.

According to the company’s own data, over 100,000 entrepreneurs achieved sales of $100,000 through Amazon in 2016. Sellers have also created over 600,000 new jobs outside of Amazon, an economic study by the company found.

The e-commerce company currently operates 11 Marketplaces globally, and in April it announced plans to launch Marketplace in Australia.

Small businesses and entrepreneurs selling through Amazon Marketplace come from every state in the US and 130 different countries around the world.