Amazon sheds light on small biz impact

Amazon has been criticized for its impact on small business, but that’s a tough argument to make when the company just invested $15 billion in its third-party marketplace and reported numbers showing a tremendous impact.

Last year was a record breaker on so many levels for Amazon. Sales, profits and the company’s stock price set records, but it set other types of records that are equally important. The company launched 225 tools and services to help third-party sellers as part of a $15 billion investment the company said it made in third-party seller operations.

Third party sellers, basically small and medium sized business, are a key component of the Amazon flywheel. Their listings on the platform expands Amazon’s assortment, making it a magnet for a huge audience of shoppers and the company earns billions in fees by providing fulfillment and other seller services. As the company reported last year, the share of physical gross merchandise sales sold by third parties has increased to 58% from 3% 20 years ago. Expect to hear more on how Amazon enables small business growth in the coming months when CEO Jeff Bezos releases his annual letter to shareholders.

Until then, Chain Store Age has the stunning details on how much some small business are selling on Amazon.