Is Amazon a friend or foe to small business in America? The answer is… both.
During Amazon’s two-day Prime Day this year, sales rose nearly 60 percent over last year to $3.5 billion or more in sales for the more than 2.3 million small- and medium-sized businesses selling products directly on the Amazon Marketplace platform.
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Good morning, Paul.
Let’s talk about Amazon for a moment. Just 20 years ago, itself a startup company, now today, a trillion-dollar monster success, but that amazing business achievement has come at a price for many other smaller and medium-sized retailers. Amazon’s breadth of offerings, you can find whatever you can imagine to buy through them now. Amazon’s ability to offer best pricing. Their behemoth buying power allows them to buy at the lowest prices and, in turn, therefore offer consumers the best price. And the convenience and efficiency associated with buying through Amazon, the best in the business. Simply put, you can’t beat it.
So, while Amazon is the king in retail today, certainly in e-commerce, they are having a deleterious effect on our small- and medium-sized retailer community.
So, does this mean Amazon is the enemy of small business today?
Well, yes and no.
You see, the Amazon Marketplace is part Amazon direct retail offerings and part offerings of small- and medium-sized retailers who sell on the Amazon platform. Take Amazon Prime Day, that just happened last week. Amazon’s two-day Prime sales event generated more bids business for third party sellers than any other 48 hour-period, according to the company.
In fact, sales rose nearly 60 percent over last year to $3.5 billion or more in sales for the more than 2.3 million small- and medium-sized businesses selling products directly on the Amazon Marketplace platform. And interestingly, products sold by these third parties, sellers accounted for around 60 percent of all Amazon Prime sales. Some small retailers even experienced doubling or tripling of their sales, or even more, as a result of the Prime sales event.
The company says that Amazon is on track to invest $18 billion this year, specifically to help small- and medium-sized businesses succeed on their platform.
So, Amazon… friend or foe to small business in America? The answer, both.
I’m Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of StartupNation.com, and that’s today’s Business Beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes, WJR.
