Amazon on Tuesday (Oct. 19) rolled out new data that shows their third-party marketplace sellers are achieving success even as lawmakers increase their focus on the retail giant’s private-label business practices, according to a CNBC report.
Amazon’s third-party marketplace, which debuted in 2000, now includes millions of sellers and encompasses about 60% of the company’s annual sales. There has been an escalating feeling that Amazon unfairly favors its own products on its website over those of third-party sellers.
Amazon referred to the almost 2 million SMBs who sell on the company’s third-party marketplace as their “selling partners” in a report issued Tuesday (Oct. 19). Those partners have benefited from the rise of eCommerce during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, bringing in an average of $200,000 in sales in the 12 months that ended Aug. 31, up from $170,000 one year earlier.
U.S. sellers alone on Amazon’s third-party marketplace sold more than 3.8 billion items in the year through Aug. 31, up from 3.4 billion the previous year.
About half of Amazon’s almost half-million U.S. sellers used the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) services to package and ship their orders from the company’s warehouse. FBA sellers earned 20-25% more on their sales than those who did not use the program, according to Amazon.
Amazon also sells its own products through the AmazonBasics program, along with other brand names. Some sellers say AmazonBasics pits third-party sellers against Amazon’s offerings.
Related: Amazon Aggregator Thrasio Cancels SPAC Plans Amid Leadership Shakeup
Recently, Thrasio, a consumer goods company working on omnichannel commerce and an aggregator of third-party Amazon sellers, announced it will delay its special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger plans amid a leadership team shakeup and “complications with its financial audits,” according to CNBC.
The company will still explore a SPAC in the future, along with a more traditional initial public offering (IPO).
Thrasio controls more than 200 third-party Amazon sellers, so the auditing process of its balance sheet was more complicated than for a typical eCommerce company, according to the CNBC report.
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