Amazon says that small businesses and entrepreneurs on its platform sold over two billion items in a record-breaking first half of 2017.
“We started working with small businesses to sell online back in 2000 and have helped hundreds of thousands achieve success,” said Peter Faricy, VP Amazon Marketplace.
Faricy said that the marketplace had grown “so significantly that sales by small businesses now account for over half of the unit sales on Amazon sites around the world.
“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.”
The e-commerce giant has over 300 million active customers, across 180 countries, with over 100,000 entrepreneurs who achieved over $100,000 in sales selling on Amazon in 2016.
According to an Amazon economic study, sellers have created over 600,000 new jobs outside of Amazon, while the Prime Day 2017 event grew by more than 60 percent over last year.
In its most recent results announcement, Amazon reported a jump in retail sales but its profits took a big hit as the e-commerce giant continues investing in a number of costly areas, including video, fulfilment centers and international expansion within fast-growing economies such as India.
The world’s largest online retailer has reported a 77 per cent slump in quarterly income and forecast a potential operating loss in the current quarter, $US300 million ($A376 million) to a loss of $400 million.
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