Amazon.com Inc. last week handed the public a slew of facts and figures about small businesses using its site to sell products.
The e-commerce giant, No .1 in the Internet Retailer 2018 Top 1000, says more than 1 million U.S.-based small and midsized businesses sell on Amazon, generating “hundreds of thousands of jobs across the U.S.” It estimates that the Amazon marketplace has created more than 900,000 jobs worldwide.
In its inaugural Small Business Impact report, Amazon says it invested billions of dollars in infrastructure and technical services last year to help small and medium-sized businesses reach customers around the world.
The online retail behemoth also reveals in its report that:
- More than 300,000 small and medium-sized businesses started selling on Amazon in 2017.
- Small and midsized businesses selling on Amazon come from all 50 states and more than 130 countries.
- Last year, more than 20,000 small and medium-sized businesses worldwide that sell on Amazon surpassed $1 million in sales using the marketplace.
- In 2017, Amazon lent more than $1 billion to U.S-based small and midsized businesses through the Amazon Lending Program.
- Half of the items purchased on Amazon come from small and midsized businesses.
- The top categories for U.S.-based small and medium-sized businesses selling on Amazon are Health and Personal Care, Home, Electronics, Beauty, Apparel, Sports and Toys
Amazon also says that in addition to investing on behalf of the small businesses that sell on Amazon, it also has developed technology, devices and services, such as Kindle Direct Publishing and Amazon Web Services, that benefit authors and developers who operate as small businesses.
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