Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has said that this year’s Prime Day shopping event was a unique one whereby third-party sellers earned over $3.5 billion. This is an almost 60% increase in sales from a year ago and a record for small-sized and medium-sized businesses making up the marketplace.
Small and Medium-sized enterprise reap big on Prime Day
Although the company didn’t disclose the total amount of Prime Day sales, it said that third-party sales were even more than its retail business. Analysts had predicted that the company would generate sales up to $10 billion this Prime Day. This comes at the back of growing scrutiny from legislators regarding the e-commerce giant’s power over independent merchants offering goods through its marketplaces as well as tactics that critics have indicated that stifle competition.
Amazon’s Worldwide Consumer CEO, Jeff Wilke, said that they are delighted to have a record-breaking Prime Day event for a small business that surpassed $3.5 billion. The company is planning to invest $18 billion this year to help small enterprises succeed in its marketplace. Amazon designed Prime Day for small enterprises, which includes funding a promo leading to the event that helped in driving more than $900 million in sales in two weeks for mall enterprises.
Unique Prime Day for small enterprises
The company said that the two day Prime Day event that happened early in the week was the biggest ever for small-sized and medium-sized enterprises. Amazon launched Prime Day in 2015 for its prime customers, and the event has grown to be among its most important marketing and retail events. The event enables the company to promote its products as well as helps it secure new Prime customers.
Usually, the event occurs in July but this year was different as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the e-retailer to push it back to October. This implies that the event will usher in the holiday shopping season early than ever instead of waiting for Black Friday. This has also resulted in other retailers launching discount promos this month.