Sellers sold over 2 billion items worldwide on Amazon in 2014, a record amount. To help put that in perspective, Amazon revealed a year ago that its third-party sellers sold “more than a billion” units worldwide in 2013, cumulatively worth tens of billions of dollars.
However, the highest growth may be coming from Asia and India. Amazon revealed that China and Hong Kong-based sellers with international sales grew 80 percent year-over-year. And product selection available through FBA on the Amazon.in (India) marketplace more than tripled year-over-year, it reported.
Amazon, which is tight-lipped when it comes to data about its programs and sales, released a few other tidbits on Monday:
- There are over 2 million sellers on Amazon worldwide;
- Sellers account for over 40% of the total units sold on Amazon;
- Number of FBA sellers grew 65% year over year worldwide;
- On Cyber Monday, more than 16 million units were ordered worldwide from sellers on Amazon;
- FBA units shipped worldwide grew over 50% year-over-year during the 2014 holiday season.
We asked for additional color on third-party sales in 2014. Specifically, Amazon includes digital goods in the percentage of units sold by 3P merchants – it would be interesting to know how much of the physical units sold on Amazon comes from 3P merchants, a figure Amazon has declined to provide in the past.
When asked, “what was the percentage of total physical units (non digital) sold by sellers,” spokesperson Erik Fairleigh responded to our inquiry, writing, “Over 40 percent of the total units sold on Amazon is physical units.”
Amazon played up its Fulfillment By Amazon program (FBA) in its release. It said FBA units shipped worldwide grew more than 50% year-over-year during the 2014 holiday season, and said sellers on Amazon from more than 100 different countries around the world fulfilled orders to customers in 185 countries using the FBA service.
Peter Faricy, VP for Amazon Marketplace, said, “It’s been a record-setting year for selling on Amazon. We’re seeing strong growth from sellers listing their items across our global marketplaces. In fact, there are now more than a billion offers for customers to browse from sellers who are listing items for sale outside their home country.”
