It’s 2020 and by now you’ll know whether Black Friday, Christmas and New Year sales were a bumper season and up on last year or if it lagged. Amazon certainly reckon they had a pretty good year and that their third party merchant partners did likewise.
Amazon say they had a record-breaking end to the year with the number of items delivered with Prime Free One-Day and Prime Free Same-Day delivery nearly quadrupled in the US.
“This holiday season has been better than ever thanks to our customers and employees all around the world. On behalf of all Amazonians, we wish everyone the happiest of holidays and a fantastic 2020.”
– Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, Amazon
It was a record breaking Christmas and New Year sales for independent third party merchants, which Amazon say are mostly small and medium-sized businesses, with worldwide unit sales seeing double-digit year-over-year growth, surpassing a billion items sold in Amazon’s Stores. The question that needs asking is how widely sales were spread as only a tiny percentage (10%) of total Amazon merchants have turnover exceeding $100,000 or the local currency equivalent. Are the sales going to a few ginormous merchants or are the small guys getting their share of sales?
It’s also worth remembering that Amazon have around 50% of online sales in the US, but the same isn’t true in the UK. In fact it’s eBay who is still the market leader for consumer penetration in the UK with over half of the country visiting eBay each month.
So how were you Christmas and New Year sales- up? down? Higher on eBay, Amazon, your own website or other venues? Where will you be focussing your efforts for 2020?
