With 438 billion U.S. dollars in net sales, the United States were Amazon’s biggest market in 2024. Germany was ranked second with 41 billion U.S. dollars, ahead of the UK with 37.9 billion U.S. dollars. Biggest internet company Founded in 1994, Amazon has grown into one of the biggest e-commerce marketplaces and cloud computing platforms worldwide. In 2020, Amazon was ranked first in terms of company revenue among global publicly traded internet companies. With an annual revenue of approximately 386 billion U.S. dollars, the e-retailer ranked far ahead of closest competitors Google (181.7 billion U.S. dollars) and Alibaba (109.5 billion U.S. dollars). Amazon shopping Amazon is the leading e-retailer in the United States. In September 2021, 65 percent of Amazon customers in the United States held a membership with the company’s subscription service Amazon Prime, benefitting from free 2-day shipping, music and video streaming and exclusive offers and deals. Amazon Prime members are very engaged shoppers: a June 2021 survey found that over four in ten of them were likely to shop not just during Prime days, but also during other retail events, with 56 percent of them showing interest for Cyber Monday.

In 2019, there were approximately 1.1 million active sellers on the Amazon marketplace in the United States, accounting for 38 percent of global Amazon marketplace sellers. During the same period, there were only 281,257 Amazon marketplace sellers in the UK.

In 2019, Amazon.com accounted for 38 percent of active Amazon marketplace sellers worldwide, this translates to approximately 1.1 million active marketplace sellers in the United States. Amazon.co.uk was ranked second, accounting for 9.6 of all active third-party Amazon sellers worldwide.

Since its launch, Amazon Business has generated increasing sales numbers. The value of its total revenue amounted to 8.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. By 2025, the online marketplace might reach a total revenue of 44.3 billion U.S. dollars.

In 2023, e-commerce comprised over 15.6 percent of total retail sales in the United States. Forecasts suggest that this proportion will continue to rise steadily in the coming years, reaching approximately 20.6 percent by 2027.

Fashion fever

The digital revolution has significantly changed how retail is done, impacting a wide range of product categories. Out of all e-commerce product categories, apparel and accessories are the most purchased online in the United States. As of February 2023, roughly 18 percent of all fashion retail sales took place online. Furniture and home furnishing, as well as computer and consumer electronics, ranked second, with over 15 percent of each product category purchased via the internet. The product categories that are least purchased online are office equipment and supplies (1.4 percent) and books, music, and video (5.1 percent).

Shopping hotspots

Amazon dominates the e-commerce industry in the United States, though other competitors still have significant market share. In December 2023, amazon.com was the most-visited e-commerce and shopping site in the United States. That month, around 45 percent of all visits to e-commerce sites were made to Amazon. Other popular shopping sites include ebay.com, walmart.com, etsy.com, and target.com. The staggering proportion of online retail sales in the country attributed to Amazon is quite remarkable. In 2023, Amazon's website accounted for almost half of all online computer and consumer electronics sales. Similarly, nearly one-third of online fashion purchases in the country were made on Amazon.

In 2019, Amazon concentrated nearly half of all online sales of books in Brazil. Meanwhile, four out of five (80 percent of) e-books purchased in the South American country during that year were bought on Amazon. The company started to operate in Brazil in 2012, by selling books only. Since 2017, Amazon.com.br offers multiple kinds of products.

According to the source, Mercado Livre – known as Mercado Libre in the rest of Latin America – was the online marketplace with the highest gross merchandise value (GMV) in Brazil in 2023, nearly 108 billion Brazilian reals. Magazine Luiza placed second, with a GMV at about 45.6 billion reals. Brazil’s digital market as a battlefield Headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mercado Libre has in Brazil its largest source of revenue. The Portuguese-speaking country accounted for more than half of the holding’s net revenue in 2020. Furthermore, between 2019 and 2020, Mercado Libre’s revenue in the Brazilian market alone increased by over 50 percent, reaching nearly 2.2 billion U.S. dollars. But MeLi – as its employees and competitors call it – is not alone. Since 2019, more than 60 percent of B2W’s GMV came from its marketplace operation. Amazon, a rival from up North Although the Seattle-based giant does not specify its results in Brazil, it would be a mistake to overlook its relevance in that country. In July 2020, Amazon.com.br recorded around 70 million visits. Moreover, in 2019, Amazon concentrated half of all online sales of books in Brazil, while four out of five e-books sold in the South American country during that year were also purchased on Jeff Bezos’s flagship.

Online shopping sales across India amounted to around 67 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. The e-commerce market is likely to grow to over 145 billion U.S. dollars by 2025. The e-commerce market in India is the fastest-growing market in the world.

Online retail segments

In fiscal year 2017, the retail market was led by electronics with a penetration rate of about 20 percent. However, in terms of groceries, local offline vendors or kiranas continued to be the preferred choice for daily groceries due the ease of bargaining and benefitting from the ‘old-customer’ designation with extra rations as a gesture from the vendor. Nevertheless, the number of online shoppers in the country was estimated to increase to over 220 million in 2025, up from around 80 million in 2017.

Impact of COVID-19 on the market

The coronavirus outbreak in March 2020 caused a surge in prices across e-commerce platforms. Panic purchasing resulted in the shortage of sanitary and food items online as well as in physical stores across the country. As the online consumption continued to increase, unscrupulous sellers jacked up the prices on certain items. Amazon and Flipkart, the two e-commerce market leaders in India urged sellers and even blocked certain products to exercise responsible pricing. Manufacturers increased production in order to keep up with the supply of fast-moving items. With the uncertainty surrounding the impact of COVID-19, manufacturers and retailers will presumably have to work in unison to keep track of an unprecedented demand and supply scenario.

Prime Day sales on Amazon reached a massive $12.9 billion in 2023.

In 2023, advertising revenue generated by Amazon with its retail media business in Europe stood at 3.6 billion U.S. dollars. A year earlier, it amounted to 3.42 billion dollars, which constitutes an annual growth of roughly five percent. Amazon owns the largest retail media network in Europe.

I roundup the latest Amazon Prime statistics which show just how big Amazon Prime has become and will continue to be.

Amazon made $35.22 billion from memberships and subscriptions in 2022.

From 2004 to 2024, the net revenue of Amazon e-commerce and service sales has increased tremendously. In the fiscal year ending December 31, the multinational e-commerce company's net revenue was almost 638 billion U.S. dollars, up from 575 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.Amazon.com, a U.S. e-commerce company originally founded in 1994, is the world’s largest online retailer of books, clothing, electronics, music, and many more goods. As of 2024, the company generates the majority of it's net revenues through online retail product sales, followed by third-party retail seller services, cloud computing services, and retail subscription services including Amazon Prime. From seller to digital environment Through Amazon, consumers are able to purchase goods at a rather discounted price from both small and large companies as well as from other users. Both new and used goods are sold on the website. Due to the wide variety of goods available at prices which often undercut local brick-and-mortar retail offerings, Amazon has dominated the retailer market. As of 2024, Amazon’s brand worth amounts to over 185 billion U.S. dollars, topping the likes of companies such as Walmart, Ikea, as well as digital competitors Alibaba and eBay. One of Amazon's first forays into the world of hardware was its e-reader Kindle, one of the most popular e-book readers worldwide. More recently, Amazon has also released several series of own-branded products and a voice-controlled virtual assistant, Alexa. Headquartered in North America Due to its location, Amazon offers more services in North America than worldwide. As a result, the majority of the company’s net revenue in 2023 was actually earned in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In 2023, approximately 353 billion U.S. dollars was earned in North America compared to only roughly 131 billion U.S. dollars internationally.

Shein.se is the Swedish website of the Chinese fast-fashion platform. Shein.se's e-commerce net sales grew from an estimated ten million to approximately 327 million U.S. dollars from 2018 to 2023. In 2024, the online sales of shein.se are forecast to reach 339 million U.S. dollars. Shein overtakes amazon.se in Sweden The Chinese brand, Shein, has been growing in sales in the Swedish market. Although it is not considered one of the most popular shops among Swedes yet, it surpassed the giant amazon.se in net sales, generating nearly 327 million U.S. dollars in 2023. Amazon.se, for instance, closed the same year at almost 152 million. Shein started operating in Sweden in 2019 as part of their European expansion and gained more popularity after the COVID-19 pandemic due to lockdowns increasing online shopping.
Apotea.se tops the charts, surpassing Shein Although Shein has had an impressive result when it comes to net sales, the number one online store in popularity among Swedes is apotea.se. Founded in 2011, apotea.se is the largest digital pharmacy in the country. The brand started off offering easy access to prescription and over-the-counter medications and soon expanded its product range to include beauty, wellness, and healthcare products. The brand's popularity is evident in its net sales, which reached nearly 514 million U.S. dollars in 2023. This is a difference of 52 percent compared to Stein's sales that year in the Northern country.

According to data from a 2019 study, share of sellers that offer Prime shipping among top Amazon sellers in selected European countries has steadily increased from 2016 to 2019. Over the period observed, the highest share was recorded among Spanish sellers, reaching 67 percent in 2019.

In 2024, Amazon reported 56.21 billion U.S. dollars in revenue generated through advertising sales worldwide. The amount increased by over 20 percent in comparison to the previous year. According to estimates, Amazon accounted for 11 percent of total digital ad spending worldwide in 2024.

Amazon Prime’s global subscriber growth rate has accelerated over the last 5 years. Today Amazon currently has 200 million Amazon Prime members around the world.

Amazon Prime’s growth is what has been most impressive. They have managed to convert millions of customers into loyal subscribers at a very fast rate.

Since its launch, Amazon Business generated increasing sales numbers. The value of its gross merchandise volume (GMV) amounted to 15 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. By 2025, the online marketplace might reach a gross merchandise volume of 83.1 billion U.S. dollars.

Overall the US accounts for about 74% of all paying Amazon Prime accounts globally.