Amazon not only boasts a hugely successful online retail platform but also a thriving digital marketplace which is seamlessly integrated with the main retail shopping experience. That being said, in the first quarter 2025, ** percent of paid units were sold by third-party sellers. 1P and 3P Amazon sellers There are many ways of selling on Amazon. Firstly there are first-party (1P) vendor sales, where vendors send their inventory to Amazon, who in turn control the pricing and include “ships from and sold by Amazon.com” on product listings. The benefits of 1P sales on Amazon are wholesale purchases from Amazon, priority selling and brand trust through Amazon’s credibility as a seller. Amazon also permits third-party (3P) sales on its marketplace. Both individuals and professional sellers can sell on Amazon Marketplace. When it comes to order fulfillment, possible options are Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM). Items are displayed as “sold by MERCHANT and Fulfilled by Amazon / Fulfilled by MERCHANT”. 3P sales are a popular strategy for sellers to make up for certain 1P sales disadvantages, namely improved margins through better pricing control, more favorable payment terms and less reliance on the relationship with Amazon. Amazon seller revenues This magic formula has ultimately cashed in for Amazon, which has seen its net revenues multiply in recent years. In 2023, the e-commerce giant generated approximately *** billion dollars in third-party seller services, an increase of about ** billion dollars from the previous year. While these figures are the product of orders throughout the year, a significant chunk is attributable to special offer and discount days. According to a survey, Black Friday is the shopping event driving the largest sales increase for Amazon sellers, followed by two of the company's own events, Prime Day and Amazon Summer Sale. In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, Amazon Prime Day played a particularly decisive role for small and medium-sized businesses around the world, many of which had to turn to online sales overnight in order to survive.

Over the second quarer 2025, Amazon's net sales generated through its third party seller services grew by *** percent on the same period a year prior. Third party seller services included commissions, fulfilment and shipping fees and other services related to third party sellers. In the same period, third party sellers accounted for ** percent of Amazon's paid unit sales.

Amazon's net sales generated through its third-party seller services reached **** billion U.S. dollars as of the second quarter 2025, growing by approximately ten percent on a year-over-year basis. Third-party seller services included commissions, fulfilment, shipping fees, and other services related to third-party sellers.

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 2022, the fulfilled-by-Amazon (FBA) model caught on, with ** percent of merchants relying on Amazon's logistics to fulfill their orders. ** percent said they combined this option with their own handling of orders, including storage, shipping, and customer service.

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.

According to a 2023 survey conducted among small and medium-sized businesses selling on Amazon, Home and kitchen was the most popular category among small sellers on Amazon's online marketplace, with over ******* (** percent) of respondents saying they had such products listed there for sale. In addition, ** percent of the sellers surveyed reported selling products in the beauty and personal care category.

In 2022, Amazon is expected to record an estimated ***** billion U.S. dollars in e-commerce sales. Of this value, first-party sales would account for 247.2 billion dollars and third-party sales for *** billion. Sales in both business models were forecast to continue growing in the coming years, though the 3P business model will do so at a much faster pace.

Third-party sellers accounted for ** percent of Amazon.com's beauty e-commerce market in 2020. On the other hand, first-party merchants made up ** percent of the e-beauty segment on Amazon's platform in the United States.

In fiscal year 2024, Amazon.com's revenue by segment (products & services) are as follows: Advertising Services: $56.21 B, Amazon Web Services: $107.56 B, Online Stores: $247.03 B, Other Services: $5.43 B, Physical Stores: $21.22 B, Subscription Services: $44.37 B, Third-Party Seller Services: $156.15 B.

A study carried out among U.S. retailers in 2022 showed that ony 61 percent of them wanted to expand 3P (3rd party) on the Amazon marketplace. This represented a significant decrease compared to 2021, when eight in ten sellers opted for third-party selling.

In the year ended December 2024, Amazon Australia's third-party seller services segment reported a revenue of almost *** million U.S. dollars. This marked an annual growth of around **** percent from the previous year.

The industry has faced a notably complex and costly logistics environment over the past five years. Smaller shipping companies have been especially vulnerable, often tied to single-carrier solutions that reduce their leverage and leave them paying higher rates set by dominant businesses. This dynamic has limited their competitiveness. Major 3PL providers, in contrast, have benefited from adopting multicarrier models that help secure better rates and broader service options. Their advantages have fueled industry consolidation as they outmaneuver smaller competitors. Recent shifts in global trade are influencing facility locations, with companies moving away from China toward ASEAN countries, driving demand for seaport-adjacent warehouses and larger bulk leases in strategic logistics hubs. Customer expectations for greater transparency have risen, with shippers increasingly demanding end-to-end visibility and real-time package tracking. These heightened requirements have driven up compliance and technology integration costs for 3PLs. While these challenges have increased operating expenses, many providers have offset costs by offering enhanced quality inspection services and introducing new service lines, often at higher rates. As a result, industry revenue grew at a CAGR of 4.5% over the five years to 2025, hitting $138.4 billion. Revenue will rise by a modest 0.3% in 2025, suggesting stability, though mounting labor and technology costs have compressed profit. Looking forward, market complexity is expected to deepen. More 3PL clients are investing in dual sourcing to increase supply chain reliability, complicating the coordination of inbound freight. The problem of freight fraud is prompting agencies to invest heavily in carrier vetting and oversight. At the same time, the traditional consulting role of 3PLs is being challenged as clients invest in supply chain technology, pushing 3PLs to focus on R&D and reposition themselves as implementation specialists and advisors. Growth opportunities exist in the expanding returns market, particularly in reverse logistics. Over the next five years through 2030, revenue is expected to rise at a CAGR of 2.2%, reaching nearly $154.4 billion, while ongoing cost pressures and increasing technological sophistication shape the industry’s trajectory.

Beauty first-party sellers could benefit from the highest sales growth on Amazon.com in 2022. During that year, first-party (1P) sales of beauty products increased by ** percent. In turn, third-party sales grew by ** percent. However, in absolute values, third-party sellers still outperformed their 1P competitors.

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed how consumers view vitamins and supplements and interact with e-commerce, leading online vitamin retailers to thrive in a postpandemic environment. The surge in sales, coupled with a lasting shift in consumer behavior, showcases the growing importance of vitamins and supplements in supporting wellness. Social media has driven interest and sales, with influencers and content creators promoting these products to a broad audience. As the industry has evolved, brands and retailers have adapted, introducing innovative formulations and personalized options to meet changing demand. With the adoption of a more consumer-centric approach and the expansion of online retail, the vitamin and supplement space looks completely new. In all, revenue has been expanding at a CAGR of 8.8% to an estimated $24.3 billion over the past five years, including expected growth of 3.3% in 2024. While traditional vitamin and supplement sales continue to be a significant part of the industry, it’s evident that a shift towards innovative brands and direct-to-consumer (DTC) models characterizes its current state. This shift is supported by the surge in online vitamin retailers, like Seed Health, who have successfully tapped into the power of social media and influencer marketing to drive sales growth. Also, introducing new lines of vitamins and supplements that target specific health concerns, ranging from immune support to gut health, as well as a massive shift in available products, reflects a market embracing innovation and customization. Consumers’ heightened interest in vitamins and supplements isn’t expected to subside moving forward but will stabilize as the industry moves away from the pandemic. Online retailers will be central to meeting demand, including established product lines and new innovative ones. Retailers will increasingly leverage technology to enhance supply chain management, optimize inventory and improve logistics., while advances in research and formulation will bring more specialized supplements to the market, sustaining demand. Ongoing trends, like social media and influencer marketing, will remain central to retailers’ marketing strategies, although staying compliant with an evolving regulatory environment will be essential. Online vitamin and supplement sales will continue to strengthen, rising at a CAGR of 2.7% to an estimated $27.8 billion over the next five years.

In 2020, a total of 1.3 million sellers joined Amazon Marketplaces worldwide. Overall, 13.8 percent of these new sellers signed up through Amazon.com in the United States. Meanwhile, Amazon.in in India contributed 12.1 percent of new marketplace sellers. That year, the highest number of new third-party sellers in the United States was recorded in the month of April, when "stay-at-home" quarantines were imposed in several states to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

In Europe, most small Amazon sellers value the logistics and shipping program offered by the marketplace. In 2024, 85 percent of them considered the FBA service helpful in managing the orders' peak of the holiday season. Amazon multi-channel fulfillment followed with 81 percent of preferences. The same number of respondents considered Gen AI tools helpful in creating product detail pages.

According to a survey among more than *** Chinese Amazon sellers, approximately ** percent of respondents stated that they experienced a decrease in revenue in 2022 compared to 2021. In contrast, around ** percent of respondents recorded an increase in revenue. Over ** percent of Amazon sellers from China in the same survey reported that their profits had decreased.

Generative AI is already employed at Amazon. In 2024, a bit more than one-third of Amazon’s sellers and brands created and optimized product listings with AI tools. Another 14 percent of them shifted from manual to AI-based production of marketing and social media content.

A work-in-progress situation

AI use at Amazon aligns with the general trend observed in the United States. In 2023, only one-third of B2C e-commerce companies fully implemented AI in their operations, while nearly half of them are still in the experimental phase. In comparison, B2B organizations were lagging, as the full implementation rate stood at 25 percent.

What holds companies back?

Implementing AI-based solutions is easier said than done, as companies face numerous challenges ranging from data security to significant business costs – the main factors retail CEOs mentioned in a survey from 2023. In the same survey, over four in ten managers and employees believed AI innovations were hindered by a lack of understanding and expertise in AI use.

According to a survey among more than *** Chinese Amazon sellers, approximately ** percent of respondents stated that they increased their ad spending on Amazon in 2022 compared to 2021. In contrast, only ** percent of respondents said they spent less on advertising.