Amazon Statistics & Fast Facts in the Global Market
Amazon is one of the largest multinational corporations in the world. Moreover, this last decade has been one of unprecedented success for a company that started as a digital bookstore.
It came as a surprise, then, when it was revealed that Amazon’s app’s global ranking had slipped to fourth place.
Now before you start dumping AMZN, remember the most important thing.
Amazon is nearly (or, depending on who you ask, clearly) the largest and most powerful retailer in the US.
So let’s take a look at the fine print and see if the jaw-dropping headline is more fact or fluff.
Amazon as a Whole
Before we go further, we need to address the important question — how many countries does Amazon operate in, exactly? There are currently 18 countries around the world in which Amazon operates unique stores, with locations across the Americas, Africa, Europe, Asia & Oceania.
- Australia
- Brazil
- Canada
- China
- Egypt
- France
- Germany
- India
- Italy
- Japan
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Singapore
- Spain
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom / Ireland
Many other countries are also available for international shipping, even if they don’t have a dedicated Amazon site for their country. According to Amazon company statistics, the country that Amazon is the most successful in is the United States of America, as nearly 1 in 3 Americans has a Prime membership.
Seller Statistics
Amazon Seller statistics serve as key indicators for Amazon’s current health and continued performance on the world stage. Recent data analysis has shown a wide array of KPIs that further fill in the picture:
- About 47% of Amazon sellers are located in the United States of America. While Amazon continues to dominate in its home country, over half of sellers on the platform are located around the globe, highlighting the increasingly multinational scale of Amazon’s operation.
- The total revenue of Amazon’s European operations continues to grow and enjoy tremendous success. Trending upward across the entire 2010s, and remaining at a near-all-time high even during the Pandemic, and post-COVID market fluctuations, showing Sellers that consumer demand remains high outside of the US.
- Amazon continues to ship billions of dollars worth of Sellers’ goods overseas through FBA. Using their tremendous supply chain infrastructure, Sellers can focus on marketing their product in the best way possible, while Amazon handles the international logistics.
- Amazon has more than 310 million active users worldwide. With official marketplaces in the above countries and tested methods for delivering to many more, Sellers gain immediate access to a global market with millions of consumers ready to discover your product.
Now that we’ve shown Amazon’s global presence, and reviewed key Amazon seller statistics, let’s explore Amazon’s strengths against international competition, and some head-butting with foreign regulators that has led to some creative strategies in emerging and limited markets.
Amazon Compared to Other Global Marketplaces
Upon closer inspection, announcing that Amazon has slipped down the rankings is a little like comparing apples to oranges. Shopee, Shein, and Meesho (1st, 2nd, and 3rd, respectively) are Singaporean, Chinese, and Indian companies.
Their models mirror Amazon’s, but with unique flairs and gimmicks to expand their customer base…
For example, the Singaporean Shopee (Number 1), according to Reuters, “took just two years to become Brazil’s most-downloaded shopping app…with its game-changing approach to e-commerce: in-app mini-games offering coupons to winning users.”
Becoming number 1 in Brazil–the world’s sixth-most populous country–is an impressive feat…
However, despite this gimmick-inspired growth, this ranking fails to reflect the fact that Amazon has a thriving Brazilian marketplace—just look at how well Macarta Brazil performs during the Turkey 5!
Likewise, upon closer examination, Shein and Meesho both have important caveats to their success.
Where Amazon is a tech company featuring a widely diversified portfolio of offerings (think Prime Video and Amazon Web Services), Shein is primarily a fast-fashion company only and has a distinct home-court advantage in China. Meesho, similarly, also has had far fewer hoops to jump through in South Asia than the multinational Amazon…
Amazon’s Challenges in the Global Marketplace
Contrary to popular belief, at least here in the US, not everything that Amazon touches turns to gold. In fact — Amazon’s biggest struggles abroad have been primarily in the world’s two most populated countries: China and India. China (~1.5 Billion) and India (~1.4 Billion) account for roughly 36% of the Earth’s total population…
To put that to scale for you, the United States is the 3rd most populous country with about 330 million people, i.e. 4.3% of the global population.
Needless to say, these markets are a completely different ballgame, complicated not only by population density but also by a complex web of socio-political matters.
Here’s what you need to know:
China 🇨🇳
Unlike the India venture, the book has more or less been closed on Amazon’s operations in China.
Amazon.cn is still active, but the service has changed dramatically since Amazon entered the Chinese digital marketplace back in 2004, taking over the popular eCommerce site: Joyo.com.
The subsequent fifteen years were difficult for Amazon.cn. Plagued by lackluster sales and controversial business tactics, the Chinese branch of the American corporation consistently struggled to outperform Chinese-based companies, such as the enormously successful Alibaba.
Since ceasing Chinese seller operations in 2019, Amazon.cn continues to operate as an international retailer in the country, where Chinese consumers can purchase goods from countries such as the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Japan…
India 🇮🇳
Amazon.in continues to operate fluidly, but the writing may be on the metaphorical PDP.
Launched in 2013, Amazon entered the world’s second-largest internet market with high hopes. Less than a year after launching, Jeff Bezos announced a 2 Billion dollar investment in the South Asian country…
But, throwing a massive amount of money at the digital marketplace goes only so far when the host country’s current government has a very strong regulatory ethos plus a penchant for nativism…
Currently wrapped up in a legal conflict that could very well decide Amazon’s future tenability in India, the jury is still out on whether Amazon.in goes the way of Amazon.ca or Amazon.cn…
However, if Meesho ends up like an Alibaba, the regulatory decisions may come as an arbitrary final nail in the coffin of Amazon’s India adventure!
Global Successes
Amazon’s international ventures don’t always work out, but on a global scale, we know they’re doing just fine…
With successful digital marketplaces in Africa, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and the Americas, Amazon’s multinational business strategy has given the corporation an unprecedented global reach…
Just look at the number of resources they’ve been able to utilize to circumvent the global supply chain crisis. Spoiler: you don’t get there without enviable successes abroad; you get there with heavily diversified income, such as Prime memberships, OTT advertising, AWS, Whole Foods, Rivian investments, etc.
Plus, the Amazon marketplace is even starting to slip out of cyberspace, with plans for an Amazon Style to soon be opening up in Glendale, CA — a true Rubicon moment against brick-and-mortar commerce. Needless to say: Amazon’s global future is certainly looking bright…
Take Your Brand to the Next Level with Amazon
We’ve helped large and small brands achieve major successes throughout these last few difficult years, and we look forward to continuing that success in the future. From PDP optimizations to advanced advertising using DSP, we’ve been pushing retail media advertising to its limits to meet eCommerce trends and ensure major successes for our Brand Partners.
From our Denver-based headquarters, and with offices worldwide, Macarta is a global full-service marketplace agency specializing in retail media to drive growth and sustained success for our brand partners. Reach out to us here, and let’s make this your best year yet!