Amazon marketplace and top sellers

By Elliot Brindel
Date

Amazon is fast turning into THE marketplace for the whole wide world, offering a wide, wide variety of choices by several e-commerce merchants. The sheer scale of the Amazon marketplace can be comprehended by crunching some numbers. A total of $141.3 billion worth of products were sold on the Amazon marketplace in 2019, and Amazon the multinational corporation made around $53 billion from it. This implies that about 20% of the revenue for Amazon comes from the fees that third-party sellers pay to Amazon for listing and fulfillment.

 

Looking and analyzing the Amazon marketplace would provide answers to some important questions, including were exactly these $53 billion come from? Who are the third-party merchants that are active on Amazon marketplaces globally? And who are the sellers that make the most revenue? These Amazon seller leads would help you explore your way through this enormous Amazon marketplace.

 

Global presence and magnitude

 

Amazon marketplace operates as several sub-markets, more specifically, 14 different marketplaces. Although being a global entity, the lion’s share of revenue is generated from the USA branch of the Amazon marketplace, nearing to 70%. This stat, when paired up with the fact that nearly 40% of all sellers on the Amazon marketplace are from the USA, it really shows that zooming into the American landscape for a study on Amazon top sellers is a perfectly viable choice.

 

Revenue brackets for merchants and top seller

 

 

The number of sellers on the Amazon marketplace is enormous, nearing 464,000 as of 2020. Although the top sellers certainly cash in the big bucks, all of them contribute to the $53 billion figure Amazon earns every year. Breaking down the list of sellers according to sales, we find out that 3% of the sellers make $250,000 or more annually, which may seem like a small number, but represents around 14,000 merchants across the Amazon marketplace. Although sales are variable and earnings may fluctuate, it wouldn’t be wrong to classify these 14,000 odd merchants as the ‘Amazon top sellers’.

 

Geographical classification of top sellers

 

 

 

Categorizing these 14,000 top sellers according to the geographical locations, we find that a majority of them are US based, being consistent with our aforementioned conclusion. Other countries on the list of amazon top sellers were China, Hong Kong, and the UK. Focusing on the US-based companies, it’s evident that most of them are located near to a major logistical hub and populous areas, such as New York and California.

However, on further inspection, we find that all of the top 5 Amazon top sellers also have operations in other countries, and aren’t even American companies; their US operations are simply managed by US-based companies and LLCs, which may also be subsidiaries of non-US companies.

 

Top Amazon Sellers 2020

 

Zooming further into the 100 US-based Top Amazon Sellers with the intention of cracking down upon the top 10, we first need to set a metric to compare and analyze. Revenue might seem like an obvious parameter but the logistics of data collection makes it impossible to gather the said data. Hence, the number of reviews any sellers get over some time will be our comparison scale. This might not be the absolute best way to compare and analyze, but given the limitations on the data provided by Amazon, this is the best proxy available.

 

 

 

Profiling top sellers of 2020 

Some rather unfamiliar names pop up in the list of Top Amazon Sellers, but given their magnitude of success in the e-commerce marketplace, it might be worth knowing about them in greater detail. One common theme in their retail strategy is that they are active in a wide range of niches and categories on Amazon. Another common thread connecting these big fishes is the fact that most of them sell products that are used in day-to-day life. From cosmetics to apparel and from electronics to office supplies; if you want to become a top seller, it seems that you need to sell things that people regularly need. 

 

The Top 5 Amazon Sellers are Pharmapacks, AnkerDirect, EPFamily Direct, Utopia Deals, and MetroDecor. Let’s delve into their profiles and see what makes them alphas in this wild west.

 

Pharmapacks

 

The arguably biggest retailer of amazon.com, and third-largest e-commerce merchant on Amazon marketplace globally, this New York-based Amazon giants have garnered over 110,000 ratings in the past 12 months alone. The sheer variety of products hosted by this retailer, ranging from cosmetics to medical supplies, from nutritional supplements to electronics, it really covers all bases of day-to-day consumer needs. 

 

Mainly basing their operations on the American marketplace on Amazon, the company also relies on other distribution platforms such as Walmart, eBay, and Google Shopping. Pharmapacks has a busy shipping schedule and has sold over 31,000 SKUs (Stock kept units), alongside collaborating with other commercial giants such as Listerine and L’Oreal. As an add on, they frequently work with smaller enterprises in order to push their sales and revenue. 

 

Origination from New York by two founders (Andrew Vaganas and Brad Tramuniti), Pharmapacks has grown exponentially to reach 850 employees and 70% annual growth. The e-commerce giants, with their sheer magnitude and sales, deserve to be called the Top Amazon Seller.

 

AnkerDirect

 

Coming in second is the multinational retailers AnkerDirect. Dealing in electronics such as cables, wireless charging docks, power banks, and other electronic accessories, this retailer is the official storefront of the much larger Anker brand. 

 

The company lists 392 different products on the Amazon marketplace as of 2020, under the brand names of Anker, Soundcore, ROAV, Nebula, and Zolo. Anker, the parent company, is a Chinese corporation starting off as the brainchild of former Google employee Steven Yang. AnkerDirect, on the other hand, is the subsidiary of a California based company, Fantasia Trading LLC. Anker started off solely on the Amazon global marketplace, it has since expanded its operations on other retail sites such as eBay and Walmart, and has also started its own website. Based on the given factors, AnkerDirect provides another solid case of an Amazon top seller.

 

EPFamily Direct

 

Next up on our list, we have household item retailers, EPFamily Direct. While the origins and detailings of the company been largely hidden from the general public, this hasn’t stopped the corporation from garnering rave reviews on the Amazon marketplace. Their shoe organizer which you hang over the door has gathered over 36 thousand reviews, and their trash can for the cars has around 15 thousand, all of which points towards the mammoth strides the company has made in household items retail. While the company sells a rather small number of products on amazon.com (397 to be precise), the number of units sold of each of these items makes up for the smaller selection size of their products. Even their lack of presence on the rest of the internet and e-commerce scene, the number of products they sell warrant them a label as ‘Amazon top seller’.

 

Utopia Deals

 

Another household product dealer Utopia Deals sits fourth on our list. Specializing in beddings, apparel, and kitchen supplies, Utopia Deals has close to 200 products listed on amazon.com and also employs other channels such as eBay, Walmart, and Jet to ship their products. As an added bonus, Utopia Deals also has its own website for retail purposes.

 

The New York-based corporation has seen tremendous growth since its inception in 2011, and currently sees around 20 million units sold worldwide annually. The company currently employees around 15,000 employees and outsources its manufacturing to Pakistan. Another giant on our list, it surely deserves the tag of ‘Amazon top seller’.

 

MetroDecor

 

Our final profile on the list, MetroDecor is an Ohio-based company specializing in home decor, also going by the brand name mDesign. Providing home and office decor solutions include products like food storage containers, bins, nightstands, and other assorted items, and makes an absolute living out of it.

mDesign has a long and assorted history, being the subsidiary of InterDesign, a 40-year old company. mDesign has a sister company iDesign, which also sells similar stuff, but the difference lies in the fact that mDesign focuses on e-commerce platforms. Hence, MetroDecor sells a huge range of products, with over 2,000 listings on amazon.com, many more than some of the other entries on the list. The large amount of SKUs sold by the organization certainly warrants it a label as ‘Amazon top seller’.

 

Ups and Downs from 2019

 

Not much has changed in the last year, with Pharmapacks and AnkerDirect retaining the No.1 and 2 spots on the list. EPFamily Direct has changed its position in the top-10, pushing into the top-5. However, companies such as Zappos and iServe have dropped from top-5, and Better World Books and 6pm have dropped from top-10, making way for companies such as Utopia Deals, MetroDecor, and Juvo+. This clearly shows the variability in the marketplace, and even though the huge magnitude of companies at the top, they can be easily displaced in the list.

 

Projections for 2021

 

Not much is set in stone for the next calendar year. However, with the rate at which companies like Pharmapacks and AnkerDirect are growing, it’s almost guaranteed that these corporations will continue to grow and dominate the list of Amazon top sellers in the next year. However, as mentioned above, with the fluctuations in the market and rising and falling trends, any Amazon retailer can find itself entering the list for the next year. 

 

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