Amazon today announced that small businesses and entrepreneurs sold more than 40 million items on Prime Day this month, which was up from 20 million last year.
The 2X spike during the company’s third annual online shopping bonanza was highlighted in blog post written by Amazon Marketplace Vice President Peter Faricy.
“Prime Day sales not only help small businesses and entrepreneurs selling on Amazon increase profits during a historically slow time of year, but Prime Day also helps small businesses prepare for the upcoming holiday season,” he noted.
Several small business owners enjoyed big sales on Prime Day, which lasted 30 hours this past week and was Amazon’s “biggest shopping event” of all time. Willow & Everett owner Ben Arneberg said he said a 20X spike in overall sales, for example.
Amazon’s Marketplace lets third-party business owners sell their products on Amazon, which also helps fulfill orders via its warehouses and shipping networks. Marketplace is one of the company’s three “pillars,” along with Amazon Prime and Amazon Web Services. Many have speculated about the company’s fourth pillar, which could be artificial intelligence, led by Amazon’s digital assistant Alexa.
