Amazon spent 2017 setting and breaking records, exceeding expectations, and adding to its titanic weight. Record single day sales for Prime Day were topped on Cyber Monday. The Thanksgiving Weekend and Holiday season saw around 89% of all online sales conducted on Amazon!
So it’s really no surprise that Amazon has carved out 4% of all US retail sales over the course of 2017. On top of that, Amazon accounted for about 44% of all US ecommerce sales over the course of the last year. This is up from 38% over 2016.
Amazon has been pushing into plenty of different categories, but it’s ability to grow in its strongest categories year over year is realy what is shocking. Consumer electronics saw a 4% increase from 2016 to 2017. Considering the top selling item on Cyber Monday – Amazon’s record one day sales day – was the Echo Dot, you have to wonder just how many of the little smart home devices were sold.
Categorical Growth
Beauty, Pantry, Grocery, and Furniture saw large increases year over year, but the more impressive stat is that Amazon grew in more than just these 4 categories. It has become impossible to ignore the viability of the Amazon sales channel, no matter what you sell.
While 4% growth in consumer electronics might seem meager, it is much less so when we are talking about total estimated sales of $8.5 billion. Home and Kitchen products brought in over $5.5 billion for 20% growth over 2016’s numbers. Publishing brought in an estimated $5 billion to see 3% growth from 2016 to 2017 and remind everyone that Amazon still sells books. Rounding out the top four largest categories for sales is Sports and Outdoors, which brought in over $4 billion estimated for 11% year over year growth.
What does 4% of US retail sales mean?
Simply put, it means around $200 billion in sales. While Walmart might be posting gains in ecommerce sales, they have a long way to go to compete with Amazon. It is incredible to think that almost 50% of all online sales in the US occur on a single website and the other 50% happen across all other websites.
This doesn’t even take into account the Whole Foods acquisition, international expansions, fledgling brick and mortar efforts, and Sponsored Products. The $197 billion in sales is the most cut and dry financial statistic for Amazon’s 2017. It shows no signs of slowing down, either.