In 2024, these Amazon Selling Partners averaged over $290,000 in annual sales and employed more than 2 million people, Amazon said in a Tuesday press release outlining findings from its latest annual Small Business Empowerment Report.
Compared to the previous year, the annual sales figure was up 16%, while the employment number was up 11%, according to the release.
More than 55,000 independent sellers generated sales of over $1 million in 2024, per the release.
"It's a partnership that's providing customers with amazing selection while creating opportunities for entrepreneurs across America," Dharmesh Mehta, vice president of Worldwide Selling Partner Services at Amazon, said in a video about the report.
In the time since the company made its platform available to them in 2000, independent sellers have generated over $2.5 trillion in sales in Amazon's store, according to the release. They have also exported more than 2 billion items globally.
Since it launched Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) in 2006, these sellers have shipped more than 80 billion items through the program, per the release.
"What began as a bold idea in 2000 has grown into one of the most powerful economic engines for small businesses in the world," Mehta said in the video.
Independent sellers are also adopting the artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies developed for them by Amazon, including generative AI-powered features for listing creation and optimization, customer loyalty and analytics, and supply chain optimization, the release said.
"For example, our generative AI-powered product listing tools have been used by more than 900,000 independent sellers," Mehta said in the video. "And we're continuing to launch more and more new innovations."
Amazon debuted an AI-powered tool called Enhance My Listing on May 8, saying the tool helps its selling partners maintain and optimize product listings.
In September, PYMNTS reported that independent sellers who were gathered for Amazon's annual Accelerate conference said they were most interested in GenAI and logistics.
They weren't disappointed, as Amazon used the event to introduce a slew of AI applications, the ability of sellers using its warehouses to easily resell returned items, and a tool that helps sellers avoid returns by offering free product support.
