
Recent statistics taken in 2018 showed that about 58% of the total physical goods sold at Amazon stores came from their Independent third-party sellers, which are mainly small and medium-sized businesses. They have helped to create more employment opportunities for the public, with up to 1.5 million jobs created by the companies that sell on the platform.
As a result, Amazon has launched initiatives which will help to invest about $15 billion in these businesses to ensure their growth. The money invested will go into provisions for more tools, infrastructure and services for the businesses. The new tools will be delivered through the business management control center, known as Seller Central, and they will be responsible for granting the businesses easy access to new sales and inventory insights that will help them to increase their sales with Amazon.
The newly launched tools and services, ranging from inventory trackers, educational webinars, product branding and marketing tools and more, will help these retailers operate more efficiently, thereby helping improve their revenues and profits.
According to Vice President of Amazon Small Businesses, Nicholas Denissen, “Small and medium-sized businesses are the lifeblood of the economy, and we are committed to empowering them. As part of our dedication to supporting independent retailers, we have thousands of employees around the globe who work hard on their behalf, developing tools and services to help them grow their sales in Amazon’s stores. Ultimately, our success depends on their success.”
Some of the newly launched tools set to aid the small and medium sized businesses include;
- Seller University- This pre-existing portal was re-designed and improved upon as a means of creating easy access to more educational content. The newly improved features on this platform will recommend programs that can help to increase sales growth.
- Pricing Management tools- This helps sellers in establishing the standard for prices to ensure that goods are offered to customers at great prices while helping sellers maintain margins.
- Fulfilment and Inventory tools- This tool helps them properly maintain sales operations through more 1-Day delivery eligibility, and qualifies selling partners for lower storage fees.
- Appstore and Third-Party tools- This helps sellers find tools and services that can improve their sales and efficiency.
- Business Reports and Analytics tools- Includes the Product Opportunities dashboard, a tool that uses reports to find new products that perfectly align with how these selling partners intend to grow their businesses.
Amazon has also invested in programs such as Amazon Storefronts, Amazon Handmade, Amazon Launchpad, Amazon Business, Fulfilment by Amazon, Amazon Global Selling, Merch by Amazon, and Amazon Lending as part of this project aimed at helping the sellers growth their businesses.