Is Amazon As Big As They Claim? Some Say No, As Sales Fall
When Amazon arrived in Australia it was supposed to be instant gloom for retailers such as JB Hi Fi and Harvey Norman but instead sales have risen at both retailers while in the US sales appear to be falling for the global online trader.
New research that has taken on board recent Amazon sales date claims that the big retailer has seen their share fall from 37.7% of online commerce from a prior estimate of 47% in their biggest market.
EMarketer Inc., who according to Bloomberg are among the most widely cited sources for estimates of U.S. online retail sales, are reporting a major downturn for the Company that also sells Amazon Prime services, as well as Echo speakers.
In the US serious questions are being asked of the market power of brands such as Amazon, Google and Facebook with some tipping that Amazon has peaked.
All these brands are facing calls for an examination of their market power with US Federal regulators moving to divvy up antitrust oversight of the four companies, a sign to some observers that formal inquiries could be forthcoming.
Amazon downplays its market size, saying it represents 4% of total retail spending in the U.S. Some of its critics say it’s important to consider the company’s clout specifically in e-commerce since spending online is growing at triple the pace of overall retail.
Amazon buys products wholesale and sells them directly to consumers like a typical retailer. For those transactions, Amazon reports the entire purchase price as revenue. But for transactions generated by third-party merchants, the company only records the fees and commissions it charges them. EMarketer estimates market share based on consumer spending, not Amazon revenue, so all the money shoppers spend on Amazon is counted toward its market share.
eBay Inc. discloses the total amount of money shoppers spend on its marketplace, almost $90 billion in 2018. Amazon does not, so independent firms like EMarketer must estimate it.
