Number of the Day
The Stealthy Rise of Amazon’s Private Label Empire, By the Numbers
What AmazonBasics and other ‘store brands’ mean for the e-commerce giant — and its third-party sellers
22,617: That’s the total number of private label products that Amazon sells, more than triple the number it sold in 2018, according to a report by Coresight Research. AmazonBasics, the most popular of Amazon’s private label brands that offers household essentials like batteries and cookware, comprises 57% of all of Amazon’s private label sales while some of its other less obviously Amazon-branded lines like Common District (outerwear) and Obsidian (fitness equipment) together account for less than 20% of that pie.
In response to antitrust concerns last year, Amazon claimed its private label business generated less than 1% of its sales, which pales in comparison to a retailer like Target, whose private label brands account for nearly a third of its business.
But while Amazon may argue that its private labels make up an insignificant fraction of the $88.9 billion revenue it made in the second quarter of 2020, they’re a significant source of concern for the many small businesses that rely on the platform to sell their products, especially when Amazon seems to…
