SellerSprite Report: Amazon 2024 seller trends

SellerSprite Report: Amazon 2024 Seller Trends

The cross-border e-commerce industry is entering a cooling cycle as growth slows and competition intensifies. The SellerSprite team compiled this Amazon 2024 Annual Report using Amazon quarterly financial reports, third-party data platforms, and internal research to help sellers make clearer, faster decisions on platform selection, market expansion, pricing, advertising, and category strategy.

1. Global Cross-Border E-Commerce Marketplace Landscape

Dominance of Major Platforms and Rise of Emerging Forces

The global e-commerce market is shifting into a lower growth era. Current growth is roughly half of the average rate seen over the last decade, signaling a broader cooling period. Even in this environment, a small group of platforms is driving most incremental growth and pulling ahead of the long tail of marketplaces.

Across markets, the combined growth of Amazon, Walmart, Temu, Shein, and TikTok Shop accounts for more than half of total e-commerce growth. These platforms are shaping seller competition, pricing pressure, traffic allocation, and buyer expectations.

• Amazon remains the largest e-commerce platform in the United States, with third-party seller sales projected to reach 325 billion dollars in 2024.
• eBay US sales are expected to reach 35 billion dollars in 2024, continuing years of slower growth.
• Walmart third-party marketplace sales in the US are expected to exceed 10 billion dollars in 2024.
• Temu set a 60 billion dollar sales target for 2024, with about 40 percent expected from the US market.
• TikTok Shop US set a 17.5 billion dollar goal for 2024, but many estimates indicate actual performance is closer to 8 billion dollars.

Outside offline retail and direct-to-consumer channels, these five platforms are the only ones expected to reach or exceed 10 billion dollars in sales at scale across markets. Amazon leads by a wide margin, with Walmart as the second largest, and TikTok Shop rising quickly as a social commerce channel. Temu and Shein are growing fast, but their models currently favor ultra-low prices and cross-border supply, which creates constraints for many US brands that depend on positioning, margin, and brand storytelling.

Amazon's Growth Defies the E-Commerce Slowdown

While the broader e-commerce sector is slowing, Amazon expanded profitability and continued investing. In 2024, Amazon reported record profits, including a third-quarter profit of 15.328 billion dollars, up 55 percent from 9.879 billion dollars a year earlier. Increased investment further widened the competitive gap.

Amazon's core advantage remains selection plus speed. It offers the widest product variety with consistently fast delivery options. Compared with other retailers, Walmart can be limited by delivery speed and pickup coverage, eBay has a broad selection but fewer fast delivery experiences, and China's shipping platforms face longer delivery times. Amazon's fast delivery capability continues to be a structural moat, making it the default option for many everyday shopping missions.

TikTok Shop in the United States

TikTok Shop launched in the US in 2023 and reached billions of dollars in sales within just over a year. Its growth has also revealed constraints. Top sellers are concentrated in niches like health and beauty, with many products being low-priced and less brand-differentiated. The shopping funnel relies on content and affiliate distribution, and only a subset of brands has mastered consistent execution.

TikTok Shop's 2024 goal of 17.5 billion dollars appears difficult to reach, with many projections closer to 8 billion dollars. Contributing factors include product variety not fully aligning with consumer demand, lower adoption of social commerce among Western users, and relatively low engagement with shopping content, such as live streams.

Competitive Dynamics Across Platforms

• Seller and catalog overlap is high across Amazon, Walmart, Temu, and Shein. More than 50 percent of Walmart sellers also sell on Amazon, with some estimates suggesting the overlap is closer to 80 to 90 percent.
• At least 20 percent of Shein and Temu sellers also operate on both Amazon and Walmart, often with US inventory.
• Amazon's price-parity expectations often keep prices aligned between Amazon and Walmart. Temu and Shein typically benefit from lower fees and less ad pressure, enabling lower consumer prices, while Amazon and Walmart maintain delivery speed advantages.
• Amazon has the largest catalog, Walmart is often a subset of Amazon, Shein leads in fast fashion, and overlap across all major platforms continues increasing.

2. Amazon Evolution and 2024 Trends

Amazon Global Expansion

On May 7, 2024, Amazon launched in South Africa, its first market in Sub-Saharan Africa, bringing active markets to 22. Expansion slowed versus prior years, with no new markets added in 2023 and planned launches such as Colombia, Chile, and Nigeria postponed.

Amazon Seller Ecosystem

According to Marketplace Pulse, over 900,000 new sellers joined Amazon's 22 markets in 2024, and total new sellers over the last five years exceeded 4 million. About one-third of the 2024 new sellers joined Amazon.com.

Despite steady onboarding, seller outcomes are uneven. Many new sellers never reach meaningful sales or exit after early activity, while experienced sellers continue to capture most demand. More than half of Amazon sales still come from sellers operating for over five years, supported by continuous product and brand iteration. Even with rising fees, Amazon remains difficult to ignore, and more than 2,000 new sellers join daily.

Amazon Site Traffic and Sources

• Amazon.com remains the largest marketplace and accounts for 47.5 percent of total global traffic across 22 markets.
• Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Belgium saw strong traffic growth in 2024. The US and India grew modestly, while Japan and Germany experienced traffic declines.
• As of December 2024, 64.5 percent of desktop visits to Amazon.com were direct, while search engine referrals contributed about 25 to 30 percent.
• Referrals were under 10 percent and social traffic was relatively small, with display ads and email contributing minimal visit share.

Amazon Shopping App and Competitive Pressure

Amazon's shopping app downloads grew sharply from 2015 and peaked at around 55 million downloads in December 2020. In 2024, Temu became the most downloaded shopping app globally with downloads nearing 550 million, followed by Shein at about 235 million. Competition intensified, but Amazon remains highly influential in the US and is among the most used shopping apps for millennials.

Amazon Advertising Business

Amazon advertising revenue surpassed 50 billion dollars in 2024 and continues to be one of the most profitable growth engines. For sellers, this raises competition and operating costs, but also creates new brand-building opportunities using measurable ad data to optimize traffic and conversion.

Over five years, Amazon's advertising business grew about fivefold, reflecting the broader shift toward retail media. US retail media ad spend is expected to surpass traditional TV ads by 2025, highlighting the growing role of commerce platforms in the future advertising stack.

Amazon AI Shopping Assistant Rufus

Amazon's AI shopping assistant Rufus started internal testing in February 2024 and expanded to all US users in July. It evolved from linking search results to offering direct product recommendations with faster purchase flows. Like many AI systems, it still struggles with relevance in some cases. If AI interfaces reduce traditional search behavior, sellers may need to shift from classic keyword SEO toward AI-driven product visibility strategies.

Amazon Haul

Amazon launched Amazon Haul in November 2024 as a low-price marketplace shipping from China to compete with Temu, Shein, and AliExpress. Early awareness was limited, and initial sales were slow. Amazon then introduced a 50 percent subsidy for products from November 21, 2024, to February 2, 2025, leading to a Black Friday surge where thousands of products were sold and 2,700 Haul products entered the top 100 bestseller lists across categories. By January, the number of Haul products entering top 100 lists increased to 4,200, and sponsored ads were introduced for Haul in January, though many sellers remain cautious on ad spend due to tight pricing.

Amazon Pricing Strategy and Fee Adjustments

To respond to low price competition, Amazon adjusted category fees and pricing levers. In January 2024, Amazon reduced US apparel referral fees for items under 15 dollars from 17 percent to 5 percent and lowered fees for apparel priced between 15 and 20 dollars to 10 percent. In March, Amazon reduced certain fees in Europe, Canada, and Japan. Amazon stated apparel fee reductions contributed to a meaningful year-over-year increase in apparel sales in the second quarter, suggesting lower prices can expand demand even when unit economics shift.

3. Sales Volume and Revenue Distribution Analysis

Amazon Net Sales and Profit

Amazon's net sales expanded from 280.5 billion dollars in 2019 to 638 billion dollars in 2024. Online Stores remained the largest revenue line, projected at 247 billion dollars in 2024. Third-party seller services grew from 53.76 billion dollars in 2019 to 156.1 billion dollars in 2024, and AWS reached 107.5 billion dollars in 2024. Physical stores remained stable around 17 to 20 billion dollars, while subscription services also increased steadily.

From a regional perspective, North America remains the core market at about 60 to 61 percent share, reaching 387.5 billion dollars in 2024. International share declined to about 22 percent in 2024, while AWS continued growing. In 2024, Amazon total revenue increased about 11 percent year over year and net profit reached 59.2 billion dollars, up 94.7 percent year over year.

Amazon Major Markets Net Sales

Over the last decade, Amazon annual net sales grew from a lower base in 2014 to nearly 600 billion dollars in 2023, reflecting continued scale expansion. The US market remained dominant, while Germany, the UK, and Japan sustained steady growth with relatively stable market shares. Other regions also expanded over time, signaling continued global diversification outside the US core.

Amazon Third-Party Sellers

Third-party sellers continued to increase their share of Amazon sales, rising from roughly 25 percent in 2005 to about 60 percent by Q3 2024. At the same time, third-party seller services revenue expanded through commissions, fulfillment, and shipping-related services, becoming a major growth contributor.

Amazon 2024 Prime Day Highlights

• Prime Exclusive Discounts usage rose above 40 percent of brands, up from 21 percent in 2023.
• Coupons were the second most used promotion type at nearly 37 percent.
• Average category discounts differed, with electronics around 34 percent and categories like beauty, tools, and home improvement averaging around 29 percent.
• Prime member purchases leaned toward clothing and footwear at 27 percent and home goods at 26 percent.
• Non-participating brands also benefited, with reported sales up 116 percent and orders up 383 percent versus the prior 30 days due to traffic lift.

4. Seller and Category Data Insights

Amazon US Sellers

Most Amazon US sellers remain focused on North America, with fewer than 1 percent selling outside the region. About 12 percent sell on Amazon Canada and 5 percent sell on Amazon Mexico, often using remote fulfillment. In larger international markets such as Japan, Germany, and the UK, the share of US sellers is small and overlap is limited. While the combined scale of Europe, Japan, Mexico, Brazil, and Canada can rival the US market, competition may be more intense in smaller markets, and per seller traffic can be lower; for example, UK seller traffic is about half of the US.

Amazon China Sellers

In 2024, Chinese sellers accounted for more than half of Amazon seller market share, while US sellers were around 45 percent. Amazon acknowledged this significant share in a February 2024 SEC filing. Chinese sellers generate substantial sales volume and contribute meaningfully to Amazon revenue, while also increasing exposure to regulatory and tariff-related risks.

• Mexico had the highest Chinese seller share at 72 percent.
• Major European sites exceeded 58 percent across France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
• The US site reached 53.6 percent, with a 21.4 percent year-over-year increase.
• Japan reached 52.0 percent, the UK 49.7 percent, Brazil 29.3 percent with the largest increase, the UAE 12.3 percent, and Australia 6.5 percent.

Based on SellerSprite sampling data from November and December 2024, the US site remains the most popular among Chinese sellers, followed by Germany, the UK, and Canada. This distribution is useful for sellers planning market entry, inventory allocation, and localized keyword strategy.

Sales Ranking Structure Across Major Sites

Sales ranking distributions across the US, Germany, UK, and Canada help sellers understand competition intensity and segmentation. These data can guide which price bands, review thresholds, and category depths to target, enabling clearer positioning and more realistic launch expectations for each marketplace.

Most Popular Categories Among Chinese Sellers

On Amazon US, Home and Kitchen is the most popular category among Chinese sellers at 36.2 percent, followed by Electronics at 12.2 percent, Kitchen and Dining at 7.0 percent, Beauty and Personal Care at 5.4 percent, Tools and Home Improvement at 4.4 percent, and Toys and Games at 3.5 percent. Smaller categories such as Musical Instruments, Arts and Crafts, and Sewing represent only a small share.

• Popular categories offer great demand but higher competition and ad pressure.
• Smaller categories may offer differentiation opportunities for sellers with unique sourcing or product innovation.
• Combining category popularity with price bands helps improve product positioning and launch planning.

Regional Distribution of Chinese Sellers

Chinese sellers show strong regional clustering. Provinces such as Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Fujian and cities such as Shenzhen and Guangzhou have dense seller ecosystems and supply chain advantages. These clusters reduce sourcing and logistics costs, improve delivery efficiency, and concentrate service providers and talent. Competition in clusters also pushes faster iteration and higher quality standards. Sellers in less concentrated regions can still win through differentiation, local specialty supply, or niche category strategies that avoid the most crowded battlegrounds.

Key Takeaways for Sellers

• Platform concentration is increasing, and five platforms drive most growth. Multi-platform strategy needs tighter positioning and operational focus.
• Amazon's selection and delivery speed remain core moats, but ads and pricing pressure require stronger efficiency and differentiation.
• Traffic is heavily direct and search-driven, reinforcing the importance of listing quality, SEO, and measurable advertising optimization.
• Third-party sellers represent the majority of Amazon sales, and seller services revenue continues to rise, shaping fee and cost structures.
• Category selection and market entry strategy should balance demand, competition, logistics complexity, and price bands across sites.