The world of online retail is dominated by Amazon.com. The ecommerce giant had nearly $178 billion (USD) net sales in 2017, according to Statista, a jump of some $42 billion from 2016 net sales. Sales of outdoor and sporting goods items alone in 2016 totaled $5.5 billion (USD). If your business isn't part of the Amazon.com marketplace, you might want to consider these 10 reasons why you should be selling your products on Amazon.

 

• Amazon has the world's largest ecommerce storefront, creating the potential for huge traffic for your listings. According to BigCommerce's The Definitive Guide To Selling On Amazon, “as of February 2017, Amazon accounted for 43% of U.S. online retail sales. And that's growing Fortune predict Amazon sales will account for more than 50% of all U.S. ecommerce sales by 2021.”

 

• Amazon is the most popular online retailer in America. Statista reported that Amazon had 183 million unique visitors per month as of September 2017. By comparison, second-place Wal-Mart had 87 million visitors during the same period.

 

• Tap into 90 million Prime Customers – Sellers using FBA (fulfilled by Amazon) can take advantage of Amazon's free 2-day delivery to reach its approximately 90 million Prime members. Morgan Stanley projects 51% of American households will be Prime subscribers in 2018, a 6% jump from 2017.

 

• Prime Members Spend More – Morgan Stanley research found Amazon Prime members spend more than 4 times than non-prime customers, estimating the average Prime customer spent $2,486 over the last 12 months versus $544 for non-Prime Amazon shoppers. One of the biggest attractions of Prime membership is free two-day shipping. A survey to determine the most popular reasons for users in the U.S. to to join Amazon prime found that free-two day shipping was the most important element for 78% of respondents. 

 

• There's room for you and your products to prosper and reach new customers. In Q4 of 2017, 51% of Amazon's unit sales came from third-party merchants.

 

• Your products are more likely to be found because shoppers rely on Amazon's search function to find and research products. In a Raymond James survey, 52% of respondents said Amazon is now their first choice for product searches.

 

• Low cost to entry – a professional seller account, which enables you to use Amazon's FBA service, is $39.99 as of March 2018. Though other variable fees and requirements apply depending on the product you intend to sell, it's possible to start selling on Amazon for little money out of pocket.

 

• Get customers on the go – BigCommerce reported that 70% of Amazon customers purchased on Amazon's mobile site. “The Amazon app via smartphone is also the second-most popular purchase channel of Amazon buyers in the United States,” according to Statista.

 

• Consumers have high trust in Amazon – a survey by research firm The Values Institute found that Amazon was the nation's most trustworthy brand, earning the highest cumulative trust score of all U.S. businesses.

 

• Hands-off fulfillment and shipping. When your products stored in one of Amazon's warehouses, Amazon employees take care of picking, packing and shipping orders to customers. The company has the infrastructure to handle it all. In 2017 alone, Amazon shipped over 5 billion items worldwide according to Forbes.