Third-party sellers made over US$ 3.5 bn from Prime Day: Amazon

Third-party sellers surpassed $3.5 billion in sales on Prime Day, a nearly 60 percent year-over-year increase, Amazon said after wrapping up the two-day event across 19 countries.
In addition, Prime members around the world saved over US$ 1.4 billion during the event, securing deep discounts and getting a jump start on their holiday shopping, Amazon said on Thursday.
The e-commerce giant held its Prime Day event separately in India in August.
The 19 countries that the October 13-14 Prime Day event covered included the US, the UK, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, Spain, Singapore, Netherlands, Mexico, Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Germany, France, China, Canada, Brazil, Belgium, Austria, and Australia.
Amazon said that this Prime Day delivered the two biggest days ever for third-party sellers, nearly all of which are small and medium-sized businesses.
“We are thrilled that Prime Day was a record-breaking event for small and medium businesses worldwide, with sales surpassing US$ 3.5 billion — an increase of nearly 60 percent from last year,” Jeff Wilke, CEO Worldwide Consumer at Amazon, said in a statement.
“We’re also proud that Prime members saved more than $1.4 billion, and we look forward to providing more opportunities for our selling partners to grow and customers to save throughout the holiday season.”
Amazon said that Prime members shopped and found great deals across a variety of categories from small businesses to top brands, with home, electronics, nutrition and wellness, and arts, crafts and sewing as some of the best-selling categories.
Amazon said it is on track to invest US$ 18 billion this year to help small and medium-sized businesses succeed in its store, and designed this Prime Day to support small businesses even more — including funding a promotion that helped drive over US$ 900 million in sales for small businesses in the two weeks leading up to Prime Day.
On Prime Day, the fastest delivery was delivered in 29 minutes and 54 seconds, and included Febreze Car Air Freshener Vent Clips, Amazon said.