A report released last week suggests that Amazon.com could be responsible for just under one-third of all online commerce in the U.S. — and climbing.
The USA Today review of Amazon's financial statements and data from the U.S. Commerce Department found that items sold by Amazon comprised about 15 percent of overall e-commerce in the country.
But the addition of items sold by third-parties via Amazon's website or mobile app appears to at least double that share.
That would place the value of Amazon's e-retail business at up to $125 billion per year, or 30 percent of the overall domestic market. Other estimates place that total even higher.
Third-party sales don't generate as much revenue for the Seattle e-retailer — vendors instead pay a fraction of the price to Amazon as a commission — but the volume of those sales underscores how important Amazon already is to e-commerce.
And as its share of e-commerce continues to grow — and as its delivery options become broader and faster — analysts believe Amazon could completely upend the U.S. retail market.
Just as Walmart undercut local retail centers in past decades, Amazon's ability to ship thousands of items to doorsteps in as little as two hours could jeopardize even big box stores.
“The more power Amazon gets, the tougher it makes it for those independent retailers,” Jason Goldberg of e-commerce marketing agency Razorfish told the paper.
