On July 27th 2015, exactly three years ago, we started to collect data on the top Amazon marketplace sellers. We then used it to build the now-famous “Top Amazon Sellers” ranking, not unlike the Fortune 500 list that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations. As we celebrate our third birthday we are taking a look back at all of the things we have built since.
Today we are looking at data considerably wider than sellers on Amazon. Even though we tracked more than 1.1 million new sellers on Amazon this year, we are also looking beyond Amazon and beyond sellers. Focus on brands is number one as we research and develop ways to understand the market of brands better. Including their presence on Amazon and other marketplaces, social media reach, distribution models like direct to consumer used, and beyond.
As we are doing this we are continuing to work with our clients helping them understand and grow in the e-commerce market. Our clients include marketplaces, financial technology (Fintech), software, and retail services companies. We work with companies behind-the-scenes of e-commerce, most often by providing data APIs.
We were quoted sixty five times this year by forty different publications worldwide. Up from less than a dozen last year. Working with the press has become one of the top priorities this year. The media relies on our insights and data for their stories: “According to Marketplace Pulse…” has become a common occurrence. Recently we worked with The Wall Street Journal, Fortune magazine, Bloomberg, BuzzFeed News, CNBC, Reuters, Inc. magazine, and The Atlantic. And also internationally with Which-50 and The New Daily in Australia, and NOVAREJO in Brazil.
We are in a unique position of having experience in the field and being able to substantiate insights through data. It’s our goal to use this position to help educate the wider public about what e-commerce really is, means, and will become. For example when Amazon launched in Australia at the end of last year we were the first ones there, both measuring Amazon’s growth since, but also explaining to the press what to expect.
Like last year we wrote a book’s worth of articles on e-commerce. 60,000 words to be exact. A reoccurring theme year has been raising the question “What does the growth of Amazon mean to everyone else?” Especially how it affects consumers’ buying decision-making and how brands build equity. E-commerce in the US is growing merely 5.6% if not for the 29% growth of Amazon which raises the overall growth to 16%. This affects not only the short-term sales of the competition, but is shaping the future of commerce in more meaningful ways.
Jim Barksdale, former CEO of Netscape said “If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have are opinions, let’s go with mine.” We instead say “If we have data, let’s look at data. If all we have is opinions, let’s go find data.” We believe that technology and data are better than opinions when it comes to understanding what’s next in e-commerce.
Founder Juozas Kaziukėnas presented at the Retail Global conference in Las Vegas, eCommerce Innovation Summit in San Francisco, and Catalyst hosted by ChannelAdvisor in San Diego. He talked on the topics of the future of marketplaces, the changing face of brands, and, of course, Amazon.
Working with the press, presenting at conferences, appearing on podcasts, and writing our own articles is all the work we do in the public to educate, explain, and inspire. The market of e-commerce and the surrounding ecosystem Amazon has created is fascinating, we are glad to be in the midst of it all, working on picking it apart.
Thank you.
