Amazon’s B2B Side Sees Holiday Bump

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There’s no way around it: Amazon nailed the Christmas game, having released some rare statistics into its success, including data that at least 3 million new Amazon Prime subscribers were added during the holiday season.

Less public, however, is Amazon’s success in the B2B world during the online gift-giving frenzy.

Reports on Tuesday (Jan. 5) said that among the figures Amazon released on its holiday season successes was the growth of its fulfillment and logistics service, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). According to the company, that B2B service unit of Amazon fulfilled orders for more than 1 billion items last year.

[bctt tweet=”Amazon’s fulfillment service fulfilled orders for more than 1 billion items last year.”]

It’s a part of the company that handles warehouse storage, packing and shipping of items bought on Amazon for the merchants that sell them. And reports say the holiday season’s boost in this department is indicative of a more long-term trend.

Amazon has seen a more than 50 percent increase in the number of merchants using its fulfillment services in 2015, according to reports, with a 65 percent increase in 2014. Unsurprisingly, Amazon did not disclose exactly how many of its sellers use its back-end services.

But the company did reveal a bit more detail on this aspect of operations. For instance, reports said, the fulfillment program has been particularly successful for international sellers that need to fulfill orders across borders. International sales for companies using Amazon’s fulfillment services more than doubled year over year, according to the conglomerate.

Businesses are enticed to join FBA as members can access the estimated 50 million online shoppers that are part of Amazon Prime. Sellers can spend up to $100 on each order for Amazon to handle the back-end logistics of it. But according to reports, this unit is expensive, with expenses rising 22 percent to $3.2 billion in the third quarter.