Forecast: Amazon Business’ 2021 Sales Will Top $27 Billion
Ever since it was rebranded and relaunched from AmazonSupply in 2015, Amazon Business has been notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to sharing information about its financial performance. Amazon’s B2B marketplace has only shed light on its sales figures twice in that whole span — once in September 2018 when it announced the platform had surpassed $10 billion in annual sales, and again this past March when it said that figure had soared to $25 billion.
Well, a new estimate from subscription-based market research company eMarketer just released a recap of Amazon Business’ sales figures since its 2015 and a forecast for the next five years, and the numbers are staggering.
eMarketer predicts that Amazon Business will net $27.59 billion in 2021 total sales — up 43.5 percent over 2020, and a figure eMarketer says would represent 1.7 percent of total US B2B e-commerce sales.
The forecast sees AB’s sales growth continuing to slow over the next five years, albeit still at a rapid pace compared to firms in the B2B distribution market. eMarketer estimates AB’s sales to grow to $35.68 billion in 2022 (+29.3%), $43.05 billion in 2023 (+20.7%), $51.39 billion in 2024 (+19.4%) and $59.03 billion in 2025 (+14.9%).
For context, W.W. Grainger — No. 1 on Industrial Distribution‘s 2020 Big 50 List — had 2020 sales of $11.8 billion. Depending on who you ask, Amazon Business may very well be the largest distributor of industrial products, but we at ID have refrained from putting them atop the Big 50, or even on the list at all, since our list requires companies to disclose their confirmed industrial sales figures — something Amazon Business has yet to do.
Speaking of the Big 50, we’re just days away from unveiling our 2021 list of the largest industrial distributors in North America. Part 1 of our 2021 Big 50 countdown — recapping companies No. 50-31, will post atop the ID website and e-newsletter on Tuesday, Sept. 28. Part 2 (No. 30-11) posts Wednesday, and Part 3 (10-1) posts Thursday. Get all the other info on our Big 50 video countdown here.