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Amazon is monopolizing the market: How does this affect your startup?

This file photo of April 12, 2018 shows some items ordered through Prime Wardrobe, in New York. Amazon hopes to turn your home into a kind of tester, sending your clothes in a box so you can try it before paying. A concept similar to that of Stitch Fix, Trunk Club or other services that send clothes to home. However, the difference is that Prime Wardrobe does not offer stylists, so you’ll have to choose your own shirts or skirts. (AP Photo / Mark Lennihan, Archive)

In 2018, Amazon’s unique visitor figure represented 74% of all Internet users in the United States

Seattle’s retail giant has no problem finding new customers, even as its user base grows to incredibly high levels.

When analyzing a survey of 1,500 people in the United States, of which 93% were Amazon users, Wells Fargo analysts found that the frequency of visits also increased by 6%. This has helped Amazon’s “wallet share” or “wallet share”, the proportion of the budget that a consumer earmarks to buy on Amazon, increase from 27 to 33%.

One of the most successful areas has been the clothing and footwear sector

In 2018, the company became the first fashion and footwear salesman, reaching 9.9% of all apparel sales and 42.5% of online sales. Walmart ranks second with 8.3% market share.

“It is surprising that Amazon is not considered a consumer goods company, but that despite this it has grown to become the industry leader” the analysts wrote.

And it does not look like your business is going to slow down

Next year these numbers will grow further and will make Amazon reach 12.1% of the market share of clothing and footwear, a figure that would amount to 46.1% if only online retail is taken into account.

Amazon’s competitors

Also, the gap between Amazon and its closest competitor in the field of fashion is increasing: its sales are now five times larger than those of the number two company in footwear and clothing sales, Macy’s. The other retailers, in addition to Macy’s, sell less than 3.5 billion dollars while Amazon enters 35 billion dollars a year.

Amazon, dominating the online space

However, any report on electronic commerce should be in tune with the retail economy in general, which covers much more and includes physical stores, a factor that is still part of the equation. Keep in mind that although Amazon dominates the online space, which has doubled in the last five years, e-commerce is still below 10% of total retail sales.

If we analyze this figure taking into account what is called “addressable total market”, which excludes less popular items in online purchases such as gas, supermarket products, automobiles and pharmaceutical items, Amazon’s participation in the growth of the Electronic commerce is approximately 20% of the total retail.

So, what do these figures mean for the rest of the retailers that do not work with Jeff Bezos?

Analysts say the prospects are not rosy. Recently, Amazon took between 30 and 35% of the sector in which it competes, which is nothing more than that “total addressable market” figure. Now, Amazon has taken almost 50% of the growth of electronic commerce. It is worth noting that e-commerce has grown at a rate of 1% every year since 2010 and now its growth is accelerating.

Published inStartups
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