Amazon.co.uk pledges support to independent marketplace sellers as Prime Day approaches

Amazon.co.uk has emphasised the importance of the small businesses and indie retailers selling via its marketplace, as part of its Summer Trends 2016 report.

The publication comes after Amazon announced its Prime Day will take place on Tuesday July 12th 2016, with marketplace sellers to offer deals on thousands of products, including electronics and computing.

In the UK, more than 30 per cent of Prime Day deals on offer will be from small businesses and other sellers on Amazon.

This means that the number of Prime Day deals from small businesses and other sellers has increased by nearly 80 per cent in the UK compared to Prime Day 2015.

Amazon said in a statement: "The UK boasts some of the world’s most exciting e-commerce businesses, and tens of thousands of these choose to sell on Amazon Marketplace. Third party sellers who run their companies on Amazon Marketplace support 74,000 jobs across the UK.

"We are always looking at ways to help Marketplace sellers grow their businesses. Amazon Lending is a service that helps UK-based Amazon Marketplace sellers do that.

"One of the first sellers to receive a loan was Ali Anwar, the Huddersfield based founder of Charles Wilson Clothing, a menswear brand, which started selling on Amazon in 2013."

Amazon also said it’s helping marketplace traders to sell abroad.

"Increasingly Amazon Marketplace sellers are looking to access customers outside of their home country," it added in a statement. "To help support this growth and ambition, in April 2016 Amazon launched a new pan-European Fulfilment programme to help sellers boost exports and successfully grow their business abroad.

"Marketplace sellers now simply send their inventory to their local fulfilment centre and Amazon will take care of the rest, distributing their products across Europe to ensure fast delivery to customers, no matter where they are."

Amazon also revealed some new stats. It says that export sales from UK-based marketplace sellers has reached £1.4 billion in value, with lending to small businesses globally reaching £1.5 billion. 

UK marketplace sales to Europe have grown 33 per cent from 2015.

UK sellers earning over £1 million a year have increased by 20 per cent, and UK pro sellers trading abroad have grown 50 per cent year-on-year.

Amazon also revealed that the Fire TV stick and Fire tablet display are among its top-selling products of the year so far.

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