The End of Easy Amazon Money

The ground has shifted under Amazon sellers, and the data proves it. We dive into Marketplace Pulse’s Amazon Marketplace Trends Report for 2026 and surface a clear picture: GMV is soaring while the number of active sellers falls, million‑dollar operators are multiplying, and the platform now rewards systems over stunts. The result is a marketplace that acts like a sorting machine, pushing disciplined, data‑driven brands to the top and filtering out casual players who treat Amazon like a quick flip.

We walk through why the United States remains the smartest launch pad for new brands, especially for niche products that need depth of demand to gain traction. From the speed of first sales to review velocity, the U.S. gives early momentum that compounds across catalog hygiene, rank stability, and cash flow. Then we tackle cross‑border expansion and the surprising reality that most sellers stay confined to a single marketplace, leaving blue ocean opportunities for operators who localize content, honor country‑specific regulations, and build logistics that actually work across borders.

You’ll also hear a grounded take on the rise of Chinese sellers, how manufacturing‑to‑marketplace integration creates cost advantages, and why U.S. sellers still lead on revenue per seller. We connect these insights to a practical playbook: inventory accuracy as the backbone of advertising, analytics that translate signals into action, and patience as a strategic asset that compounds trust, reviews, and repeat purchase. The message is simple and urgent, Amazon is no longer about listing products; it’s about building a scalable retail ecosystem that performs under pressure.

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Chapters

• 0:08 Welcome And Report Overview
• 0:36 Amazon’s Turning Point
• 1:10 Shrinking Sellers, Growing GMV
• 2:05 Consolidation And The Competition Paradox
• 2:28 Why The U.S. Still Wins
• 3:17 Longevity And Compounding Advantages
• 4:13 Hesitation To Go Cross‑Border
• 4:58 The Rise Of Chinese Sellers
• 6:01 The Big Takeaway And Next Steps

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:08

Hello everyone and welcome to Scott's Thoughts. I'm Scott Benedict. One of the things I thought I wanted to share with you today and talk about is a really fascinating report that I saw recently titled The Amazon Marketplace Trends Report for 2026, published by the team at Marketplace Pulse. Really interesting report that paints a very detailed picture of where Amazon's global seller ecosystem is headed. And let me tell you, it's pretty clear that we've reached a bit of a turning point in the evolution of that platform. The days of Amazon as an entrepreneurial playground, in my view, are kind of over. What we now have is a very mature global commerce infrastructure where operational excellence and not experimentation per se are determining who wins. What's interesting to read this report is that the marketplace is shrinking but scaling at the same time. Here's what I mean. According to the report, Amazon's third-party marketplace has surpassed$500 billion globally in GMV, yet the number of active sellers on the platform has actually dropped 25% from$2.4 million to$1.8 million in just a few years. But here's the paradox. While total sellers has declined, the number of million dollar sellers, sellers who sell more than a million US dollars in GMV per year, has actually doubled, crossing the 100,000 mark. In other words, the marketplace is consolidating, and the smaller players are dropping out, and the serious professional operators are taking over. This is what the marketplace pulse team calls the competition paradox. More opportunity, but a much higher bar to clear for success. The top 2% of sellers, according to the report, now capture over half of all Amazon's marketplace revenue. Success requires a very thoughtful institutional approach, if you will, on things like inventory, fulfillment, advertising, and analytics that all work together seamlessly to drive revenue. Now, despite the perceptions of saturation, the U.S. market for Amazon's platform remains their best launch pad for new brands. The data shows that 60% of new sellers in the U.S. make their first sale within a year, compared to only 33% in the U.K. or 42% in Germany. That's because the U.S. still delivers the depth and the search volume needed to sustain niche ideas from things like sourdough, uh starter jars to beard oils. It's the only market where micro niches can become macro businesses. And so for entrepreneurs or for brands testing on Amazon, the U.S. remains the smartest place to start. Now, one of the most compelling insights from this report is what Marketplace Pulse calls the longevity factor. Over 60% of the top 10,000 Amazon sellers registered before 2019, and nearly 30% of the sellers have been active since 2016. That means time in the market still beats the great new item or perhaps a great price. Veteran sellers benefit from compounding advantages, more ratings and reviews, volume, better algorithms, and loyal customer bases that take literally years to build. New entrants can still win, mind you, but they have to think on multi-year horizons, not on quick and fast sales. It's surprising that the there's an interesting stat that came out of a report. 69% of sellers remain confined to one Amazon marketplace or one market, if you will, even though Amazon operates in 23 markets globally. Less than 1% of U.S. sellers, for example, sell outside of North America. Things like tariffs, compliance, and translation costs are real barriers to them expanding into other markets, according to the report. But the hesitation creates blue ocean opportunities for brands willing to take on the complexity of cross-border e-commerce. If you can master localization, regulatory compliance, and logistics, there's still plenty of room to run internationally on Amazon's platform. Finally, one of the most interesting things has been the role of Chinese sellers in this platform. Chinese sellers now make up more than half of Amazon's global seller base. It's a remarkable evolution from made in China, sold by America, to made, sold, and marketed by China. Chinese manufacturers selling directly to consumers enjoy huge cost advantages, even with tariffs. They're taxed by manufacturing costs rather than wholesale prices, giving them a bit of flexibility that US resellers can't always match. But interestingly, American sellers still earn more revenue per seller, roughly$600, excuse me,$885,000 per year versus$394,000 per year, which means that Chinese sellers dominate in volume of sellers, but U.S. sellers still lead in revenue or value created. So what does this all this information from this report really mean? What's the big takeaway? Well, it's this Amazon's marketplace has become a very effective sorting machine, if you will, rewarding the disciplined, data-driven operators and filtering out the casual players. To succeed, according to this report, both sellers and brand need institutional capabilities from day one. That means sophisticated inventory and fulfillment management capabilities, integrated advertising and analytics, cultural adaptation when they want to expand internationally, and above all, patience, because time and experience compound faster than just quick wins. Now, in my mind, the Marketplace Pulse team summed it up perfectly. Amazon is no longer about just listing products, it's building a scalable retail ecosystem. So for retailers, brands, and even consultants like myself, the message in my mind is pretty clear is Amazon is now the world's most advanced commerce infrastructure. The opportunities there and on other marketplace platforms are still enormous, but the game has changed a bit. It's not about finding the next hot product, it's about mastering the full retail value ecosystem. If you want to read more about this report, just go to marketplacepulse.com and you can read the full Amazon Marketplace Trends Report for 2026. I think you'll find it interesting just like I did. That's what I've been thinking about. I'm Scott Benedict.