As a consumer, today you have many options when it comes to buying something. One of the biggest players in the world of e-commerce is Amazon. But don’t forget about Amazon’s competitors. These top 6 retailers offer competitive prices and great service. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at 5 of Amazon’s biggest competitors, their unique selling points, their history, and details about their affiliate program. So, if you’re ready to explore what these top retailers have to offer, let’s dive in!
Amazon
Amazon is an online department store with websites worldwide. Well known Amazon products include Kindle, Prime, and FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon).
Like many of the great American corporations, Amazon began in a garage in Bellevue, Washington in July 5, 1994. Jeff Bezos (Amazon’s founder and CEO) started selling books, but during the years of growth, Amazon was running at a loss. Amazon has many subsidiaries that other online department stores don’t own. These include Amazon Web Services (cloud computing), Zoox (autonomous vehicles), Kulper Systems (satellite internet), Amazon Lab125, Ring, Twitch, IMDB, and Whole Foods Market. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_(company)
Amazon’s revenue was at $513.938 Billion USD in 2022. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/AMZN/amazon/revenue
Amazon’s Affiliate program was one of the first internet affiliate programs. The top 1% of earners make between $111,500 and $121,000, while the lowest 10% earn between $16,500 and $26,000. Amazon affiliates can earn up to 10% commission on a range of products. https://www.shopify.com/au/blog/amazon-affiliate-marketing
Amazon’s Biggest Competitors – Walmart
Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, plan was, ‘lowest prices anywhere’. The first store in Arkansas, US, opened on July 2nd 1962. From there, Walmart grew, and grew. They now have stores in India (Flipkart Wholesale), Chile, Canada, and South Africa.
Annual revenue for Walmart, is $572.8 Billion USD, making it the world’s largest corporation by revenue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart#:
Read: Success Starts With The Best (Free) Email Autoresponders
Amazon and Walmart are almost economically equal. Walmart’s business consists of hypermarts, department stores and grocery stores. Amazon may not own many physical stores, but they do own Whole Foods Market, a fresh food supermarket which sells organic produce.
Walmart’s affiliates can earn up to 4% per sale. https://affiliates.walmart.com/faqs
Amazon’s Biggest Competitors – eBay
eBay has grown into a powerhouse business platform, starting as a consumer to consumer auction site. During Labor Day weekend September 1995, Pierre Omidyar wrote the code for AuctionWeb, which in September 1997 would become eBay. https://www.ebayinc.com/company/our-history/
What does eBay sell? Almost anything, maybe even a Gigayacht for $168 million (the most expensive item sold on eBay). https://www.ebayinc.com/company/our-history/
eBay recorded $9.898 Billion in revenue for the 12 months ending September 30 2022, a 0.79% decline year-over-year. https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/EBAY/ebay/revenue#:
In the US, Amazon and eBay compete closely. Both are online mega merchants, but Amazon doesn’t have auction sales, and eBay can sell almost anything. Surprisingly, Amazon at one time was competing with Etsy, selling arts and handmade crafts.
Affiliates of the eBay partner network earn 1 – 4% commission depending on the category. $100 – $550.00 depending on the category https://affilimate.com/programs/ebay-affiliate-program/
Amazon’s Biggest Competitors – Costco
Costco is not your average retailer. Besides been one of Amazon’s largest competitors, it’s also a club retailer. This means to shop at Costco you need a membership.
Coming in at the fifth largest retailer in the world, it is a fierce competitor of Amazon’s, like the other big businesses in this list. But that’s about where the likeness ends. Costco, is more like a supermarket/department store where you can buy in bulk.
Their worldwide business totals 848 warehouses spread worldwide in the US and Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Japan, UK, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Spain, France, China, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costco
The Costco partnership of Jim Sinegal and Jeffrey H. Brotman began with their first warehouse in Seattle on September 15, 1983. In 2022 Costco reported revenue of $231.72B USD. https://companiesmarketcap.com/costco/revenue/
Read: 6 Proven Ways to Increase Sales With Email Marketing
Both Costco and Amazon have a membership/club program offering their members discounts and exclusive deals. But Costco’s business template is probably closer to Walmart’s than Amazon’s. Amazon and Costco are both multinational businesses with large footprints worldwide. Amazon’s fulfilment warehouses are their biggest footprint.
Costco’s affiliate commission rate ranges from $3 to $6 https://bloggingtips.com/costco-affiliate-program/
Amazon’s Biggest Competitors – Target
Target opened its first store in Roseville, Minnesota in 1962, and they used a similar Target bullseye logo, to today’s logo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_Corporation
Target’s annual revenue for 2022 was $106.005B USD https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/TGT/target/revenue.
Target is most popular in the US, but Target has spread to other countries.
Target’s affiliates earn up to 8% commission on affiliate sales. https://bloggingtips.com/target-affiliate-program/
Amazon’s Biggest Competitors – Ali Express
Aliexpress doesn’t have the history that some of its competitors have, but they have grown quickly. A large majority of their customers are from Russia, and Brazil. Beginning in 2010, many of its customers are ecommerce small business owners. The Alibaba Group owns Aliexpress. The platform doesn’t store any goods. It is a digital platform to connect buyers with Chinese business owners. Most customers buy goods in small quantities for their dropshipping businesses.
In the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, the Chinese e-commerce corporation Alibaba Group recorded a revenue of about 592.71 billion yuan in Chinese online sales. This translates to approximately 93.5 billion U.S. dollars. https://www.statista.com/statistics/226793/e-commerce-revenue-of-alibabacom/
Read: 10 Ways To Boost Traffic and Leads For Your Website
AliExpress top publishers earn over $30,000 / month with 4% commission on all Sales https://www.commissionfactory.com/advertiser-directory/aliexpress-affiliate-program/
Amazon’s Biggest Competitors – Conclusion
Amazon’s competitors include eBay, Walmart, Costco, Target, and Alibaba Group. All of these companies compete with Amazon in various ways, including retailing and online retailing, product selection, pricing, delivery, customer service, and payment methods. These businesses did not start as large businesses, but they did grow over time to become the world’s largest retailers.