Amazon Connects with Small Businesses at First-Ever Boost Summit

Amazon Connects with Small Businesses at First-Ever Boost Summit

Inaugural Boost Summit Brings Together More Than 1,000 Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses to Meet with Amazon

Fulfillment by Amazon Empowers Small Businesses to Attract Prime Members and Grow their Business

Half of Items Sold on Amazon are from Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 28, 2017-- Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) today held Boost with FBA, a first-ever summit in the U.S. for small business and entrepreneurs participating in the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service. The inaugural event, held in New York City, brought together over 1,000 entrepreneurs and small business owners to meet with Amazon leaders face-to-face and learn about the tools and services that can help them further grow their business on Amazon. With access to more than 300 million active customer accounts worldwide, Amazon provides small businesses the opportunity to quickly reach customers in their neighborhood and around the globe.

Small businesses are thriving on Amazon and we're thrilled to bring these entrepreneurs together to help them take their business to the next level, said Cynthia Williams, Vice President for Fulfillment by Amazon. Entrepreneurs on Amazon are expanding their businesses worldwide and increasingly using the logistical expertise of the FBA service to reach new customers in Europe and Asia.

FBA enables sellers to attract Prime members by having Amazon store and ship their products directly to customers while offering Prime benefits, including FREE two-day or same-day shipping and simple exporting around the world. At Boost with FBA, sellers met with Amazon experts to learn about how they can sharpen their business strategies, grow their sales, reach new customers and sell in new marketplaces. They also heard from seasoned sellers and fellow small business owners.

Facts about Fulfillment by Amazon:

FBA was first launched in 2007.

In 2016, Fulfillment by Amazon delivered more than 2 billion items on behalf of small business and entrepreneurs.

In 2016, active sellers worldwide using the FBA service grew more than 70 percent.

In 2016, outside the U.S. FBA units shipped grew more than 80 percent.

In 2016, FBA items shipped worldwide grew more than 50 percent year-over-year during the holiday season.

In Q4 2016, FBA units represented more than 55% of total third-party units.

FBA is a terrific fit for us. We don't have the warehouses or shipping capacity to fulfill direct-to-consumer orders, and it means I can focus on listening to customer feedback and refining my designs, said Lawrence Bibi, CEO of LightAccents. Based in Paramus, NJ, Bibi has leveraged FBA since 2011 and in 2016 expanded sales of his light fixtures and home d cor into Italy, France and Germany. FBA allows us to keep our profits and sell across the world.

The performance of our products on FBA has really surpassed anything I could have ever imagined, said Caron Proschan, founder and CEO of Simply Gum, a New York-based company selling all-natural gum. FBA lets us focus on more strategic questions of marketing and growing our business, knowing that fulfillment is well taken care of.

Half of the items sold on Amazon worldwide are from sellers that offer their products through Amazon Marketplace. Small businesses and entrepreneurs selling on Amazon come from every state in the U.S., and from more than 130 different countries around the world. Amazon began inviting small businesses to sell on Amazon to increase selection and ensure customers could find and discover anything they wanted to buy online.

Businesses interested in selling on Amazon can visit http://services.amazon.com. To view inspiring stories of inventors, authors, and small business owners who are transforming their lives and pursuing their dreams with Amazon, check out Transformations.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170628005355/en/

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