In total, UK small businesses sold 750m products through Amazon last year, up by more than one third.

The number of small businesses selling through Amazon increased by 20 per cent to 65,000, as people shopped online during pandemic lockdowns.

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Indeed, more that 1,000 UK businesses reached £1m in sales selling through Amazon last year.

And another 14,000 SMEs generated more than £100,000 worth of sales through the internet giant.

Amazon announced that around 60 per cent of all physical product sales on its UK store were from independent sellers, most of whom were SMEs.

And those small businesses have created 175,000 jobs across the UK fulfilling those Amazon sales.

Some 40 per cent of small businesses selling on Amazon were based in London and the southeast of England, and the five most popular product lines according to the 2021 UK SME Community Report included homewares, health, toys, clothes and beauty.

Exporters also thrived on the platform, Amazon said, seeing their collective overseas revenues rise by 27 per cent to £3.5bn.

Around 30,000 UK firms pay for Amazon’s fulfilment service, where they ship stock directly into Amazon’s warehouses for storage and direct dispatch to customers.

Amazon was keen to stress the geographical spread of its small business sellers though, with more than 150 rural businesses generating sales of over £250,000 selling on Amazon, and over 60 rural businesses making over £1m in annual sales – with 17 of those based in Scotland.

John Boumphrey, UK country manager Amazon, said: “These businesses come from the length and breadth of the UK, with marked increases in the number of new sellers from Swansea and Glasgow, together with SMEs in places like Durham, Doncaster and Milton Keynes increasing their export sales by more than 50% in the last year.”

Further reading

Third party platforms: is it worth selling through the likes of eBay and Amazon?