Amazon is the biggest e-commerce store globally and is effectively the backbone of the industry. In 2020, the company saw significant growth from both old and new business lines — with their annual revenue surpassing $386 billion worldwide.
However, Amazon has become far more than just an e-commerce company; they’ve successfully branched out into several industries, which results in:
These companies’ existence means almost anyone uses Amazon to live their lives these days, but that’s not to say Amazon doesn’t have competition.
Amazon has many competitors in all the sectors they work in. And below, we have mentioned brands that compete with Amazon and do so successfully.
Curious to find out what they are? Scroll down to get the low down!
Some may call Alibaba the Amazon of China. But when it comes to global influence and worldwide reach, Alibaba doesn’t quite match up to Amazon.
Alibaba Group is a Chinese company that includes four e-commerce platforms: Alibaba, AliExpress, Taobao, and Tmall.
Alibaba is a B2B marketplace that offers direct access to manufacturers, while AliExpress is a B2C platform with the option to use the dropshipping model. Alibaba is a kind of online mall that sells various goods and services through its e-commerce website.
It acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers. Sellers list their products on the website and pay Alibaba fees and commissions. In return, buyers can purchase those products from the website.
Alibaba has over 500 million active members across its Chinese and international platforms, and it hosts more than 1 million businesses selling products through its platforms.
Taobao and Tmall are B2B and B2C marketplaces for the Chinese market. This company has millions of users who can purchase millions of products.
Alibaba has made its mark in the world of e-commerce. They have a market cap of $430.44 billion and a global presence to match Amazon’s—though Alibaba makes most of its revenue from Chinese operations. At the same time, Amazon pulls in a majority from worldwide.
With these two companies going head-to-head, it’s difficult to say who will emerge as the more potent force in the industry.
With 2018 initially marking eBay's 20th birthday, the brand is no stranger to building a global presence. It is one of the few eCommerce companies with over 169 million active buyers and over 40 million sellers.
However, with an extensive user base and an impressive number of online sales halfway through 2019, eBay had its eyes set on becoming a major competitor to Amazon — even within the US.
As the world's largest third-party platform for global commerce, eBay is a go-to option when looking for new products and second-hand items. You can find items ranging from clothing to electronics to art and collectibles anywhere in the world on eBay.
But it is. eBay is among the largest online marketplaces, with a global reach and a massive, engaged user base — making them still one of Amazon’s top eCommerce competitors.
In addition to C2C sales, it offers plenty of opportunities for sellers to grow their businesses online — including its B2C marketplace, where sellers can sell products directly to consumers.
Its affiliation with PayPal's payment services gives you an advantage if you choose to use them, and it doesn't charge a cut of your profits.
For buyers, eBay offers a safe and secure platform to find products from independent sellers. With its wide selection of shopping experiences, eBay is a major competitor to Amazon in the e-commerce space.
China’s JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) is like Amazon (AMZN) on steroids.
JD has taken its direct-to-consumer business to the next level by building its transportation and logistics platforms, supply chain management systems, and internal marketplace for third-party sellers.
Jingdong is the country’s leading shipping site, with over 500 million users. As one of China’s wealthiest companies, it has taken the lead in many areas, including online grocery sales and pharmacy sales.
And With its large inventory and strong logistics, JD can offer an unbeatable customer experience.
While Amazon has a $73 billion market cap, JD is only at $28 billion. It’s the second-largest Chinese eCommerce business, though some even say it could be challenging Amazon in the short term.
In recent years, JD, a leading Chinese retailer of consumer electronics, has been making strides in this field. It acquires its inventory from manufacturers and sells them at competitive prices.
Amazon could not match the speed and prices offered by such competitors and has begun to focus on improving "cross-border" sales within the Chinese market. Thats the only way Amazon could keep up with JD.
Footfall at JD is higher than Amazon’s - even though it’s only 10% of Amazon’s footfall figures, it still figures up to 20 times growth per year.
Shopify is an easy-to-use e-commerce platform that allows businesses owners to create thriving online stores, sell their products, and manage their business without encountering any significant hiccups.
In 2020, Shopify undercut Amazon's competitive edge by partnering with Oberlo to offer drop-shipping.
With robust features including payment processing and order management, Shopify is a formidable contender in the battle of eCommerce platforms.
Shopify has a lot of advantages over Amazon, but the one that stands out is its range of third-party integrations.
Shopify’s ability to seamlessly integrate with third-party services means that you can take advantage of a much more comprehensive range of features and tools than you could with a site running on another platform.
But the key difference between Shopify and Amazon is, while Amazon is an online marketplace, Shopify is a specialized e-commerce platform. However, both are suitable for creating eCommerce stores.
Still unclear about the difference?
Let's simplify it. Amazon can be a valuable tool for exposure, like having a stall at a famous fair. People come by looking and browsing for products until they eventually bump into yours, and if they like it, they’ll order it.
You get exposure by being among vendors of all sorts of industries, but you have to share the fame with others.
But selling on Shopify is more like renting a building to set up your business in. You have your own space, and customers come looking for your store once they know your brand. You have more freedom to build your brand on Shopify.
Flipkart is India's very own Amazon. It has been just over a decade since Flipkart was established as an Indian-based eCommerce company and now has over 100 million registered users.
According to Forrester Research, India's largest e-commerce platform is Flipkart, which Walmart acquired in 2018. With 31.9% of the market share, it holds the number one spot. Amazon India is trailing behind with 31.2%.
When it comes to Amazon's competitors in India, Flipkart holds first place. It has dethroned Amazon, and now has a 20 million user base, while Amazon Prime India has only 10 million users.
Many of you may know of Rakuten from its sponsorship with the famous football club FC Barcelona. But it is also known for being a renowned Japanese eCommerce company.
Rakuten has gained about 10% of the global eCommerce retail sales and is dubbed "Amazon of Japan." for its rapid worldwide expansion and generates $130 billion in online sales each year.
They currently control 14.1% of the global retail eCommerce space and 10% of the retail ecommerce market in Japan. Now, they own buy.com (US) and Ebates (US). They also recently bought Viber (software) for a VoIP system.
Rakuten has successfully expanded its acquisition activities to keep up with Amazon's ever-growing expansion.
Facebook only launched Facebook Marketplace in 2016, and it has already become a threat to Amazon.
Users from all over the world are using the platform to sell and buy items. In 2018, 800 million people from 70 countries per month were on Facebook Marketplace.
The introduction of Facebook Shops in 2020 is what Amazon should be worried about. This feature allows users to shop directly on Facebook.
It's an online, customizable shop you can set up so you can sell a few of your products. This will be especially useful for small businesses or organizations with only a couple of products.
Facebook Shops is available to eligible businesses from all over the world, but it's not yet available for everyone. Along with Facebook shops, Facebook groups have also become selling hotspots for small business owners because it’s well suited for local sellers and buyers.
While Facebook isn't as popular as other Amazon competitors, it's on its way to becoming a formidable opponent to Amazon.
With over 100 locations across the United States and Canada, Costco is one of the largest wholesale club operators in the world.
With a reputation for high-quality products at affordable prices — and for its famously large portions — Costco is a one-stop-shop for everything from electronics to furniture to toilet paper.
Costco is the world's second-largest retailer in terms of revenue. With over 725 locations in the U.S. alone, Costco was founded in 1983 by James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman and has been a consistent top performer since its inception.
The company offers a large variety of merchandise at low prices to members, who pay an annual membership fee of $60.
Costco has reached significant milestones in the eCommerce space. It is a wholesale retailer with 803 warehouses in the United States, and in 2020 it made $163.22 billion.
Additionally, Costco grew its membership cardholders to 107.1 million, with about a 90% renewal rate. Costco carries 79% cheaper products than Amazon. The wholesaler offers better shopping experiences than Amazon, too.
The Home Depot operates as a brick-and-mortar retailer with an online store, just like Walmart. The online store includes the products within the store.
Through its website, The Home Depot offers thousands of different products from several other departments for customers to choose from at prices similar to those offered by physical stores.
A number of e-commerce sites with brick-and-mortar roots are now competing with Amazon, including online retailers offering the same brands as their physical stores.
The Home Depot, for example, operates as an online retailer whose sales reflect its physical store sales. However, with a market share of 1.6%, it holds only the fifth position among the largest e-commerce platforms in the US.
Walmart is a household name. Walmart is a large department store that just happens to have a lot of sales on the go.
The brick-and-mortar giant is king in many key markets, from food and drink to furniture and apparel. This retailer giant’s sales only increased by 5% in FY 2019 — a comparatively low figure in comparison to its 40% y-o-y online sales growth in the same period.
With more than 11,000 stores and over 2.2 million employees worldwide, Walmart's sales in the fiscal year 2020 topped $524 billion. The retailer has a hand in nearly every retail sector, from home furnishings to health and personal care products.
In FY 2020, Walmart generated $524 billion in revenues versus $404.44 billion for Amazon. Now, Walmart is also a leader in the eCommerce space with a rapidly growing customer base that's more than 540 million people strong!
Target is a discount department store chain that features a wide range of products and services such as pharmacy, general merchandise, and furniture.
Customers can save more on their purchases with the retailer’s Target credit card, which provides 10% off any day, every day.
Target is one of the largest retailers in the world — with 1,868 stores across North America and a presence in Canada and Mexico.
Target, which shares inventory with other retailers, has the second-biggest share of the US eCommerce market.
It's grown its share by 35% in 2018 alone, thanks to faster delivery, lower prices, and digital investments - all while continuing to operate stores.
Not only does it have a strong brand, but it's also invested in speedy delivery that can get shoppers' orders to them for free within two days, same-day delivery that costs $5.
While Amazon and Shopify dominate most of the e-commerce market in the US, Target and Walmart are two e-commerce giants that can stand toe-to-toe with Amazon in terms of online retail sales and online presence.
With online grocery sales accounting for less than 1% of the U.S. grocery market, Kroger recognizes that there’s still a long way to go to compete with Amazon.
It's working hard to become more relevant in the eCommerce space, and its efforts are paying off — digital sales jumped 108 percent in Q3 of 2020.
Kroger trails Amazon’s eCommerce platform despite sustained growth in revenue by a wide margin. With Amazon establishing its dominance in brick-and-mortar convenience over the last decade, Kroger’s revenues have declined steadily since 2017.
To counteract Amazon’s monopoly, Kroger partnered with Ocado to build the first-ever fulfillment warehouse for grocery delivery service to compensate Amazon’s monopoly.
At the end of May 2019, Kroger streamlined its eCommerce platform to allow customers to order groceries for delivery or pick-up.
As a result, online sales have been growing at an incredible rate — from 92% in Q1 ended May 2019 to 108% in Q3 ended November 2019.
Kroger's new partnership with Ocado will further bolster sales and solidify its standing in the online retail market.
Amazon Web Services AWS has been the king of cloud computing, but other services are looking to take the crown. Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and IBM Cloud all look to compete with Amazon Web Services, offering better tools for specific industries while still being friendly to developers.
With their offerings, these three cloud services look to give Amazon a run for their money, capturing the top spot in industries that Amazon struggles in.
Known for its reliability and security, Microsoft Azure is one of the top cloud computing platforms available on the market today.
The platform offers secure data storage, flexible payment methods, and a suite of powerful tools that simplify cloud management for IT professionals.
The Azure Active Directory allows businesses to control apps and services while providing employees with single sign-on functionality. The platform has amassed many enterprise clients, including Airbnb, eBay, Nike, and Coca-Cola.
Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are two leading cloud service providers. Microsoft and Amazon have been competing for the top spot in the cloud computing market over the past several years — with AWS dominating early and Azure making a splash just recently.
Both companies offer a wide range of cloud solutions, making it challenging for businesses to choose between them.
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) is one of the top three cloud services on the market, with a 6% market share. It increased its revenue by 53% year over year, from $8.9 billion in Q1 of 2019 to $16.4 billion in Q1 of 2020.
It processes and stores data for various organizations and offers increased scalability and increased security and reliability. Furthermore, GCP’s infrastructure is built to scale up and down with customer needs, making it a perfect choice for projects that require periods of high performance and those that don’t.
Google Cloud also benefits from a partnership with Alibaba Cloud — giving them an edge over Amazon Web Service by connecting their cloud business to Google’s Advertising and Search features.
Amazon has two streaming services on offer: Prime Video and Amazon Music.
Prime Video is the second most popular video streaming service behind Netflix, while Amazon Music competes with Spotify and Apple Music for the top spot in music streaming. It’s safe to say that those two are doing relatively well in their respective markets.
Before we get into the competitors, let us give you a bit more background of these two streaming services:
Amazon Prime Video is a subscription-based video streaming service that allows Amazon customers to watch commercial-free content from Amazon Originals and other Amazon-exclusive programs.
Amazon Prime Video has over 100 million products in its index and approximately 1,000 Amazon Original Series and Movies available.
Amazon Music offers more than 50 million songs, thousands of playlists, Amazon Music Unlimited subscriptions, personalized playlists, and personalized recommendations.
It competes with Spotify and Apple Music. Amazon streaming services also have online competitors, which give the eCommerce giant a tough fight. Now that you have the gist of what Amazon offers in streaming services let’s dive into their competitors.
Netflix has changed how people watch their favorite TV shows and movies. With its vast selection of entertainment, it is one of the leading streaming services in the world, with nearly 200 million subscribers in 2019.
Add ons like Netflix Originals have led to even more success, with 36 million new subscribers in 2020 alone. At the same time, however, Amazon Prime Video is also growing rapidly alongside Netflix by focusing on original content.
Disney+ is the streaming service that media giants like Apple and Amazon Prime Video should be worried about. Disney’s library of content (not to mention its Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel franchises) , plus live sports coverage, will make it a true competitor in the online streaming space.
Apple Music is a music streaming service offered by Apple Inc. It is the world's second-largest music streaming service by its subscribers, with over 60 million worldwide. But Amazon's music streaming service is quickly picking up pace and may soon surpass Apple Music.
Amazon has always been a leader in handling their consumer relations, but recently they have been going head-to-head with Apple in offering their services in the music streaming marketplace.
As of 2021, Spotify has become the world's largest music streaming service, with over 172 million paying subscribers.
Spotify's main competitive advantage is its music library — it has 15 times as many songs as the closest competitor, and the song catalog is consistently growing. In terms of pricing, Spotify starts at $9.99 and Amazon Music Unlimited (Amazon Prime music) costs $7.99.
Alexa is a cloud-based virtual assistant developed by Amazon that uses machine learning and AI to respond to voice commands. In 2017, it became the second most popular personal assistant behind Google Assistant. Alexa’s top two competitors are Apple's Siri and Google Now.
Google Assistant is a virtual assistant from Google that you can use to do almost anything from searching the web, controlling your smart home, listening to music, and playing games. It's perfect for getting things done wherever you are.
Google Assistant is hands down the best virtual assistant on the market with its brilliant voice recognition and integration into android devices.
While Alexa has the leg up when it comes to general knowledge, Google Assistant is more intelligent in most other aspects — such as asking questions and giving commands — and we all know how essential good grammar is in a smart assistant.
Siri is one of Apple Inc. most successful products to date. It allows you to control compatible smart home devices and open apps by giving voice commands.
You can call, text, set reminders, and more with just a few spoken words! Plus, Siri is the only virtual assistant with a sense of humor.
Amazon managed to beat its competitors because of its flexible technology stack that gives users much more extensive product assortment options, competitive pricing, and unprecedented levels of convenience.
People consider several factors when buying things, including price, fast delivery, and reliable service. These factors are more commonly known as customer purchase criteria (CPC). Amazon differentiates itself simply by performing much better on those CPC than their competitors.
Amazon's strengths come from its three-pronged strategic thrust on cost leadership, differentiation, and focus -- resulting in reaping much more gains and delivering much better value to their shareholders.
According to Sucharita Kodali, Forrester Research Retail Analyst, the biggest threat Amazon can receive is a regulatory framework.
In a world where startups and entrepreneurs struggle to compete with Amazon, the only way to stand out is through branding. You can't be one of those companies that keep putting out new products hoping one will succeed.
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