In 2025, the cross-border e-commerce industry appears to be fiercely competitive, but the Amazon platform presents a scene of “a world of ice and fire”: on one hand, new sellers continue to flood in, while on the other, the number of active sellers has sharply decreased. Meanwhile, veteran players who have held their ground are enjoying new dividends brought by traffic growth.
Image source: Internet
Traffic Concentrates at the Top, New Players Become “Accompanying Runners” as the Norm
According to the latest data from Marketplace Pulse, the number of active Amazon sellers worldwide has dropped from 2.4 million four years ago to less than 1.9 million, a decrease of over 21%. Although nearly one million new sellers join each year, less than 30% can survive in the long term. The direct result of this trend is that the average monthly visits per active seller have jumped from 2,162 in 2021 to 2,837 in 2025, an increase of 31%.
Image source: Marketplace Pulse
Traffic distribution is becoming increasingly polarized: the US market still holds a core position with 2.45 billion monthly visits, while emerging markets such as Saudi Arabia and South Africa have become “small but beautiful” potential tracks with an average of over 8,000 monthly visits per seller. However, the overall traffic scale in such markets is limited, making it difficult to support large-scale sales, so sellers need to weigh input and return.
Image source: Marketplace Pulse
A deeper change lies in the solidification of the top-tier structure. Currently, among the top 10,000 Amazon sellers, more than 60% are veteran players who joined before 2019. These “senior players” have firmly occupied the high ground of traffic thanks to their accumulated supply chain, brand awareness, and operational experience. Data shows that over half of the platform’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) comes from sellers who joined five years ago, and in 2024, the proportion of third-party seller sales has risen to 62%, a record high.
Image source: About Amazon
Fewer Sellers, Platform Revenue Up by 36%
The slowdown in seller competition has not hindered Amazon’s expansion. From 2021 to 2024, its annual revenue soared from $470 billion to $638 billion, an increase of 36%. This growth is driven by two major engines:
Image source: aboutamazon
Third-Party Seller Service Revenue Soars: Revenue from third-party services composed of commissions, advertising, and logistics fees has reached 81% of self-operated business, and is expected to surpass it in 2025.
Comprehensive Penetration of AI Technology: From intelligent product selection tool Amazon Personalize to generative AI assistant Rufus, Amazon is optimizing seller operational efficiency through AI. For example, the AI-generated product description tool now covers 500,000 sellers, and the dynamic pricing model has improved inventory forecasting accuracy by 20%.
Consumers are also benefiting. The AI shopping assistant Rufus improves conversion rates through conversational recommendations, while “Climate Pledge Friendly (CPF)” certified products, with exclusive traffic entrances, saw a 10% surge in exposure during major promotions such as Black Friday.
Image source: benzinga
AI Reshapes the Ecosystem, Long-Termism Becomes the Winning Formula
Amazon’s ambition goes beyond traffic allocation. Its AI-driven logistics centers have achieved 95% automated package sorting, and the number of robots is expected to surpass employees by 2030. The launch of free AI tools such as Project Amelia reveals the platform’s strategic intention to retain sellers through technological inclusiveness.
For sellers, short-term traffic dividends are tempting, but long-term survival relies more on branding and supply chain resilience. As Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said: “Our AWS customers are very satisfied with the new generation of artificial intelligence. We also see huge development potential in the field of artificial intelligence, and now our AI business has achieved billions of dollars in revenue capability.” In this technological revolution, the experience accumulated by veteran players and the agile innovation of new players may together write the next decade of cross-border e-commerce.