Wednesday 28 November 2012

Amazon announce UK sales figures...and they may surprise a few

Recently, online marketplace giants Amazon have been making a number of headlines here in the UK, along with other global brands such as Starbucks and Google, after a number of questions by the British Members of Parliament regarding the amount they have been paying as their UK tax.

According to written evidence published on the Parliament website, Amazon have released sales figures for the last three years, including the amount they in UK VAT. In 2009, 2010 and 2011, Amazon had net sales in the UK of £1.65 billion, £2.36 billion and £2.91 billion respectively. This resulted in them paying £172 million, £262 million and £416 million in VAT. 

While this is a significant amount in terms of generated revenue, to many people, this is much less than they were expecting. With a number of large brand retailers in the UK doing well in excess of £8 billion in sales last year, it puts into perspective that the success of Amazon isn't as great as many people have previously thought.

As there seems to be a constant battle for supremacy between Amazon and eBay for online marketplace success, with Amazon's yearly sales much lower than many expected, it begs the question is eBay equally as over hyped as Amazon seems to be? or is eBay in fact head and shoulders above the rest in terms of generating sales through their online marketplace? 

We shall just have to wait and see...

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