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Amazon FBA has shipped more than 80 billion units since its launch in 2006, according to Amazon. Twenty years later, the service handles tens of millions of seller units daily, demonstrating the scale of outsourced fulfilment in global e-commerce.
\n\n\n\nFor cross-border retailers, the milestone highlights how shared logistics networks can support international expansion. Amazon’s European figures provide further context: EU-based small and medium-sized businesses generated €17 billion in export sales through its marketplace in 2025. These exports cover Amazon’s wider SME seller community, rather than FBA users alone.
\n\n\n\nFulfilment by Amazon, commonly known as Amazon FBA, allows independent sellers to outsource storage, picking, packing, delivery, customer service and returns. Sellers send inventory to Amazon’s fulfilment centres while retaining responsibility for their products, pricing and commercial strategy.
\n\n\n\nThe appeal for growing retailers is straightforward: they can access an established logistics operation when entering new markets. However, sellers must still determine which products to stock, how much inventory to commit and whether the expected sales justify the costs.
\n\n\n\nAccording to Amazon’s September 2026 anniversary update, FBA began with five founding sellers and seven fulfilment centres. It has since exceeded 80 billion cumulative units shipped, with its global network now handling tens of millions of seller units every day.
\n\n\n\nThe 80 billion figure measures shipments over FBA’s lifetime, rather than annual sales or individual orders. Its significance lies in showing how outsourced fulfilment has become a substantial part of marketplace retail, giving smaller businesses access to infrastructure that would be expensive to develop independently.
\n\n\n\nFor cross-border sellers, choosing a fulfilment network has consequently become closely connected to choosing which markets to enter. The ability to reach customers matters, but so does the cost of delivering each order.
\n\n\n\nPan-European FBA applies this model across participating European markets. Amazon distributes inventory among the countries sellers enable for storage, positioning products according to anticipated customer demand.
\n\n\n\nAmazon advertises fulfilment fee savings of up to 53%, comparing local fulfilment fees with cross-border fees under its European Fulfilment Network. This is a maximum saving that depends on product size and weight, rather than an average reduction in total selling costs.
\n\n\n\nThe underlying principle is relevant across e-commerce: fulfilling orders from stock positioned closer to customers can offer different economics from shipping every international order from one warehouse. Retailers must balance those potential savings against inventory commitments and operational complexity.
\n\n\n\nAmazon also promotes potential sales growth of up to 24% through Pan-European FBA. The claim comes from an August 2023 study analysing 1.9 million Pan-European FBA offers against similar FBA offers outside the programme.
\n\n\n\nAmazon describes the findings as a general reference, rather than real-time data or a guaranteed outcome. Retailers should therefore treat the figure as historical comparative evidence, with results depending on factors including seasonality, pricing and their existing fulfilment arrangements.
\n\n\n\nFor sellers, the practical question is whether the programme improves their own commercial performance. Additional sales need to generate enough margin to justify the costs of storing and fulfilling inventory across markets.
\n\n\n\nAmazon reports that EU SMEs surpassed €40 billion in marketplace sales in 2025. Their worldwide exports reached €17 billion, an increase of €2 billion compared with the previous year.
\n\n\n\nIntra-EU exports rose from €12 billion in 2024 to €13.5 billion in 2025, representing approximately 12.5% growth calculated from Amazon’s published figures. The results demonstrate the importance of neighbouring European markets alongside export opportunities further afield.
\n\n\n\nHowever, these are marketplace-wide SME figures. They do not measure FBA-specific export revenue or establish how much growth resulted from Amazon’s logistics services.
\n\n\n\nFBA’s 80 billion-unit milestone illustrates the scale of shared fulfilment infrastructure. For individual retailers, its value depends on whether access to that infrastructure produces sustainable margins in their chosen markets.
\n\n\n\nAn expansion strategy should account for fulfilment, storage, returns, advertising and inventory commitments. Lower delivery fees can improve the economics of international selling, but those savings must be assessed against the full cost of serving each market.
\n\n\n\nThe opportunity is to match customer demand with an appropriate fulfilment footprint. Amazon FBA provides one route to international scale, while the retailer’s product selection, stock planning and cost control determine whether that expansion becomes profitable.
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