Chinese manufacturers have discovered Amazon. The numbers confirm it: by 2025, Chinese sellers represented 62.3% of all new Amazon registrations globally, and 57% of Amazon sellers generating over $1 million in annual revenue are Chinese companies.
This is impressive. But it hides a problem that most manufacturers only discover after two or three years on the platform.
The Margin Reality
Amazon looks like a distribution solution. In practice, it functions more like a tax on your revenue. Here is what the fees actually look like for a typical physical product sold on Amazon EU:
Amazon / Marketplace Model
Own Distribution Model
Same factory. Same product. The difference is the channel — and who extracts value from your revenue along the way.
"Marketplace revenue is rented. Your own distribution is owned."
The Hidden Costs Amazon Doesn't Advertise
Beyond margin, there are structural costs that most manufacturers don't fully account for when evaluating the Amazon model:
Brand Control
On Amazon, you compete against dozens of near-identical products, often including Amazon's own private label versions. Building brand equity on the platform is nearly impossible in most categories.
Platform Dependency
Amazon can suspend your account, change category rules, increase fees, or launch a competing product under its own brand. A manufacturer with 80% of EU revenue on Amazon has 80% of EU revenue at risk from a single platform's decisions.
Customer Data
Amazon owns the customer relationship. You get transaction data, not customer data. You cannot contact buyers directly, build loyalty, or upsell outside the platform. Every customer you generate is Amazon's — not yours.
In 2025, over 50% of Amazon sellers reported being less profitable than the year before. New seller registrations fell 44% year-on-year — the lowest number in a decade. The marketplace is consolidating around a smaller number of large-volume operators. For everyone else, margins are compressing.
The Smarter Approach: Both, But Differently
We are not arguing that Chinese manufacturers should abandon marketplaces. For market testing, for category validation, for quick initial volume — Amazon and similar platforms have real value.
The question is what you build in parallel.
Manufacturers who build their own European distribution network alongside marketplace sales are creating something that platforms cannot replicate: direct relationships with distributors, brand positioning in a market, and a business asset that belongs to them.
Ten years from now, a Chinese manufacturer with €5 million in revenue through its own European distribution network is worth significantly more — as a business — than one with €10 million through Amazon alone. Because the first has built something defensible. The second has built a dependency.
Ready to build the channel Amazon can't take from you?
EBDT helps Chinese manufacturers identify the right European distribution partners and structure their market entry for long-term margin — not just quick volume.
Sources: Marketplace Pulse — China Reaches Global Majority on Amazon (September 2025) · Amazon Seller Statistics 2025–2026 · ECDMA — The Shelf Space Weekly #11 (October 2025) · SellerSprite — Amazon 2025 Annual Data Report (February 2026)