Amazon Unveils Winners of U.S. Small Business Spotlight Awards

nutpods based in Bellevue, WA named Small Business of the Year

Amazon announced the U.S. winners of the Small Business Spotlight Awards, including: Small Business of the Year, Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year, and Small Business Owner Under 30 of the Year.

The Small Business Spotlight Awards, introduced in September, honor and celebrate inspiring, unique, and customer-obsessed small businesses selling in Amazon’s stores. More than 1,300 American small businesses nominated themselves for the awards, and on October 15, 18 finalists, six per category, were announced and the contest opened up for customer voting to select the winners. Customer voting concluded on November 8.

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Award winners will receive a prize package including six months of Amazon Strategic Account Services, Sponsored Products advertising credits, and promotion on Amazon.com. Winners will also receive a trip to Amazon’s Seattle headquarters to meet with Amazon leaders and learn more about the tools and services Amazon provides to help sellers grow and scale their businesses. The winners include:

• Small Business of the Year: nutpods – Bellevue, WA-based small business nutpods, founded by Madeline Haydon, began selling plant-based creamer on Amazon in 2015. Today, nutpods has a team of 24 employees and has grown sales 5,500% in Amazon’s stores.
• Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year: 1818 Farms – Mooresville, AL-based small business 1818 Farms began as a family project for Natasha McCrary in 2012 and evolved quickly into a booming business. In 2017, Natasha listed her handcrafted bath and lifestyle products on Amazon Handmade and has now grown to 12 employees and doubled her Amazon sales year-over-year.
• Small Business Owner Under 30 of the Year: Habit Nest – Los Angeles, CA-based small business Habit Nest was launched by Michael Ahdoot and his cofounders in 2017. Inspired by the idea of helping others, Habit Nest creates journals that help people build better habits quickly and effectively. Since listing products in Amazon’s stores, Habit Nest has seen 300% year-over-year growth.

“A huge congratulations to all three winners as well as the rest of the small businesses named finalists in our first-ever U.S. Small Business Spotlight Awards,” said Nicholas Denissen, VP of Small Business at Amazon. “We are honored that inspiring and diverse small businesses continue to choose to sell in our stores in the U.S. and around the world. 1818 Farms, Habit Nest, and nutpods exemplify what small business success in our stores looks like, and we celebrate them as models for other aspiring small businesses and entrepreneurs.”

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On average, U.S.-based small and medium-sized businesses sell more than 4,000 items per minute in Amazon’s stores. Independent third-party sellers – primarily small and medium-sized businesses – made up 58% of all physical gross merchandise sold in Amazon’s stores in 2018, and their sales far exceeded $2 billion on Prime Day in July this year. These businesses have created an estimated 830,000 jobs in the U.S.

In October, Amazon announced Amazon Storefronts, its curated destination to shop exclusively from American small and medium-sized businesses, has surpassed 2.5 million products from nearly 30,000 companies. In the last 12 months, U.S. small and medium-sized businesses with products in Storefronts have sold more than 250 million items to more than 70 million unique customers.

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