seller
- What changed
- Amazon Clothing, Shoes and Jewelry down 12% year over year; Health and Household up 30%
- When
- SmartScout category data published July 14, 2026
- Who it affects
- Apparel, footwear, health, beauty and grocery brands selling on Amazon
- What to do
- Recheck category growth before planning Q4 and 2027 ad budgets
Key takeaways
- Amazon Clothing, Shoes and Jewelry is down 12% year over year, the only top 10 category to shrink (SmartScout, July 14, 2026).
- Health and Household grew 30% to $4.44 billion a month and is now Amazon's largest category.
- Beauty (+27%), Grocery (+24%) and Electronics (+21%) all grew faster than 20%.
Amazon top categories, SmartScout July 2026
| Monthly revenue | Year over year | |
|---|---|---|
| Health and Household | $4.44B | +30% |
| Home and Kitchen | $4.23B | +9% |
| Clothing, Shoes, Jewelry | $3.77B | -12% |
| Electronics | $3.18B | +21% |
| Beauty and Personal Care | $2.96B | +27% |
| Grocery and Gourmet | $1.57B | +24% |
What the SmartScout data shows
SmartScout, an Amazon analytics firm, publishes a ranking of Amazon's top product categories by estimated monthly revenue, with brand counts and year over year growth drawn from its own sales estimates. In the July 14, 2026 edition, nine of the ten largest categories grew. Clothing, Shoes and Jewelry was the exception at minus 12%, even though it remains the third largest category by revenue with 57,623 brands.
SmartScout does not publish the exact data window or method on that page, and Amazon does not report sales by category, so treat these as directional estimates.
- Health and Household: $4.44B a month, up 30%
- Home and Kitchen: $4.23B a month, up 9%
- Clothing, Shoes and Jewelry: $3.77B a month, down 12%
- Electronics: $3.18B, up 21%; Beauty and Personal Care: $2.96B, up 27%
- Grocery and Gourmet Food: $1.57B, up 24%; Pet Supplies: $1.42B, up 16%
Amazon monthly revenue by category
Where the growth went instead
The winners are consumable, repeat purchase categories. Health and Household, Beauty, Grocery and Pet Supplies grew between 16% and 30%. Shoppers reorder these products, which suits Subscribe and Save, repeat ad targeting and steady inventory planning.
The wider market was growing too. Marketplace Pulse reported on August 27, 2026 that US e-commerce grew 12.2% in the second quarter, its fastest in five years, and that Amazon's own online store sales grew 15%. Against that backdrop, a 12% drop in one large category stands out. Marketplace Pulse also noted that tariffs and the end of the de minimis exemption hit the categories where online had been gaining fastest, though it did not name apparel specifically.
Why clothing may be under pressure
SmartScout gives no reason for the decline, so any explanation is context, not proof. Apparel is one of the most import heavy categories, which ties it closely to tariff costs and to the end of duty free small parcels, covered in our explainer on the de minimis suspension for Amazon sellers.
Shopper behaviour in cheap fashion has also moved. Measure Protocol panel data shows Temu's US audience fell as much as 62% and Shein's 47% after the tariff changes, and both were still about 30% below their early 2025 baseline in April 2026. Those shoppers did not all land on Amazon: the same data shows heavy overlap with Target, Walmart, eBay and Etsy, which points to spending spread across many stores and resale sites.
What this means for sellers and brands
A category can be huge and still shrinking. Apparel sellers face more brands fighting over a smaller pool, which usually means higher click costs per sale and more pressure on price. Brands in health, beauty, grocery and pet are riding growth, but growth attracts new entrants and rising bids, so margin discipline matters just as much there.
Judge your account against your own category, not the marketplace average. Flat sales in a category that fell 12% may be a win; flat sales in one that grew 30% means you lost share.
What sellers should do
These steps follow from the data and apply to both shrinking and growing categories:
- Benchmark your year over year sales against your category, using Amazon competitor research to see who is gaining share
- In apparel, cut broad keywords that convert poorly and shift spend to exact match terms, as covered in our Amazon PPC strategy guide
- Check landed cost after tariffs and Amazon fee changes in 2026 before Q4 bids rise
- In growing consumable categories, build repeat purchase targeting and keep stock deep to avoid losing rank
- Get a free Amazon audit to find wasted ad spend before holiday costs climb
- Follow more category stories on the ecommerce marketplace news channel
Plan ads around category direction
- Benchmark against your category
- Cut broad apparel keywords
- Recheck landed cost after tariffs
- Target repeat buyers in consumables
- Keep stock deep in growing categories
Where PPC Spider helps
PPC Spider is an Amazon and marketplace agency. Our Amazon PPC management team and SpiderOS platform watch bids, budgets, search terms and stock, and set target ACoS from product margin after fees, which matters most when a category is shrinking and every click has to pay for itself.
Sources
- SmartScout: Amazon Seller Statistics (2026) (https://www.smartscout.com/blog/amazon-seller-statistics)
- Marketplace Pulse: E-Commerce Is Taking Share From Stores Again (https://www.marketplacepulse.com/articles/e-commerce-is-taking-share-from-stores-again)
- Measure Protocol: Shein and Temu After Tariffs: Where Shoppers Went (https://www.measureprotocol.com/insights/shein-temu-shoppers-after-us-tariffs)
We run these playbooks on client accounts every day. Start with a free audit.
Get a free audit