I was thinking of sharing some reflections on the prospect of increased prices on our store activities. Obviously, none of us know exactly where the prices will settle or when. We have not yet seen any attenuation of demand. To a certain extent, we have seen increased purchases in certain categories which may indicate storage before any potential price impact.
We also saw the average sale price of retail items increase significantly. Part of this reflects certain purchases forward that we made during our first sale, but part of this reflects advanced entrants that our third -party sellers have made. But a good part of this is that most sellers have simply not yet changed prices. Again, it could change, depending on where the prices have settled.
Amazon is not only sensitive to prices, with regard to China, retailers who do not fly directly from China generally buy from companies that buy themselves in China, marking these articles, brand change and sale to American consumers. These retailers buy the product at a higher price than Chinese sellers selling directly to American consumers on our market, so that the total rate will be higher for these retailers than for direct sellers in China.
It is also sometimes easy to forget what Amazon sells. We do not mainly sell high sales price items, although we certainly sell a pile. In the first quarter, our everyday essentials increased by more than twice as fast as the rest of our business, and represented one in three units sold in the United States on Amazon. Even if you exclude Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh, Amazon is one of the largest grocers in the United States with more than $ 100 billion in raw sales last year. People buy a large part of their essential everyday elements on Amazon.
We also have extremely large selections, hundreds of millions of unique networks networks, which means that we are often capable of resisting difficult conditions better than others. When there are periods of discontinuity, substantial and unexpected tendencies of products emerge. Think of the pandemic, when articles like masks and the disinfectant have become large sellers. When you have the widest selection like us, and two million worldwide sellers like us, you are better positioned to help customers find all items and at lower prices than that else.
Finally, when there are uncertain environments, customers tend to choose the supplier they have the most confidence. Given our really wide selection, our low price and our fast delivery, we have emerged from these uncertain arrows with a more relative share of market segment than we have started, and better set up for the future. I am optimistic that it could happen again.
