Amazon has spent the past 25 years building Amazon.com. We currently offer a wide range of products at competitive prices to over 300 million active customers. You may be one of them.
However, different customers have different needs.
Amazon has long known that businesses and organizations buy large quantities of office supplies and other products in its stores. In order to serve them better, the company started his Amazon business in 2015.
“Everything we do at Amazon starts with our customers. We kept asking ourselves, 'How can we better serve these business customers?'” said Tom, who has been with Amazon for 20 years and is vice president of Worldwide Amazon Business. said Alexandre Gagnon, President. “The procurement space is ready for innovation. We've taken the scale, expertise, technology, and infrastructure we've built at Amazon and adapted it for businesses and organizations of all sizes.”
Since then, Amazon Business has become one of the fastest growing ventures in Amazon's history. Annual sales will reach $35 billion in 2023.
“I've been excited about Amazon Business since the day it launched,” said Doug Herrington, CEO of Amazon Worldwide Stores. We dig into the specific purchasing needs of businesses and organizations and come up with innovative ways to offer them great prices, wide selection, and consistent, reliable convenience. You need tools and features to make a purchase, and Amazon Business has built them for you. But we know it's not enough, and we're continually working to make the customer experience even better. .”
More than 6 million customers currently buy from Amazon Business. This includes large corporations and organizations as well as small businesses like New Mexico's family-owned Red River Brewing Company.Ninety-six luck 100 companies including Intel and Citi use Amazon Business, as well as organizations such as Johns Hopkins University, Seattle Children's Hospital, United Services Organization, and U.S. government agencies such as the State of Utah and the U.S. Air Force. I am.
“Amazon Business is constantly innovating on behalf of our customers, working on solutions and integrations that make procurement more efficient and reduce overhead and manual processes,” said Gagnon. “Amazon Business supports integration with Coupa and over 100 other procurement, payment, and ERP systems. For organizations that do not rely on e-procurement systems, we also support direct purchasing on Amazon.com.”
Despite Amazon Business' progress and growth, its internal energy makes it feel like a startup with plenty of room to expand further. Amazon Business Director Todd Himes said there are millions of small and medium-sized businesses around the world, spending trillions of dollars each year on supply and procurement.
“We're just getting started,” Himes said.
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about Amazon Business.
Who can open an Amazon Business account?
Businesses and organizations of all sizes can open an Amazon Business account, including local hair salons, global businesses, schools, nonprofits, hospitals, and government agencies. Accounts are free and there is no minimum spend.
How does Amazon Business work?
Amazon Business enables organizations of all sizes to buy from a wide selection of hundreds of millions of products directly from the Amazon Business Store with the same easy-to-use, intuitive interface as Amazon.com.
“One of the best tailwinds for Amazon Business is all the work we've done for consumers at Amazon over the last 25 years,” Himes said. “We have a comprehensive catalog, world-class fulfillment capabilities, and the great customer experience you're accustomed to. Easy to use with no training required. Search experience, reviews, shopping cart, and more All of our popular features are the same, and on top of that, we've built business-specific features that enable companies of all sizes to integrate procurement policies into their purchasing processes.”
What does Amazon Business offer besides a huge selection, low prices, and convenience?
“We are much more than just a B2B store and procurement organization,” said Aster Angago, vice president and head of commercial, public, and strategy at Amazon Business. “Amazon Business is designed to be flexible and able to support customers of all shapes and sizes. We continually develop solutions that are scalable depending on customer size and industry. Together, we will solve our customers' biggest sourcing challenges by delivering great technology like Amazon Business Analytics and Guided Purchasing available with eligible Business Prime memberships.”
“Amazon Business allows customers to use a set of policies and rules to ensure that the specific types of products they purchase meet their requirements,” Himes said. “So you can say, 'I want to buy local,' 'I want to buy products with sustainability certifications,' and 'I want to buy from veteran-owned and diverse suppliers.'”
Angagau said business owners and procurement professionals use Amazon Business as an end-to-end solution that provides tools and analytics that provide control, visibility, and insight into purchasing, supply chain, and other activities. Ta.
“Amazon Business gives customers flexibility so they can focus their time on what matters most. “It means you can control who spends that money within your organization,” she said. “With our end-to-end solution capabilities, our customer-facing teams work with the largest companies to understand their unique business procurement needs and provide customization that best fits their business, requirements, and unique purchasing criteria. We are building a solution that
“Smart Business Buying is truly the culmination of machine learning and artificial intelligence that we are bringing to the procurement space to empower our customers to buy and supply their needs in smart ways, giving them the freedom to do what they really want to do. That's how they run their business,” Himes said.
Does Amazon Business have a Prime membership program?
yes. business prime A popular membership similar to Amazon Prime, but with business-specific benefits tailored for business buyers. We offer benefits like free shipping on eligible items, sales, and other features like guided buying and spend visibility. Business Prime membership includes benefits and pricing* plans for different business sizes.
*Prices vary by region.
How do customers use Amazon Business?
Angagau said Amazon Business will help customers large and small take advantage of what they're doing now in the spending space. But Amazon Business can also help you source products with sustainability certifications and items sold by local, diverse, and other businesses.
“We give our customers control and visibility into these purchases so they know where their money is going,” she said. “If you're a teacher and you want to buy a specific book or tool for your class, you no longer have to go through multiple people in the process. Visit the Amazon Business Store and buy what you need for your students. You With a budget set up for you, you can actually spend your money over the course of a semester, a year, or a month—no matter how you manage it.”
These benefits also translate into tangible savings. “We make it very easy for them to source at competitive prices and save money that can be reinvested,” Gagnon said.
How can small businesses benefit from shopping on Amazon Business?
Amazon Business is a B2B store where hundreds of thousands of sellers compete to offer a wide selection of products at competitive prices, with the convenient shipping experience you're familiar with from Amazon.
“It offers small businesses and organizations the opportunity to reduce costs and improve efficiency, allowing them to focus on running their business,” said Himes. “All the conveniences we take for granted as consumers are now available to business customers.”
What attracts large customers to Amazon Business?
Himes said “digital sourcing,” like buying goods on Amazon Business, is a new concept for large organizations. He said large companies typically negotiate and purchase from a limited number of suppliers. Amazon Business gives you access to hundreds of thousands of suppliers in one store.
“This is a huge opportunity for these large organizations,” he said. “This allows companies to significantly increase efficiency, reduce costs and streamline suppliers, which is a huge benefit for companies.”
“Sometimes we forget all the great things that Amazon.com offers consumers that don't typically exist in the business world. Things like knowing. In that regard, we can deliver millions of items the next day,” Himes said.
Amazon Business also helps business customers find competitive prices for large orders.
“If you want to buy 500 black chairs, we take that quote, send it to a seller we know sells chairs, and give them an opportunity to bid on the order.” said Himes. “This is called a 'quote request,' and it's our service to help you meet your anticipated high-volume purchasing needs.”
Who sells on Amazon Business?
Amazon Business offers hundreds of millions of products in its store. Most resellers who sell on Amazon.com are also automatically included in the Amazon Business Store.
The Amazon Business team also works to identify sellers whose products may be popular with business customers and add those options to your selection. “We have historically sold personal shredders on Amazon.com, but we are currently contracting with a distributor to secure industrial models for sale on Amazon Business,” Himes said.
How can small, diverse businesses benefit from selling on Amazon Business?
With the Amazon Business Store, customers can not only spend their money frugally, but also in ways that support their communities.
“A good example of this is when local governments come to us and ask us to keep procurement spend within the local community. We work with them to ensure that local businesses are identified as preferred suppliers. , made sure that spending on their organizations stayed within the community,” Angago said. “We can do this because if we qualify as a small, black, veteran-owned, or women-owned business, we can earn those qualifications from the federal government and other standards-defining organizations. We're integrating these tools and designing the tools to be available to all businesses, so owners of large enterprises and procurement professionals can direct their customers to support specific businesses.”
Angagau added that it can be difficult for large organizations to interact with small and medium-sized businesses, given the process and system requirements.
“We're promoting that and I think it's great to be able to create that connection between small businesses and corporations,” she said. “Our aim is to provide access for diverse, small, local sellers to interact with larger organizations.”
The United States Air Force is a good example. Air Force acquisition staff looking to buy more from local small businesses and preserve and create jobs in their communities can use Amazon Business to access a database of more than 100,000 small businesses You can now see if there are local small businesses within 50 miles of your company. The unit base was selling related supplies.
There were thousands of them. The Air Force purchased 7,600 items from 2,600 local small businesses through Amazon Business.. The report said $1.29 million went to small businesses, including women-owned businesses, veteran-owned businesses, and businesses in historically underutilized business zones.
“It's really like checking a box. If you set a rule that says, 'We want users to buy from local suppliers,' then when that user tries to buy, their only choices are products from that local supplier.” narrowed down to. It's really about putting that kind of control and that ability into the hands of the customer. ”
Where can I use Amazon Business?
Amazon Business started in the United States and has since expanded to Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, India, and Mexico.
visit amazon business website You can learn more.