Amazon Business launched in 2015 to cater to business customers that have procurement processes and policies in place that consumers don’t have to abide by. By 2017, Amazon Business had over a million business customers in the US, 85,000 business sellers, and offered business-only pricing on millions of products.
On Wednesday, Amazon Business said ten years after launch, it’s available in North America, Europe, and Japan and has over 8 million customers globally, with $35 billion in annualized gross sales. Compared to last year alone, Amazon Business increased its selection by 25%.
On Thursday, Amazon published a post for sellers, encouraging them to sell B2B products, writing in part, “There are plenty of opportunities to expand your ecommerce business into new categories, but one of the fastest growing opportunities lies in B2B ecommerce. Businesses of all kinds shop online to find the products they need to support their company needs, and they’re looking for sellers like you to provide them.”
Amazon Business’s selection includes: professional medical equipment; commercial kitchen equipment; technology solutions for the classroom; agricultural supplies; industrial manufacturing equipment; industrial and scientific supplies; professional-grade equipment; healthcare and laboratory materials; education resources and technology; and facility maintenance supplies.
Amazon provided the following statistics about its business marketplace in Wednesday’s announcement:
- Selection from small-business sellers grew close to 80% globally year-over-year, with over 160 million items from small-business sellers worldwide.
- Over 70% of US Business Prime orders arrived same day or next day in the last year.
- Over 85% of US business customers have access to delivery via pallets.
- In the first half of the year, quantity discounts from Amazon Business helped US organizations save over $150 million.
- Global small-business customers saved over $70 million, and US small-business customers saved over $25 million, through purchasing in bulk last year.
- Last year, Business Prime members saved over $750 million globally in shipping fees.
A key benefit for business customers using the platform is the ability to be invoiced for purchases: Enterprise plan customers can get 60-day payment terms, while Small and Medium plan customers can get 45-day payment terms; although that may be seen by some sellers who want immediate payment as a disadvantage. Amazon said a benefit for business sellers is that there are fewer returns: B2B customers have a 42% lower return rate compared to B2C (business-to-consumer) customers, according to Amazon.
Amazon published the following video about Amazon Business on YouTube: