Amazon Business Reaches 1 Million Customers Milestone

According to Amazon Business, it now has more than 1 million business customers, 3 times more than what it had last year.

The e-commerce site was launched in April 2015 in the US, UK and Germany and already has access to more than 85,000 business sellers and offers business only pricing on millions of products. Amazon Business has been described as using the best features from Amazon marketplace but tailoring them for businesses. It serves businesses of all sizes from a plethora of industries including hospitals, labs, restaurants and government agencies.

Amazon Business offers a range of benefits that are specific to businesses such as the Amazon tax exemption program, Amazon business customer support, and a business only selection which offers access to hundreds of millions of products including rarities that are difficult to find. Additionally, there is comprehensive product information for the products that include dimensions, studio-quality photography and manufacture how-to videos.

“We are grateful to our customers for helping us reach this significant milestone,” said Prentis Wilson Vice President of Amazon Business. “We are striving to set a new standard for B2B e-commerce with Amazon Business, and it’s still day one for us.”

Drake Paben, Director of IT Procurement, Siemens Corporation (U.S.) said, “Amazon Business is taking a lot of weight off of our shoulders,” and added that “with Amazon Business, we’re able to automate a lot of orders and give our employees, divisions and factories the products they need to complete their jobs in a timely manner.”

However, competitors in the office supply industry are wary of Amazon Business’s rapid growth. In a US court case where the Staples and Office Depot merger was opposed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the two industry leaders described themselves as ‘penguins on a melting iceberg.’ This metaphor was used to express their concern at the increasing digitalization of the office-supply industry propelled by new entrants like Amazon Business.