There is a version of Amazon that’s strictly for businesses — big or small — that want greater control over their procurement experience. That is Amazon Business – very similar to Amazon — only with added features tailored to the needs of businesses. Users get access to business-only pricing, multi-user accounts, and more. Here’s everything you need to know.
Table of Contents
What is Amazon Business?
Amazon Business is a marketplace for businesses of all sizes. It looks and works very much like regular Amazon — only it offers access to “hundreds of millions” of business products from “hundreds of thousands” of business sellers, according to Amazon. It launched in spring 2015, and by 2018, Amazon said it was already generating $10 billion in annualized sales.
It provides its users a purchasing solution for their registered business of any size. Each business can assign users who are allowed to go in and purchase business supplies on Amazon on behalf of their employers. The main administrator can add authorized users or remove them as needed, and manage payment methods, shipping addresses, approval workflows, reporting options and more, based on the needs of the business.
“We provide easy access to hundreds of millions of products – everything from IT equipment to janitorial supplies – to businesses of all sizes and across industries,” said Martin Rohde, director of the commercial vertical.
Features of Amazon Business
Price savings and shipping options
It offers exclusive price savings and shipping benefits for its registered business members. Anyone with a business account can purchase via Amazon.com. Account holders receive price breaks on multi-unit purchases, general price cuts on millions of business products, and the opportunity to compare prices from multiple sellers. You can even request quantity discounts from some sellers.
Payment options
You or another administrator of your Amazon Business account can add individual or shared payment options. Shared payment methods include credit cards, debit cards and the Amazon corporate credit line. Any authorized user of your business account can use the payment method of choice to purchase items on your business’s behalf. While all your authorized account users can use the card you register, to increase security, they will only be able to see the last four digits.
The Amazon corporate credit line expands your user and management options, giving you the ability to authorize multiple buyers on a single account, download order history reports and pay by purchase order, according to Rohde. It also has easy-to-understand statements and no annual fee. Account administrators can manage individual and shared payment methods and shipping addresses to make ordering seamless for all purchasers in your company.
Advantages for small businesses
Many businesses have the opportunity for tax exemption under the Amazon Tax Exemption Program (ATEP). Amazon provides a tool to help you determine if you qualify for the program. The program then allows you to apply your tax-exempt status to eligible purchases from Amazon and all of its affiliates. You don’t even need an Amazon Business account to take advantage of this benefit.
It also provides some transparency into the supply chain purchasing process with the analytics dashboard.
Check out this video by Amazon :
Benefits
Here are a few of the highlights:
- Spend visibility: Powered by AWS QuickSight, this feature provides visualizations of company spending, making it easier to analyze data and spending trends.
- Guided buying: Account administrators can mark certain suppliers and products as preferred, set specific product category restrictions, and more, to improve compliance and consolidate suppliers.
- Amazon Business American Express Card: Business Prime members can get access to a no-annual-fee credit card. Visit www.amazon.com/businesscard for more details.
- Extended terms for Pay by Invoice: Business Prime members can request “Extended Terms for Pay by Invoice” — extending their payment terms to 45 or 60 days, depending on their plan, to pay an Amazon Business invoice.
- Business delivery: Choose free same-day, one-day, or two-day shipping on more than 100 million items. Business Prime members can also select consolidated shipping on eligible bulk orders at checkout.
Tax Benefits of using Amazon Business
The Amazon Tax Exemption Program allows Amazon Business customers to apply their tax-exemption status to eligible purchases from Amazon, Amazon Digital Services, Warehouse Deals, Amazon Services or other participating sellers.
The Amazon Tax Exemption Tool guides users through the process of enrolling in the program. You can update your status and edit or upload certificates. Once you review your order, you can modify which items should have the tax-exemption certificate applied.
How It is useful for Small Business ?
Mаnу buѕіnеѕѕеѕ have thе opportunity fоr tax еxеmрtіоn undеr thе Amаzоn Tax Exemption Prоgrаm (ATEP). Amаzоn provides a tооl thаt hеlрѕ uѕеrѕ dеtеrmіnе іf thеу qualify fоr thе рrоgrаm, and inquires аbоut іn whісh ѕtаtеѕ thе buѕіnеѕѕ ԛuаlіfіеѕ fоr a tаx еxеmрtіоn аѕ wеll as the type оf еxеmрtіоnѕ for whісh уоur оrgаnіzаtіоn qualifies. Thе аdmіnіѕtrаtоr of thе ассоunt gоеѕ thrоugh thе рrосеѕѕ to set іt uр fоr the business ассоunt.
The рrоgrаm then аllоwѕ сuѕtоmеrѕ to аррlу thеіr tax-exempt ѕtаtuѕ tо еlіgіblе рurсhаѕеѕ frоm Amаzоn аnd all оf іtѕ аffіlіаtеѕ. Another good thing іѕ уоu don’t еvеn need tо specifically have an Amazon Buѕіnеѕѕ ассоunt to tаkе advantage оf thіѕ benefit.
It аlѕо prides іtѕеlf оn trаnѕраrеnсу іntо the ѕuррlу сhаіn purchasing process with thе analytics dashboard.
“Customers саn look аt their ѕреndіng activity аnd tоtаl costs on рurсhаѕеѕ аt thе іndіvіduаl, рurсhаѕіng grоuр оr type оf ѕреnd level – gіvіng ѕmаll buѕіnеѕѕеѕ the information they nееd to bеttеr control thеіr bоttоm lіnе,” Rоhdе ѕаіd.
Hе аddеd that ѕmаll business ѕеllеrѕ оn Amаzоn Buѕіnеѕѕ have the opportunity tо grоw thеіr sales bу rеасhіng millions of buѕіnеѕѕ сuѕtоmеrѕ асrоѕѕ thе globe.
Amazon Business Upgrade for Sellers on Amazon
It provides a platform for online sellers to reach business-only customers, separate to the standard consumer marketplace, without incurring additional fees or charges. Here are a few features to take into account when considering an upgrade:
- There is no need for new accounts or listings with Amazon Business, but you must be able to show an exceptional seller history to avail of the service. The same Amazon Seller account used for the consumer marketplace can be used for the Seller program. Your business-only prices will only be seen by verified business buyers.
- You can entice more buyers by advertising your seller credentials. Diversity, ownership and quality encourage customer loyalty. If you have a Business Seller account and do not have the Buy Box, customers can scroll through the offers page of a product and will be able to view your Business Seller credential. Buyers who view the credentials and positive feedback are more likely to purchase your products, knowing you have been endorsed by Amazon itself as a Business Seller.
- Tell your customers more about your company by completing your seller profile. Whether you want to add banners, logos or just more details, this feature is exclusive to Business customers and not available on Seller Central.
- The referral fees are percentage-based selling fees that Amazon charges per product. Business customers will pay lower fees on large transactions in core B2B categories. This figure could be as low as 6 percent.
- Fulfillment by Amazon is also available for AB sellers to help them meet the rigorous delivery requirements expected by corporate customers by shipping orders directly from the warehouse.
- Online sellers also have access to AB pricing and quantity discounts. This gives the option to sell by unit, case or pallet.
Difference in Amazon vs Amazon Business
The thing to remember about AmazonBusiness is it has features and benefits tailored to the needs of businesses. For instance, if you create a free account, you’ll be able to browse a wide selection of items that may be available at special pricing if purchased in bulk. You can even create a multi-user account, so your team members can do the buying.
Check out some of the features that are not only exclusive to AmazonBusiness but also make it unique:
- Business-only prices: You get access to price discounts on more than five million products, including quantity discounts on multi-unit purchases.
- Business-only products: Find specific business products. From IT to janitorial, from office to restaurant supplies, from healthcare to hospitality — AmazonBusiness has it.
- Seller credentials: Amazon Business lets you browse and shop from business sellers with specific attributes such as small business, women-owned, and minority-owned.
- Multi-user accounts: Once you create a free Amazon Business account, you can connect your entire team and create purchasing groups to match your organization structure.
- Approval workflows: You can customize order approvals and set spending limits to not only manage your organization’s buying but also gain visibility into how funds are spent.
- Purchasing cards: You can share payment methods with a few users or your whole team. You can also get AmazonCorporate Credit, with the ability to pay by purchase order.
- Integrate purchasing systems: Interested in having Amazon as a punchout option for customers? AmazonBusiness is enabled as a catalog on over 90 systems.
- Business Prime: Subscribers get free same-day, one-day, or two-day shipping on eligible items, as well as some additional benefits (which we’ve detailed below).
- Consolidated deliveries: If an order qualifies for a consolidated delivery, one of Amazon’s carriers will deliver it on a pallet to your receiving dock or doorstep.
- Reporting and analytics: You can track and monitor your spending with handy charts.
- Tax-exempt purchasing: If your organization is eligible for tax-exempt purchasing, enroll in the Amazon Tax Exemption Program.
What kinds of businesses can use Amazon Business?
In theory, any kind of business can use AmazonBusiness. If you run a small e-commerce business, you may find it useful for automating regular delivery of crucial office supplies. Larger businesses, such as those with over 100 employees, may find it helpful for ensuring guaranteed delivery of vital packages of office supplies and other business goods.
Businesses that earn money by selling their products to other businesses can also use it as a marketplace for reaching their customers. If you run a business that sells office supplies or other crucial business goods in bulk at discount prices and want to shift toward an e-commerce business model, register as a seller on Amazon here, then create a Business profile.
Current Customers
According to Amazon, AmazonBusiness serves the following sort of customers in the US:
- 80% of the 100 largest enrollment education organizations
- 55 of the Fortune 100 companies
- More than half of the 100 biggest hospital systems
- More than 40% of the 100 most populous local governments
Is Amazon Business Available in My Country?
Amazon Business is now available to registered businesses in the following countries:
- US
- Canada
- UK
- Germany
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- Japan
- India
How to join Amazon Business ?
To join Amazon Business, follow these steps:
- Visit www.amazon.com/business to get started.
- Click the “Create a free Amazon Business account” button in the corner of the page.
- You’ll be asked to enter the email you want to use for your account. You can use the one provided by your employer. You’ll also need to enter your name and a password.
- Amazon will ask for your business information to help verify it, such as the address shown on your official documents.
- To get verified quicker, you can provide your credit card or tax information such as a business tax ID. But you can skip this step.
- Amazon will then verify you. It can up to 24 hours.
Note: If you try to join Amazon Business with an email that’s already connected to a regular Amazon account, you’ll be asked to upgrade that account to an Amazon Business account. If you decline this offer, you’ll need to sign up with a different email.
Steps by Step process to join
Click this link that takes you to home page of Amazon Business and click ‘Register Now’
Enter your Work email in the next step :
Enter personal Details in the next step along with a password :
Verify your Email address by entering the OTP you must have received in your mail :
In the next step, enter your business information, along with GST Number. You can also use your Business PAN number
After you validate your GSTIN Number or Business PAN number, you can submit and then it will take around 24 hours for your application to be validated.
Setup Options in Amazon Business Account
Account and Business Settings
Sign in to your free Amazon Business account, and from the corner of the page, you can click on your name to access a drop-down menu with your Account settings. Amazon Business users get additional settings, such as business settings (add members, set up approval workflows, manage payment options, and enter tax exemption information), business analytics (see reports, invoices, and line-item details), and the ability to manage suppliers (search for and save your preferred suppliers).
Browse and Shop
Once you sign in to your Amazon Business account, you’ll see the familiar Amazon search bar at the top. You can enter a keyword or product number to find a specific item. Try searching for something, like a printer, and you’ll be able to filter your results on the left — just like you would on regular Amazon. However, since this is Amazon Business, you also see the option to filter items by Business Prime eligible, seller type (like a business seller), and seller certification (i.e., women-owned).
Place an Order
The Amazon Business checkout process is almost indistinguishable from the regular Amazon checkout process: Add an item to your cart, select whether it’s a recurring delivery, and then go to your cart to confirm your shipping details, payment method, and place the order. If you’d like to review your order after you’ve placed it, go to your Account settings and either click the Orders menu option directly or select Business analytics to get a detailed report on shipping, product, and seller information.
What can you buy on Amazon Business?
For a better idea of what you can buy on Amazon Business, check out our round-ups below:
- Best business laptops on Amazon Business USA, UK, Europe
- Best business laptops on Amazon Business India
- Best business travel gear on Amazon Business USA, UK, Europe
- Best business travel gear on Amazon Business India
- Best professional drones on Amazon Business USA, UK, Europe
- Best professional drones on Amazon Business India
- Best 3D printers for small businesses on Amazon Business USA, UK, Europe
- Best 3D printers for small businesses on Amazon Business India
- Best routers on Amazon Business USA, UK, Europe
- Best routers on Amazon Business India
Reviews of Amazon Business
“We have our Amazon Business account to mainly take advantage the Amazon Tax Exemption Program,” said Rob Boirun, CEO at Reviewster Network. “So, in addition to getting tax-free purchases, we love the program’s ease of use in ordering and reordering our most common items. When we run out of printer toner or other office supplies, we can easily order within a few seconds, and the items are in the office two days later.”
“Amazon Business works the best when you have products that can be purchased in bulk for businesses,” said Chad Rubin, an e-commerce business owner and a Top 50 Amazon seller. “That’s a big benefit, as you can incorporate bulk pricing to boost sales and provide a discount to businesses who need a larger amount of your product.”
“Now business purchases are just a click away. Amazon Business makes sure we are on time, all the time.” Vivan Futehally, Pure Brot by Impossible Foods
“For spot transactions, we didn’t have the level of visibility into price competitiveness as we had in our more strategic, contract spending. By consolidating all of these transactions to our procure-to-pay system and allowing users to punch out into Amazon Business to shop for consumable MRO, we’ve been able to increase automation of these routine purchases and gain more visibility into these transactions.” Mariano Matzkin, Global MRO – Exxon Mobil
“As a creator of some of the world’s most iconic brands, we will use Amazon Business to complement our existing distribution model and reach a broader range of business customers. We look forward to a more streamlined approach to identifying, approving and tracking delivery of the products our teams need both in the office and in our manufacturing plants.” – Lisa Citton-Battel, Director, Consumer Business Group, 3M Canada
Do you know you can make money on Amazon ? Click here to know how!
Drawbacks
Here are some of the Cons that come with selling on Amazon Business:
- More Fees Which Reduce Product Margin. With Amazon Business, you may pay 6 to 15 percent in fees, with a few exceptions for items that are typically not sold as business products. This does not include fees for Fulfillment by Amazon.
- Product Differentiation is Harder. By selling on Amazon, you can’t differentiate yourself as easily. Similarly, you can’t interact with your target market and end consumers and explain why they should buy from you. On AmazonBusiness, buyers can easily search for the lowest cost vendors and purchase from them.
- Buyers Become Amazon’s Customers, Not Yours. Amazon limits how sellers can communicate with customers. As a seller, you can’t easily communicate with your customers. Similarly, you don’t have as much freedom to include packaging inserts and other marketing materials. It will become more difficult for consumers to understand your brand because Amazon has more control of the buyer-seller relationship.
- Product Data and Technical Information. It can be difficult to effectively upload product data into AmazonBusiness. It becomes a very technical and tedious task which you may have to outsource to an IT company. Each product category has its own rules. The way you set up your product data will affect how well it sells and appears on Amazon.
- Competition. There are 2.5 million active sellers in amazon and hundreds of seller accounts opening up every day, Which make competition among sellers tougher than ever. You can bit competitor with by setting up the best pricing of your product. Amazon Scraping Tool helps you to improve pricing strategy by scraping & monitor competitor price every day.
Cost of Joining ?
AmazonBusiness is free to join and includes a unique set of features that organizations, entrepreneurs, and startups would find useful, such as multi-user accounts and quantity discounts.
The following Business Settings tools are available to free users:
- Manage all the users on your AmazonBusiness account
- Establish order-approval procedures and spending caps
- Make a company credit card accessible to certain account users
- Opt-in to Amazon Corporate Credit
- Integrate purchasing systems so your customers have a punchout option
- Set certain qualifying purchases for consolidated delivery on a pallet to your doorstep or dock
- Save preferred suppliers for easy purchasing access
A free AmazonBusiness membership also includes a Business Analytics tool through which you can see charts and other infographics that track and monitor your business spending. You can also sign up for the Amazon Tax Exemption Program if your business qualifies for tax-exempt purchasing.
What Is The Amazon Business Credit Card?
AmazonBusiness launched a credit card with American Express! Here are some benefits of an Amazon Business Credit Card:
- Earn up to $200 in savings.
- Get a $100 Amazon.com Gift Card† upon approval.
- Plus, earn an additional $100 statement credit after you spend $3,000 on the Card in the 2% Back and 1% Back categories in your first 3 months.†
I suggest reading through the terms, conditions, & disclosures to get a better idea of the American Express/Amazon Business credit card’s interest rates, APR, fees & more.
What is Amazon Business Prime ?
Amazon Business Prime is an Amazon subscription that provides a few benefits to subscribers. A subscription includes access to free delivery, discounts and member-only offers. Amazon Busines Prime also includes spending reports powered by AWS QuickSight. Spend visibility provides graphic-driven reports to help manage your business’s Amazon-related expenses.
Additionally, Business Prime members have access to guided buying for employees. Guided buying allows administrators on the account to set preferred suppliers and products and restrict employee capabilities when it comes to placing orders. Business Prime members also receive extended terms for Pay-By-Invoice, extending their payment terms to 45 or 60 days depending on their plan.
Amazon offers free two-day shipping in the continental U.S. for Business Prime products, and same-day delivery is available in eligible ZIP codes and select cities. Same-day delivery is available seven days a week most days of the year, with limited availability on certain holidays and high-volume shopping days including Black Friday and Prime Day. Your order must be at least $35 with the free same-day icon to qualify for same-day shipping.
Note: You do not get Amazon Prime features, like Prime Video, with a subscription.
Is the Business Prime Available in My Country?
Amazon Business Prime is only available in the US, Germany, and Japan.
Cost of Business Prime
Amazon Business Prime has several membership plans to accomodate various numbers of users. These include :
- Duo: The Duo plan is $69 per year and accomodates one user. It does not include access to spend visibility, guided buying, or extended terms for Pay By Invoice, however.
- Essentials: The Essentials plan is $179 per year and includes up to three users. It does make available the spend visibility, guided buying and extended terms for Pay By Invoice that are not available with the Duo plan.
- Small: The small plan is $499 per year and includes up to 10 users.
- Medium: The medium plan is $1,299 per year and includes up to 100 users.
- Enterprise: The Enterprise plan is $10,099 per year and includes more than 100 users. It also includes an optimal deployment, in which Amazon Business Professional Services fine tunes the account to optimize spend visibility and policy settings in a full scale implementation process.
Additionally, a lower-priced Enterprise option called Public Sector is available for $3,499 per year – roughly one-third the usual Enterprise price – to governments, nonprofit universities, public education institutions and healthcare facilities.
Once you figure out which plan is best, go here, and click the “30-day free trial” button.
Benefits of Business Prime
Fast, FREE Business Delivery
Get FREE One-Day Shipping on millions of items. Need it sooner? Choose FREE Same-Day Delivery on eligible orders. Continue to get unlimited FREE Two-Day Shipping on over 100 million items.
Convenient Business Shipping
The things you need, delivered conveniently. Choose your own “Amazon Day” to get eligible orders on the same day each week where available. Or choose Consolidated Shipping on eligible large orders to receive your items in the fewest packages and deliveries.
Progressive Discounts
Unlock lower prices and save money on the products your company buys the most.
Instant Customer Feedback
Third party benefit provided by Delighted. Find out exactly how your customers feel about your brand by getting customer feedback. Uncover the insights that can help you improve retention, inspire loyalty, and drive business growth. 5 licenses included.
5% Back or 90 Day Terms
Amazon Business Prime American Express Card Members can take advantage of 5% Back or 90 days to pay interest free on U.S. purchases at AmazonBusiness. Terms apply.
Amazon WorkDocs
Easily search and collaborate on your business documents including invoices, receipts, and other files from a single, secure location
Guided Buying
Create policy rules that guide employees to approved products and help prevent procurement violations.
Spend Visibility
Analyze spending patterns for insights that can help inform your budgeting decisions and buying policies.
Extended terms for Pay By Invoice
Get 45- or 60-day payment terms with eligible membership plans upon approval.
Optimal Deployment
Achieve optimal visibility and policy settings via your Business Prime features with expert assistance from Amazon Business Professional Services.
Member-Only Offers
Get access to deals and offers just for Business Prime members.
Difference between Amazon Prime vs Amazon Business Prime
Amazon Prime is a membership program available on Amazon. It offers household and entertainment benefits such as Prime Video, Prime Music, Amazon Fresh, Prime Now, and Prime Reading for use at home. Business Prime is separate membership program designed for businesses available only on AmazonBusiness. It offers business-specific features and benefits suited for work such as a single membership for all users on a business account, fast free business shipping on eligible items, ability to guide your users to certain selection, visibility into your company’s spend, and much more. Amazon Business no longer supports new Amazon Prime membership sign ups. Business Prime was designed for AmazonBusiness customers.
Conclusion
The main reason to become an Amazon Business member is because of how much money you can save by shopping & selling on Amazon. Similarly,It gives you the tools to help manage your business easier.
To sum up this article, an Amazon Business Account is a multi faceted selling/buying platform for your business needs. With your AmazonBusiness Account, you can create a single or multi-user business account, invite additional users to join, and define groups of users to share payment methods and shipping addresses. The AmazonBusiness Account also includes business-tailored features, such as approval workflow, payment solutions, tax exemptions, dedicated customer support, and more.
