Exclusive Interview: Amazon Business Shares More Insights on Recent Supply Chain Report Findings

As noted in our recent news report on the “2021 Amazon Business B2B E-commerce in Evolution Report on E- Procurement,” the inaugural study reveals B2B e-procurement opportunities following a year of immense transformation, including government, education, healthcare, and commercial industry buyers’ increased focus on social and environmental issues

Todd Heimes, director of Amazon Business, shares additional insights on the findings in this exclusive SCMR interview.

We developed the inaugural report to uncover B2B trends and insights from U.S. procurement professionals across industries and organizations of every size, based on the immense transformation B2B e-commerce underwent in 2020. We compiled the results in this report as a resource to provide actionable insights to business decision-makers in the healthcare, education, government and commercial industries as they continue on their digital transformation journey in 2021 and beyond, whether as a buyer or seller.

One notable finding of our report was that smaller commercial organizations were especially driven to accelerate their digital transformation efforts in the last year. Fifty-six percent of small-and-medium businesses (SMBs) said they more fully digitized their purchasing process due to COVID-19, compared to only 42% of enterprise commercial companies. This is an indication that smaller organizations had to play catch up with large enterprises when the shift to remote work upended in-person operations.

The report also found that every industry is undergoing and embracing digital transformation. The top three procurement priorities for commercial organizations in 2021 are improving sustainability (49%), supporting local businesses within the community (46%) and increasing diversity (39%). These priorities indicate the growing importance of corporate responsibility in the commercial sector.

In healthcare, the top priority for 2021 is increasing efficiency (52%) and 36% of healthcare respondents plan to make more than 50% of purchases online in 2021. One example in the healthcare space is Mary’s Center, a nonprofit community health center in the Washington, DC metro area. Mary’s Center started using Amazon Business in order to minimize the impact COVID-19 had on their operations. Gaining access to dashboards that allowed them to easily audit on an ongoing basis while leaning on a familiar user experience, as well as submitting PPE orders through a central administration with Approval Workflows, enabled Mary’s Center to engage their staff in the procurement process. Now, sourcing supplies doesn’t slow down the organization, and they can delegate purchasing of products to their individual centers. Mary’s Center can also see the details of their purchases and easily compare them in one place, maintaining oversight into spending. This move has allowed them to focus on providing the same level of care at a significantly lower cost.

In the education industry, nearly half (46%) of education buyers said supporting remote work and learning is a top priority for 2021. However, reducing costs was the top procurement priority in the education industry for 2021 at 48%. One example of transformation in the education space is the Tracy Unified School District in California, a district with $1,000 less to spend per student than neighboring California schools. Amazon Business made savings and improvements easy to see with real-life examples on specific items like printer ink and reporting capabilities available through Amazon Business, such as cost comparison, have also helped Tracy Unified School District maximize the value of its spend – and allowed the district to reinvest that money immediately back into educating students.

The top overall priority in the government space according to the report is supporting remote work at 50% followed by reducing costs at 48%. By bringing together millions of buyers and hundreds of thousands of sellers in a familiar environment, regardless of pre-existing relationships, Amazon Business acts as a hub for public sector procurement. In this way, there’s no need for a seller like The Office Tex, a small, women-owned office supply business that sells to government agencies through Amazon Business, to drive around Texas and meet with government customers as they used to do, invest in marketing materials, or struggle to uncover new opportunities to grow their business. We have teams dedicated to helping onboard sellers with their initial setup and launch, which can include helping navigate account registration, catalog integration, shipping, and inventory settings as well as Amazon Business feature adoption.

While priorities may differ across industries, one thing remains the same – buyers are looking for sellers that are embracing digital procurement to meet demand, save time, reduce cost, find credentialed sellers and gain insight into their needs.

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