Amazon B2B: Everything Your Business Needs to Know

Did you know that you can sell on Amazon Business in addition to Vendor Central or Seller Central?  Do you know the pros/cons of selling on Amazon Business? This blog outlines all the ins and outs of what sellers need to know about Amazon Business.

What is Amazon Business?

Amazon Business (aka B2B) was launched in 2015 to allow companies to sell products directly to other businesses. As a seller on Amazon Business, you have access to most of the features that are on the regular Amazon.com (aka dot-com) platform, however, B2B allows you to cater to business customers specifically. Consumers on the B2B platform must register for a business account on Amazon. Any organization, business, or non-profit entity can sign up to buy off Amazon Business as long as they have a physical location within the United States. Amazon Business serves 55 of the Fortune 100 companies, 80% of the 100 largest enrollment education organizations, over 50% of the 100 biggest US hospital systems, and over 40% of the 100 most populous local governments.Total sales on B2B top $10 billion and are predicted to grow to $25 billion by 2021, according to Yahoo Finance.

For customers, Amazon Business provides customized business pricing, including quantity discounts. B2B allows sellers to provide tiered discounts that are specific to your products to incentivize customers who buy high volumes of products. This is the only site that Amazon has this tiered pricing feature.

“It’s possible that Amazon Business will be the e-commerce titan’s most important segment in the years ahead.” – Business Insider

Should my business sell on Amazon Business or Amazon.com (dot-com)? 

As mentioned, sellers can  put the same ASINS on both B2B and dot-com. Of course, the type of product you are planning on selling can dictate which platform to use, but generally speaking, it may make sense to sell on both dot-com and B2B. This may come as a surprise to some sellers since Amazon does not allow this crossover of products between Vendor Central and Seller Central.

If your product is on the B2B platform, and has a high sales velocity, Amazon will automatically make the product available on Seller Central. The backend of your seller account is set up to accommodate if your business chooses to sell via both routes. However, the same is not true in reverse: if you are on Seller Central, you have to specify each product that you would like it to be offered on B2B. If you choose to only sell on B2B and share a link to your product on the platform, consumers that do not have an Amazon Business account will see the product listed as “Only Available on Amazon Business” upon clicking the link.

Which businesses should not sell on Amazon Business?

Categories that are typically not successful on the B2B platform are items that consumers wouldn’t normally buy in bulk, such as clothing or jewelry. Snacks, water, and office supplies all make sense for the B2B category. For example, office supplies may do well on both Seller Central and B2B due to more exposure and bigger orders on B2B.

What about shipping?

When selling on B2B, you store your products at Amazon’s fulfillment centers and they pick, pack, ship, and provide customer service for your products. This service is called Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).

How much does it cost?

The price largely depends on the number of users that your business would like, as well as a few other added features such as payment terms, however the price tiers are below.

Essentials: $179/year for up to 3 users

Small: $499/year for up to 10 users

Medium: $1,299/year for up to 100 users

Enterprise: $10,099/year for over 100 users

Interested in discussing what platform makes sense for your business? Get in touch with us HERE.