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Amazon remains a giant in consumer retail, so it was no surprise when they introduced Amazon Business in 2015. In this article, we look at the many benefits of an Amazon Business account and whether it suits you.
At launch, Amazon said of its new business marketplace: “Amazon Business combines the selection, convenience, and value customers have come to know and love from Amazon, with new features and unique benefits tailored to businesses.”
Amazon Business (Paid link) has allowed customers easy access to an enormous range of products, including electronics, culinary equipment, and janitor supplies.
In addition to business-only selection and pricing, customers of Amazon Business also get free two-day shipping on eligible items, multiple-user business accounts, advanced payment solutions, tax exemptions, specialized customer support, and more specialist features to help them improve their business.
Amazon Business was set up to improve purchasing for all registered businesses. Each business nominates users from their company permitted to buy business supplies from Amazon on behalf of their company.
Yes, you read it correctly! It doesn’t matter if you have a small “one-man-band” business or a much larger company with 1000’s of employees; an Amazon Business Account is totally FREE to set up! Remember to set up a new Amazon login with your work email to set up the free account (Paid link).
Over 1 million customers currently use Amazon Business to find everything they need in one place. There are heaps of Amazon business benefits which you can see on this link (Paid link).
Because most businesses buy in bulk, Amazon can offer lower prices on millions of products for multi-unit purchases. It also has general price cuts on millions of business products and provides an easy way to compare prices from various sellers.
If you want to get good deals, you can even request discounts from some sellers when buying their products in bulk.
Shipping costs can make or break a business in these competitive times. Amazon offers free two-day shipping with a business account. In addition, all orders of $25 or more qualify for FREE shipping (for certain items).
Account holders get a Business Prime Shipping annual membership based on the number of users needing access. At the time of writing, prices are $499 for up to 10 users, $1,299 for up to 100 users, and $10,099 for more than 100 users.
As soon as you start making purchases, you can see Amazon’s Business Analytics. This will show you all the data about your orders and give you options to create specific reports.
If you have a dedicated team that handles your orders, having an Amazon Business Account will make it easy for your staff to connect, create purchasing groups, and share payment methods.
Amazon Business (Paid link) is very proud of its transparency with the supply chain purchasing process and provides all the information you need on the analytics dashboard.
If your cash flow is up and down, and you haven’t collected the money from your orders to pay for new purchases, Amazon Business has got you covered. Amazon offers different payment methods, including purchasing a card or a line of credit.
Administrators of the account can add individual or shared payment options. The shared payment methods cater to credit cards, debit cards, or an Amazon corporate credit line. The Corporate Credit Line offers the ability to include multiple buyers on a single account, download order reports, and pay by purchase order.
All authorized business account users can purchase items, but for security reasons, they can only see the last four digits of the registered card.
With hundreds of millions of products now available, most businesses can find the products they want at the right price. And if your company has specific procurement requirements, you can even find sellers by their attributes, such as women or minority-owned businesses.
Once the Amazon Business account is set up, members can use their self-registration tool to enable Amazon on approx. Fifty commonly used purchasing systems (and if they don’t currently have your particular platform, you can request that they add it).
Amazon provides business account holders with a handy tool to help them determine if they qualify for the tax exemption program.
They also require information on which states the business qualifies for a tax exemption and which exemptions your business qualifies for. Customers can then apply their tax-exempt status to any eligible purchases from Amazon (and its affiliates).
And last, our Amazon business account benefits list is for businesses that offer their products and services. With a business account, you can become a seller to reach a massive, new audience of hungry customers.
Amazon Business opens up the marketplace to third-party sellers. You can sell B2B on Amazon’s Marketplace like on the regular Amazon marketplace. Some of the advantages of selling on Amazon Business are:
If you don’t have a company, the business account (Paid link) will probably not suit you, so you’d better stick with Amazon Prime (Paid link). At the time of writing, you will get 30 days free of charge if you use this link (Paid link).
Using a personal account for business is OK if you run a small company and intend it to stay small. But suppose your business ever undergoes an audit, uses an accountant, or anticipates that your business will grow and that employees will be placing orders. In that case, a business account ensures that your personal purchases are never mixed up with those relating to your company.
Users can sign up for a free Amazon Business account. With this type of account, they can become a registered seller and get incentives and discounts on purchases. There are many other Amazon business perks, including fast delivery options and analytics reports.
Thanks to Nick Youngson for our featured image, “Wooden Tile,” which is shared by Alpha Stock Images under Creative Commons License 3 – CC BY-SA 3.0