Amazon Business, its B2B (Business to Business) online marketplace that was launched in India in September 2017 has witnessed 200 percent growth in sales and offers the single largest GST-enabled selection of 160 million products for small and medium businesses to buy from, a top Sellers
The B2B marketplace has grown its seller base from 34,000 at launch to 2.4 lakh now.
“India was the fifth country where Amazon Business was launched. Today, it offers a one-stop-shop for businesses across the country to buy from the single largest GST-enabled selection of 160 million products” Peter George, Director, Amazon Business – India, told BusinessLine. “The Amazon B2B marketplace merges the experience and convenience of shopping on Amazon.in, our B2C (Business to Consumer) marketplace, with features required specifically by businesses including business-only pricing, quantity discounts on bulk orders and business invoices to claim GSTIN credit and tax deductions,” he said. GE, Qualcomm, Swiggy and Chumbak are some of Amazon Business’ customers.
Launched in the US in 2015, Amazon Business is now available in eight geographies including Spain, France, Italy, the US, UK, Germany, Japan, and India. It allows sellers who have a GST number to sell on the marketplace and allows any business with a GST number to register itself as a buyer. All products sold on the platform will come with GST complaint business invoices, allowing customers to save up to 5 percent – 28 percent on business purchases by claiming GST input tax credit.
Top sellers
Sellers and business customers get business analytics from Amazon, which provides insights into business spends with customized reports. They also get access to fast and reliable shipping with doorstep delivery via Amazon’s network of over 50 fulfillment centers.
Stating that sales on the B2B marketplace have been growing 200 percent YoY, George said, the top categories in terms of demand and sales are PCs, followed by Electronics, Mobile phones, Kitchen and Home. We are seeing demand for janitor and sanitation products, and also for break room supplies such as biscuits, tea, coffee and soups which took us by surprise. Typically when we see consistent demand for certain categories of products, we go out and onboard sellers of those categories onto our B2B marketplace” he said. The 2.4 lakh sellers on the B2B marketplace are not new sellers but are a part of Amazon.in’s (B2C) 4.5 lakh sellers. However, Amazon has on-boarded 20,000 new sellers onto its B2B marketplace via its direct sales team.