Online bookseller Amazon is continuing to give the channel a headache by rolling out its Prime service to Business customers.
The has been some debate in the channel over whether working with Amazon is a good idea with some industry commentators warning that the etailer should be seen as a rival. Resellers without a services plan, trying to compete on product and price, have been hammered.
Having launched its Amazon Business offering in the UK in April 2017, the firm is now adding Prime for business customers. The firm stated that is already serves more than half of the FTSE 100 companies and 80 percent of the largest universities.
The Prime service will be familiar to anyone who has used the consumer option, with one and same-day delivery options and access to exclusive deals some of the attractions. There is also a tool, Spend Visibility, which should make it easier for customers to track spending, identify money-saving options, and keep their expenditure in line with budgets.
There will also be a guided buying feature, which will give users a chance to identify preferred suppliers and products, with Amazon promoting the tool as a way to reduce rogue spending, improve budget compliance and help consolidate suppliers.
Amazon’s UK business head Dave Brittain said: “Business Prime enables customers to get the most out of the great selection, pricing and purchasing experience on Amazon Business.
“We continue to listen to feedback from our business customers and are excited to introduce these new benefits which take the most business-relevant parts of Prime membership and add additional features to make life easier for organisations of all shapes and sizes. Our goal is to help businesses drive even more transparency into their procurement process, while ultimately lowering their total cost of purchasing.”
