2021 Amazon Business B2B E-commerce in Evolution Report Highlights Gaps, Opportunities in E-Procurement Process

Amazon Business today released the first 2021 B2B E-commerce in Evolution Report, which shares B2B trends and new insights from U.S. procurement professionals across industries and organizations of every size. For the report, which examines the rapid transformation B2B e-procurement has undergone in recent years, Amazon Business surveyed 250 B2B buyers and 250 B2B sellers who hold influential procurement roles across government, education, healthcare, and commercial industries in the U.S. This report also provides actionable insights for business decision-makers, on both the buying and selling sides, as they continue their digital transformation journey in 2021 and beyond.

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(Photo: Business Wire)

According to the findings, 85% of business buyers said that as a result of the pandemic, their organizations were propelled to move more of their procurement online, and 96% said they anticipate their organizations will continue doing more purchasing online, even after pre-pandemic business functions resume. The vast majority (91%) of buyers said they prefer e-procurement over traditional and offline purchasing methods.

“Our 2021 B2B E-commerce in Evolution report underlines the fact that simply leveraging e-procurement is no longer enough,” said Todd Heimes, director of Amazon Business. “Ultimately, we think that organizations have a significant opportunity to maximize e-procurement technologies that will help them overcome operational challenges that diminish efficiency and waste budget. For seller organizations, adapting to meet buyer demands will allow them to remain relevant with their B2B customers. At Amazon Business, we’re committed to helping buyers and sellers navigate the next chapters in their transformation journeys with our technology and expertise.”

Download the 2021 Amazon Business B2B E-commerce in Evolution Report here. Key takeaways include:

The pandemic accelerated digital transformation, helping organizations achieve new goals.

The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated organizations’ efforts to digitize procurement. According to the report’s findings, 38% of buyers made more than 50% of purchases for their organizations online in 2020.

Smaller commercial organizations were especially motivated 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 indicates that smaller organizations had to play “catch up” to large enterprises when the pandemic upended in-person operations and forced a shift to remote work. Ultimately this acceleration to adopt and adapt to purchasing online has resulted in additional benefits for buyers and sellers by unlocking new features and technologies that will enable them to do more—impacting their entire organization.