Retail behemoth Amazon.com Inc's (NASDAQ:AMZN) reported on Tuesday annualized sales of more than US$10bn from the millions of business customers and sellers around the world on its Amazon Business system and that it is steadily expanding to more countries in the future.
In the US alone, Amazon Business serves nearly 80% of the 100 largest enrollment education organizations, 55 of the Fortune 100 companies, more than half of the 100 biggest hospital systems and more than 40% of the 100 most populous local governments, Amazon said in a statement.
Third party sellers make up more than 50% of the US$10bn in global sales, allowing customers to find and purchase from new suppliers. With Seller Credentials, customers can also meet purchasing needs with local, minority, and women-owned businesses.
Amazon Business also offers access to nearly 150,000 US business sellers, hundreds of thousands more globally and hundreds of millions of products, it added.
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"Our customers range from sole proprietors to large enterprises with tens of thousands of employees on a single account," it said. "This year, we expanded our global marketplace to France, Italy and Spain. With these additions, Amazon Business is now live in eight countries, including the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan and India."
Companies can manage their procurement needs and purchase supplies locally where Amazon Business is available. Sellers have the opportunity to grow their businesses by reaching new customers across these eight countries, from small companies to multi-national organizations.
Amazon said it is trying to bring more transparency into the procurement process, including Business Prime Shipping, Curation, and Workflow Approvals. The retailer said they are able to integrate directly into e-procurement systems and create intuitive buying experiences.
Shares of Amazon were down 0.3% at US$1,933.16 in early trade on Tuesday.
Amazon is the world's biggest retailer. It is an electronic commerce and cloud computing company based in Seattle, Washington.