Amazon Business Prime adds, among other benefits, same-day and same-day delivery – TechCrunch



[ad_1]

The Amazon version of Prime for business users has a handful of new benefits, the retailer announced this morning. Unlike the consumer version of Prime, the new benefits are not entertainment-based – such as streaming music or movies – but are designed to help business customers better understand and control their Amazon spendings. .

In the United States, business customers now also have free access to more than one million orders shipped the same day and the same day for orders over $ 35 in more than 8,000 cities and towns. villages.

Plus, they can opt for bulk shipping on bulk orders to receive fewer shipments, if they wish.

The new benefits package also includes a feature called "Expense Visibility," which provides AWS QuickSight-based visualizations on business expenses in graphics designed to be pasted into business PowerPoints. . Amazon says its goal is to help companies release the time needed to analyze their data in order to identify spending trends.

Another new benefit is "guided shopping," which allows Amazon Business account administrators to identify some vendors and products as "preferred" while restricting others. Thus, buyers using the business account make the choices approved by the company when purchasing supplies and other activities. Needs. It can also help companies reduce expenses, improve compliance with their policies, and strengthen their suppliers, Amazon says.

Starting today, Prime Business members can choose to apply now for extended terms of payment by invoice, opting for 45 or 60 days for better cash management.

In addition to the new Prime benefits, Amazon and American Express have launched a new Amazon Business American Express card, which offers US customers a 5% or 90-day refund on eligible purchases on Amazon.com, Amazon Business, Amazon Web Services and Whole Foods. Market.

Amazon launched Business Prime for the first time last year to compete with traditional office vendors such as Staples, Office Depot, and big box retailers like Walmart and Costco. This service offers businesses a two-day free delivery offered by Prime. It integrates with dozens of purchasing systems, workflows, reporting and analysis systems, acquisition cards, and more.

The cost of the program is based on the number of users. There is now a new level for smaller businesses, starting at $ 179 a year – no more than a typical Amazon Premium subscription.

Pricing levels are as follows: $ 179 per year for up to 3 users; $ 499 per year for up to 10 users; $ 1,299 per year for up to 100 users; and $ 10,099 per year for more than 100 users.

Since its launch, Amazon has announced it has recruited "millions" of professional customers and "hundreds of thousands" of professional sellers.

In the United States, Amazon Business now serves nearly 80% of the 100 largest educational organizations, 55 Fortune 100 companies, more than half of the top 100 hospital systems and more than 40% of the most populous local governments. . (You'll notice that these numbers have been slightly masked to make the percentages appear larger, and Amazon does not say how many subscriptions actually sold, nor what subscription levels are involved.)

That said, it still represents a significant part of the market for a year-old service – a service that is likely to make competing retailers nervous as Amazon targets their market.

Amazon indicates that the new benefits (with the exception of the Amex card and the same-day / one-day shipping (only in the US)) are being extended to Amazon Business Prime in the United States, in Germany and Japan, as of today.

[ad_2]
Source link