Amazon Business starts its first 'End of Financial Year Sale' in India

Amazon Business, the marketplace on Amazon.in, to meet the business procurement needs of institutions, has for the first time started ‘End of Financial Year Sale’  in India. The aim is to help its business customers utilise their procurement budgets efficiently before the end of the current financial year. The sale aims to empower MSMEs by providing over 15 crore GST (goods and services tax) enabled products across top categories at exciting prices.

Amazon Business, which competes with players such as IndiaMart, udaan, Flipkart Wholesale and Reliance’s JioMart, caters to institutions such as hospitals, clinics, manufacturers, universities, schools, NGOs, government bodies and offices.

The sale event that started on Monday and which will run till March 18, is curated to help B2B customers discover relevant selections. They also get incremental cashback and discounts on these purchases to save costs. The event aims to ensure that MSMEs can efficiently utilize their pending budgets for the current financial year.

The event will focus on supplies for MSMEs to cater both ends of the hybrid work model, thus offering curated selections for both Work From Home (WFH) and Back To Work (BTW). Under work from home, MSMEs can buy supplies for an efficient work from home setup across multiple categories such as laptops, electronics products, stationary items, furniture. Back to work store will include protective equipment, essential back to work supplies, social distancing friendly office setup such and Covid medical supplies. From sneeze guards, cones, signs, tape, barriers, strips, labels, measurement instruments to IT peripherals, breakroom supplies, the shopping event will offer a wide selection of products to its business customers.

Business customers can get 10 per cent cashback, up to Rs 500 on a minimum spend of Rs 1500. Customers can also avail business exclusive prices and bulk deals on more than 5,000 products.

Last year, rival company Flipkart Wholesale, the digital business-to-business marketplace of Flipkart Group, started ‘Online Shopping Dhamaka Month’ for members of its cash-and-carry business Best Price in the month of April. The aim was to enhance savings for small retailers across the country and ensure their safety through e-commerce orders and speedy doorstep delivery.

Amazon Business is betting big on the India market. The pandemic has accelerated the shift toward business-to-business e-commerce.

Suchit Subhas, Director, Amazon Business, recently said that since its launch in 2017, Amazon Business has become a one-stop-shop for all business needs owing to the vast selection available to MSMEs, competitive pricing and vast delivery network. He said with a presence in 99.5 per cent pin codes pan-India, businesses from the remotest parts of the country can rely on Amazon Business for their purchase needs.

“We are humbled that our selling partners view Amazon Business as an important lever to grow their revenues and have seen the number of sellers selling on our platform grow from 14,000 in 2017 to over 4 lakh in 2021,” said Subhas.

He said in 2021, Amazon Business has registered millions of small businesses as customers in India and has continued to see an exponential growth of over 70 per cent year-over-year  in customer base, making the Indian marketplace of Amazon Business the second biggest after the US. Tier-2 and tier-3 markets have also played a significant role in this growth, with over 30 per cent buying customers and 25 per cent orders coming from smaller cities.

“This year, Amazon Business will continue to remain customer-obsessed to build the right customer experience,” said Subhas. “Our customers, no matter which segment they are from, will choose us as long as we are the best option to serve their needs.”

“We are India’s largest GST store,” Subhas. “In the last four years, we have added a host of features through which businesses can avail GST invoice with ease and sophisticated business analytics tools through which they can calculate extra savings with a GST invoice every time they make a business purchase.”

Amazon Business has continued to add products to cater to changing needs of businesses. For instance,  it launched a Commercial Store with thousands of products across top categories such as business laptops, networking devices, industrial adhesives, tools and equipment and safety and security. These are across top brands such as Lenovo, Cisco, Pidilite, Kimberly Clark, Stanley Black and Decker, Kirloskar. The platform has focused on adding a host of supplies for workplace sanitisation by creating a dedicated Covid Supply Store through which businesses can buy a range of essential products like PPE kits, masks, face shields and sanitisers.

For seller partners, Amazon Business provides an additional opportunity on Amazon.in to scale their B2B business by catering to requirements from lakhs of business customers and grow their revenues. In addition to catering to requirements from MSME customers, the sellers have catered to orders from businesses from across the country including the likes of large enterprises such as Mahindra, GE, Tata Group. Through features such as ‘Request for Quantity Discount’, the sellers have catered to lakhs of bulk orders from businesses across the country.