Impact of Amazon on B2B Suppliers, Distributors and Buyers

The impact of Amazon on B2B suppliers and distributors comes mainly through Amazon Business, its store for organizations. Buyers now expect any supplier to offer broad selection, online ordering, quick delivery and visible prices. Many distributors compete with Amazon, sell through it, or both, and suppliers that sell to or through Amazon must meet its Supply Chain Standards.

This article first appeared in 2020. We updated it in October 2026 with Amazon's latest figures. The update looks at Amazon's effect from three sides: the suppliers that make and sell products, the distributors that compete with Amazon, and the procurement teams that buy from both.

Amazon Business in 2026: the facts

Amazon Business is Amazon's store for business buyers. Amazon launched it in the US on April 28, 2015, as "a new marketplace on Amazon.com" with business-only selection and pricing (Amazon, April 28, 2015). Amazon published the figures below on July 21, 2026.

The same release lists the features Amazon Business offers organizations:

• business-only pricing, and quantity discounts "starting at just two units of the same item"
• single- or multi-user accounts and approval workflows
• purchasing system integrations, payment solutions and tax exemptions
• Guided Buying, which directs employees to preferred products
• Spend Anomaly Monitoring, which alerts teams when purchases look unusual

How Amazon changed what B2B buyers expect

One of Amazon's largest effects on B2B distribution is on expectations. Amazon describes organizations as looking for "the same ease they get when shopping at home, but designed for work" (July 2026). Distributors are now judged against that standard:

• One search across a huge catalog. Buyers expect to find an item in seconds, with specifications, reviews and alternatives on one page, instead of calling a sales rep or paging through a printed catalog.
• Fast, predictable delivery. Consumer delivery times set the bar for business supplies too. In July 2026, Amazon said Amazon Business had started rolling out delivery trucks for organizations in 13 US states, with scheduled delivery windows, palletized deliveries and consolidated drop-offs.
• Prices anyone can check. A buyer can look up a marketplace price in seconds, so a distributor's quote gets compared with it, whether or not the pack size and delivered cost match.
• Purchasing controls built in. Approval workflows, purchasing system integration, tax-exempt buying and purchase order references were part of Amazon Business from its 2015 launch. Business buyers now expect every supplier's website to offer them.
• Fewer places to buy. Amazon says customers want "to buy more of what they need from fewer places", which puts pressure on narrow specialists.

How distributors have responded

Distributors have answered Amazon in two ways: by matching what Amazon does well, and by offering what a marketplace finds hard to copy.

• Digital ordering. Many distributors now run their own e-commerce sites and punch-out catalogs. A punch-out connects a buyer's purchasing system to the distributor's catalog, so the order returns to the buyer's system as a purchase order.
• Faster fulfillment. Regional warehouses, third-party logistics (3PL) partners and warehouse automation shorten delivery times. The trade-off is more inventory, held closer to customers.
• Better use of order data. Combining current orders with order history helps a distributor stock the right items in the right region.
• Contract pricing. A distributor can give a large customer fixed prices on a core list of its most-used items, a discount off list price for everything else, rebates and an account team.
• Expertise and on-site services. Technical advice, managed inventory, vending and stockroom programs, and on-site staff are hard for a marketplace to replicate.
• Selling on Amazon. Some distributors and manufacturers sell selected lines on Amazon, to reach new customers or to clear excess stock, while keeping core customers on their own terms.

For buyers, the competition helps. Every negotiation with a distributor now has a visible reference price, even if that price needs adjusting for pack size, delivery and service.

How many suppliers does Amazon have?

Amazon doesn't publish a single count of its suppliers. Its published figures cover different groups:

• Amazon-branded products. Amazon publishes a supplier list and interactive map of finished-product suppliers for Amazon-branded apparel, consumer electronics, food and beverage, and home goods. Amazon says the list was last reviewed in March 2026 and may not capture suppliers of every product currently sold (Amazon, supply chain).
• Audited suppliers. Amazon reports "3K+ supplier audits conducted in 2025". The audits covered suppliers of Amazon-branded products and third-party labor, service and not-for-resale goods providers in its logistics, warehousing and construction supply chain (same source).
• Sellers. Amazon says Amazon Business selection is "powered by a network of millions of sellers worldwide" (July 2026).

Amazon's Supply Chain Standards for suppliers

Amazon's size gives it bargaining power over the companies that sell to it or through it. Suppliers work to Amazon's terms. Amazon sets rules on labor, health and safety, the environment and ethics that its suppliers must meet, backed by audits and the right to end the relationship.

In 2020, this article described Amazon's Supplier Code of Conduct. Amazon's current rules for suppliers are the Amazon Supply Chain Standards, published December 30, 2022 and effective January 19, 2023. The Supply Chain Standards Manual, updated June 2024, explains how Amazon applies them.

What the standards cover

Amazon's Supply Chain Standards apply to "all suppliers of goods and services for Amazon and Amazon's subsidiaries, including providers, vendors, selling partners, contractors, and subcontractors". Products sold in Amazon's stores, and products or services provided to Amazon, must be made or provided in line with the Standards and all applicable laws. Amazon extends the Standards to its selling partners through its business relationships and reserves the right to remove products that don't meet them from its stores (Amazon, supply chain).

The Standards have sections on labor rights, health and safety, the environment, responsible sourcing of materials and commodities, land and natural resource rights, ethical behavior and management systems. Amazon's assessments cover four categories: labor, health and safety, environment, and ethics.

Audits

If Amazon requests it, a supplier must submit an Amazon-approved audit of its facilities before providing Amazon with products, labor or other services. The supplier can submit an audit from an approved industry association or complete an Amazon Managed Audit. The Manual lists the industry association audits Amazon accepts:

• amfori BSCI
• Better Work
• Fair Trade USA
• Responsible Business Alliance (RBA), VAP audits only
• Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA)
• SA8000
• Social and Labor Convergence Program (SLCP)
• Workplace Conditions Assessment (WCA)

An audit includes:

• an inspection of all areas of the site, including any employer-provided living quarters
• confidential worker interviews or surveys, without site management present
• a review of documents on workers' age, contracts, pay, working hours and conditions
• the development of a corrective action plan and a review of remediation measures

Amazon may audit suppliers during onboarding and periodically after that, and Amazon-managed audits can be announced, semi-announced or unannounced. Suppliers are expected to pay for most industry association audits, and Amazon pays for Amazon-managed audits.

Remediation and corrective action

Amazon expects suppliers to fix what an audit finds. The Standards say Amazon "will work with Suppliers as they work to end, minimize, or mitigate a violation". After an assessment, suppliers must promptly provide a detailed remediation plan for each issue, and they may need a follow-up audit showing the findings are resolved. Depending on the issues, a supplier may be assessed several times a year, and Amazon may verify progress on site or ask for more documents.

What should suppliers do if local laws conflict with Amazon's standards?

Amazon's Supply Chain Standards answer this directly. "When applicable law conflicts with these Standards, Suppliers must follow the law while finding ways to respect the principles of internationally recognized human rights and the expectations contained in the Standards." Where the Standards set a higher bar than the law, the higher bar applies. "Suppliers are required to conform to our Standards, even when our Standards exceed the requirements of applicable law."

Suspension and termination

Amazon reserves "the right to temporarily suspend or terminate a relationship at any time for failure to meet our Standards". The Standards call termination "a last resort". The reasons they list include refusing to cooperate with an assessment, refusing to change a required practice, not making timely progress on remediation, and falsifying or misrepresenting records.

What Amazon Business means for procurement teams

For a procurement team, Amazon Business is a useful channel for some purchases and a risk for others. It suits tail spend: one-off items, hard-to-find products and small purchases that don't justify a contract. For items bought every week, a contract with fixed core list prices, price-change rules and rebates gives more control over price.

The bigger risk is unmanaged buying. When employees buy on purchasing cards at online marketplaces, they often pay more, and the volume no longer counts toward contract tiers or rebates. Buying outside the contract, often called maverick spend, is easy to miss until someone looks at the card statements.

Six questions before you route spend to Amazon Business

Six checks show whether a purchase belongs on Amazon Business or under a contract.

1. Which items? Price a market basket of your most-used items in both channels, at the same pack sizes and delivered cost, including any membership or shipping charges.
2. What happens to your contract? If volume moves, check whether you fall below a price tier, a rebate threshold or a minimum in an existing contract.
3. Who is the seller? On a marketplace, the seller can change from order to order. Decide whether that matters for supplier diversity reporting, product safety, tax or warranty records.
4. Are the controls switched on? Set approval workflows and Guided Buying so users see preferred products first.
5. Does the data come back? Item-level spend should reach your purchasing or accounts payable system with the right category and cost codes.
6. Do your purchasing rules allow it? Public institutions still apply their own rules, such as dollar thresholds and competition, to marketplace orders. Our guide to higher education procurement covers the federal rules for grant-funded purchases.

The same questions apply to MRO, janitorial and IT supplies, which Amazon Business also sells. Before you renegotiate or rebid, a benchmark of your contract and line items shows how your prices compare with the market. A contract compliance audit checks that the contract's prices, discounts and rebates reached your invoices.

Common questions

What is the Amazon effect?

The Amazon effect is the name for how Amazon's growth changed what customers expect from every seller: fast delivery, huge selection, easy returns and visible prices. The term also covers the pressure on retailers and distributors to match those expectations. In B2B buying, the Amazon effect shows up as buyers who expect a distributor's website and delivery to work like Amazon's.

Is Amazon a distributor?

Amazon is a retailer and a marketplace rather than a traditional distributor. Its stores carry products from what Amazon calls selling partners: "retail vendors and third-party sellers that sell or supply products and services in our stores". Amazon also offers its own private brands, such as Amazon Basics. A traditional distributor buys and stocks product lines, sets its own prices and usually holds one agreement with each customer.

Can Amazon Business replace an office supply contract?

Whether Amazon Business can replace an office supply contract depends on what you buy and how much. For core items bought every week, a contract with fixed prices, price-change rules and rebates is usually easier to control. For one-off and hard-to-find items, Amazon Business can be simpler. A benchmark of your contract and line items against the market, including Amazon Business prices for the same items, shows which items belong where.

Where Dryden fits

Dryden Group is a procurement consulting firm. For office supplies, our consultants compare your contract and invoices with the market and check that core list prices, discounts and rebates are applied. We rebid or renegotiate the contract when the gap is worth closing.

Our spend analysis shows your office supply spend by supplier, including purchasing card buying. We're consultants who work from your invoice data, not an office supply dealer. See office supplies procurement consulting.

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