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Acquity Reveals Corporate Buyers' Preference for Amazon Supply

June 20, 2013

Acquity Group has revealed the allegiance results of its 2013 State of B2B Procurement Study. As part of the study, corporate purchasers, with yearly budgets of a minimum of $100,000, were surveyed regarding their buying behaviors and choices.


According to the study, Amazon Supply was preferred for online purchasing by 45 percent of respondents in the past year. Amazon Supply was also used for regular buying by 25 percent of respondents.

In a statement, Robert Barr, senior vice president of Acquity Group said, "B2B suppliers must be aware of the revenue threat from the third-party B2B eCommerce websites. This is particularly important since many buyers do not visit suppliers' physical stores, but rely on catalogs and websites to research products. Unfortunately, many of supplier's websites are outdated and lack capabilities to meet customer expectations."

The survey reveals that corporate purchasers have restricted allegiance to suppliers. Corporate buyers are willing to buy products from other website or supplier if they are sold at cheaper rates. Nearly 85 percent of respondents preferred the cheap rate choice in lieu of allegiance to the existing supplier.

Apart from affordable prices, supplier allegiance is replaced for enhanced convenience. Nearly 71 percent of purchasers were willing to buy from websites offering handy and resourceful purchase processes, even when the products were priced similar to the current supplier. Customer service and convenience and not the rate were the deciding factors among 32 percent of purchasers.

Barr said, "While Amazon Supply and other third-party websites offer goods at lower price points, they also provide added convenience and familiarity, which buyers value. Corporate buyers are very concerned with process efficiency. Suppliers have an opportunity to increase revenue by offering a better shopping and research experience online."

At least 46 percent of buyers make use of support available over phone or real-time chat for research and buying products separately. Research before purchasing products is conducted by 55 percent of buyers.

According to Barr, the current purchasers depend on the web for research. Suppliers need to have a dependable web presence and provide in-depth product information. Buyers are bound to make their purchases somewhere else if their suppliers don’t provide the required information.




Edited by Ryan Sartor



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