Amazon's Business Marketplace Hits $1 Billion Milestone
- Keeping offices, factories stocked with supplies is big market
- Business sales are growing 20 percent each month, Amazon says
This article is for subscribers only.
Amazon.com Inc. sold $1 billion in goods on its new business-to-business marketplace begun last year, and customer purchases are growing about 20 percent each month, suggesting the company that changed the way people shop for household goods is starting to change the way offices stock up on paperclips.
The Seattle company’s Amazon Business offers tractor parts, latex gloves, file folders and millions of other products needed in factories, hospitals, schools and offices. Businesses are shifting their supply shopping online from less-efficient methods such as browsing print catalogs, faxing orders and telephoning sales representatives, said Andy Hoar, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc.