Amazon added purchasing guidance and spending analysis to Business Prime on October 23, 2018. Its U.S. benefit list introduces Guided Buying, which lets administrators flag preferred products and suppliers, and Spend Visibility, which displays company spending. For employees choosing supplies, the change puts their company's preferences into the shopping process. [S1]

This expands a paid program that began with shipping. Amazon's October 2017 launch of Business Prime Shipping offered registered multi-user business customers an annual membership with two-day delivery on eligible U.S. purchases. Yet Amazon Business already listed approval workflows and purchasing-system integrations among its features, and registration for the business account itself was free. Guided Buying is an addition to that purchasing setup, not the arrival of its first controls. [S1][S2]

Guided Buying puts specific choices in an administrator's hands: mark suppliers and products as preferred, and designate product categories as restricted. Amazon said the feature would help reduce purchases outside company policy and consolidate suppliers. Those settings make policy visible to buyers while they shop. The release does not explain whether a restricted category automatically blocks an order, so a purchasing team cannot infer that enforcement mechanism from the label alone. [S1]

Spend Visibility handles the reporting side. Amazon said the tool uses AWS QuickSight to display company spending in graphics, reducing the work of downloading and analyzing data. The pairing addresses two different jobs: choosing what to buy and checking what was bought. Neither release measures how much staff time the tools save or how far they reduce off-policy purchasing. [S1][S2]

The 2018 U.S. annual membership list starts at US$179 for Essentials, covering up to three users. Small costs US$499 for up to 10 users, Medium US$1,299 for up to 100, and Enterprise US$10,099 for more than 100. Those last three headline fees and user bands match the October 2017 launch list. The new list gives a smaller team a lower-priced entry point, but it does not map every new benefit to every membership tier. [S1][S2]

Finance staff also have two different payment offers to distinguish. Qualifying Business Prime customers can request 45- or 60-day terms for an Amazon Business invoice, depending on their plan. Separately, Amazon advertised a no-annual-fee American Express card offering Business Prime members a choice of 5% back or 90-day interest-free payment terms on U.S. purchases at Amazon Business, Amazon Web Services, Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market, subject to terms and limitations. The invoice extension is a request, not an automatic membership entitlement. The card offer is a choice between the advertised rewards and payment terms, not a promise of both on the same purchase. [S1]

Source documents

  1. Amazon Business Launches New Business Prime Benefits in the United States, Germany and Japanhttps://press.aboutamazon.com/2018/10/amazon-business-launches-new-business-prime-benefits-in-the-united-states-germany-and-japan
  2. Amazon Business Launches Business Prime Shipping in the United States and Germanyhttps://press.aboutamazon.com/2017/10/amazon-business-launches-business-prime-shipping-in-the-united-states-and-germany