Small businesses involved in B2B ecommerce face multiple challenges in 2024, but nearly all of them feel positive overall in regards to the economy, Amazon Business present in a recent survey.
50% of survey respondents said they’re fearful about falling behind in the event that they don’t invest this yr in AI.
93% of small businesses in the US are “hopeful” in regards to the state of economy this yr, despite lingering concerns amongst many regarding inflation (50%), high operations and labor costs (42%) and provide chain distribution challenges (41%), Amazon Business present in the Small Business Survey of “450-500” small-business decision-makers.
The survey found that, to grow their business, these decision-makers are specializing in increasing their procurement budgets (65%) and investing in procurement tools (49%); 68% said there “is room for optimization of their procurement operations,” Amazon says.
AI also aspects of their concerns: 50% of survey respondents said they’re fearful about falling behind of their market in the event that they don’t invest this yr in artificial intelligence technologies. The survey didn’t get into more specifics in regards to the type of AI technology projects firms were considering. Research firm Morning Seek the advice of conducted the survey this yr between March 20 and April 12; respondents were from businesses doing $25 million or less in annual revenue with workforces starting from 20 to 100 employees.
Advice and monetary grants for small online businesses
Amazon Business, as a part of its third annual Small Business Month initiative this month, is looking attention to the challenges and opportunities small firms face. Along with the outcomes of the Small Business Survey, Amazon Business launched this month the Small Business Success Studio and the 2024 edition of its annual Small Business Grants program.
Amazon Business — which launched as a business in 2015 and has already surpassed $35 billion in annual gross merchandise sales — is offering the Small Business Success Studio is a free “on-demand, immersive online educational resource to assist entrepreneurs “start, grow, and/or scale their businesses” with essential know-how across finance, marketing, procurement, and operations.”
“Geared toward being a strategic partner for growth, the studio supports small business owners at every step of their journey, fueling inspiration, education, and community,” Amazon says.
The Small Business Success Studio also features online videos featuring the expansion stories of business operators that work with Amazon Business, including Allison Ellsworth, co-founder and chief brand officer of sentimental drink company poppi, and Rodney Marshall, owner and founding father of Aldevra, a distributor of apparatus and services for the foodservice and health care industries.
Amazon Business is offering a complete of $250,000 in funding through its 2024 Small Business Grants program, which it says is “designed to spur innovation and support the expansion of small businesses which are driving an impact of their local communities.”
The grants program is open to existing Amazon Business customers with annual revenue of $1 million or less. Amazon will divide the grant funds amongst a grand prize winner, 4 finalists and 10 semi-finalists.
Independent sellers average over $250,000 in annual sales
Amazon also released this week the 2023 edition of its annual Small Business Empowerment Report, which covers ecommerce activity of each B2B and B2C sellers on Amazon.
In 2023, independent sellers on the Amazon.com’s U.S. marketplace, including B2B and B2C merchants, employed greater than 1.8 million people and sold over 4.5 billion items in aggregate, averaging greater than $250,000 in annual sales, Amazon says within the 2023 Small Business Empowerment Report.
Amazon adds that greater than 60% of Amazon’s marketplace sales come from independent sellers, most of whom are small and midsized businesses.
The corporate also noted within the report:
● U.S.-based sellers exported greater than 300 million items to customers in over 130 countries.
● Greater than 100,000 independent sellers have used a number of of Amazon’s generative AI product listing tools to develop product detail pages with product descriptions and pictures.
● Greater than 100,000 recent brands launched on Amazon’s marketplace, and all brand owners grew sales by greater than 22% over 2022.
● In rural areas last yr, including parts of Alaska, Kansas, North Dakota and Utah, independent sellers n Amazon collectively achieved over 60% year-over-year sales growth. The five states with the fastest-growing variety of independent seller on Amazon were in Maine, Nevada, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
● The five most-shipped product categories from U.S. sellers on Amazon last yr were Health & Personal Care, Beauty, Home, Grocery and Apparel.
Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. [email protected].
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