MW First Amazon conquered retail. Now it's quietly building a $35 billion business that's changing how companies operate.

By Charles Passy

The company is increasingly focusing on supplying businesses with what they need, from janitorial supplies to kitchen equipment

Amazon says 97 of the Fortune 100 companies are among its business customers.

Many consumers treat Amazon (AMZN) as the go-to source for any number of goods and services. But unbeknownst to most of them, Amazon has been bringing its might to the world of business-oriented commerce as well, supplying ever more companies with essential items that range from toilet paper to machine parts.

Perhaps more surprising: These business-to-business sales make up more than $35 billion in annual revenue, according to Amazon. And that could be just the beginning of something much bigger.

Analysts who spoke with MarketWatch say they could easily see Amazon's B2B operations doubling in revenue over the next few years. If anything, Andy Hoar, a leading authority on B2B commerce, says Amazon may be underestimating its current business sales, which he thinks could be closer to $100 billion annually. He bases that on the fact many companies are likely making purchases on Amazon's regular consumer platform as well as on Amazon Business.

Even then, Hoar thinks there's room for Amazon to grow, given that B2B sales constitute a more than $2 trillion e-commerce market in the U.S. alone.

"Look at the upside," he said of Amazon's potential.

That's a point seconded by Sucharita Kodali, an analyst with Forrester who tracks Amazon.

"They have a ton of room for growth," she said of the company's B2B operations.

Granted, B2B sales amount to a small fraction of Amazon's overall annual revenue, which totaled $638 billion in 2024. And even then, Amazon faces plenty of competition in the B2B space from players both big (think Walmart (WMT)) and small (think your local office-supply store).

'They have a ton of room for growth.'Sucharita Kodali, an analyst with Forrester, on Amazon's B2B operations

But analysts view B2B sales as an important, if overlooked, arena for Amazon. And indeed, Amazon says it's pouring more resources into its B2B operations - and specifically its Amazon Business platform, which it notes already services more than 8 million organizations globally, including 97 of the Fortune 100 companies.

The company touts many of the same features for businesses that make it appealing to consumers - namely, its vast selection of products, competitive pricing and speedy delivery through the Amazon shipping network.

On the product front alone, the offerings include a kitchen sink's worth of items - hundreds of millions of them, according to Amazon, including janitorial must-haves, medical needs, agricultural supplies and commercial kitchen equipment. In other words, the actual kitchen sink.

At the same time, Amazon says it offers many services tailored directly to businesses, including delivering large orders on pallets or providing assistance with managing the ordering process itself. For example, Amazon lets companies create their own "business lists" - essentially, curating products to purchase so there's less time spent searching for the right item. It also says it offers analytics tools to help companies identify possible cost savings.

And much like consumers can opt for an Amazon Prime membership, which comes with a variety of benefits, including cost savings on shipping, businesses can do the same with a Business Prime membership. The price for the business program varies depending on the level of service and perks.

There is more to come on the B2B front, says Brenda Spoonemore, vice president of Amazon Business. She declined to specify a future revenue goal for her division but said Amazon hopes to increase the selection of products it offers companies.

"One of our big focus areas right now is actually getting deeper in a number of categories," she said.

Companies that rely on Amazon's B2B operations speak of how they have streamlined and sped up their ordering through all the technology Amazon employs.

"We've gone from weeks to minutes," said Scott Thompson, a vice president in charge of supply-chain operations at Carnival $(CCL)$, the cruise-line company.

Thompson also cited Amazon's selection of products as a significant plus, noting how Carnival sourced a hard-to-find sewing-machine part through Amazon, thereby saving the company from having to replace the machines altogether.

Nevertheless, Amazon faces a variety of headwinds in its B2B operations, analysts say.

Begin with the fact that it faces competition from companies that have catered to the B2B market for generations and have long-established relationships with the businesses they serve, especially at the local level. That means they might offer more personal service, to say nothing of quick delivery in certain instances, analysts note.

Plus, some of these B2B companies are very industry-specific and can likely beat Amazon when it comes to selection.

Consider food: Sysco $(SYY)$, a major supplier to the restaurant industry, asserts it's got nothing to fear from Amazon.

Sysco's assortment "meets the unique needs of industrial kitchens, with large pack sizes and the highest-quality ingredients," a company spokesperson said.

For that matter, Amazon doesn't pretend it's quite there on the food front. "Are we the supplier for the Grade A aged steak? Probably not yet," said Spoonemore.

Amazon does offer a range of office supplies to businesses, however, possibly posing a threat to such companies as Staples and Office Depot.

Staples didn't respond to a request for comment. An Office Depot spokesperson said, "We are confident that our personalized service approach, supply-chain reliability, attractive and consistent pricing, and our ability to help customers manage their costs distinguish us from our competitors.

Analysts say Amazon could also face competition in the B2B space from other retail giants, such as Walmart and Costco $(COST)$, that sell many of the same products that Amazon sells to businesses.

In particular, Walmart touts its deep product selection, covering tens of millions of items including fresh food, workwear and facility needs. It launched its own B2B platform, called Walmart Business, two years ago.

Walmart points to its historical low pricing as another advantage. Add it up, said Ashley Hubka, general manager of Walmart Business, and this "enables us to serve our B2B customers in ways only Walmart can."

Costco didn't respond to requests for comment about its B2B operations.

Bruce Winder, a retail analyst, doesn't think Walmart or Costco pose too much of a threat to Amazon when it comes to B2B sales, however. "They're going to be a nice No. 2 or No. 3" in the space, he said, pointing to Amazon's advantage when it comes to technology.

Still, Amazon remains a controversial company in some respects - one that is often seen as a corporate monolith that stifles other businesses. Amazon has countered by saying it encourages competition and innovation across the retail sector, particularly by giving companies the opportunity to sell their goods on its platform.

Amazon has also faced criticism for how it treats its workers, although the company points to the fact it pays employees in its fulfillment and transportation network and pharmacy an average hourly base rate of $23 and offers many benefits on the day they start working.

That said, not every company may want to work with the retail giant on the B2B side.

"There are always going to be people who hate Amazon," said Hoar.

In the end, analysts point out that Amazon's B2B operations are hardly its only growth area. Many view the company's AWS cloud platform, for example, as much more significant. Analysts tracked by FactSet see the potential for the cloud business to also double revenue within a few years.

Neil Saunders, a retail analyst with GlobalData, says it's not an either-or proposition - meaning Amazon can grow many aspects of its business simultaneously. B2B can be the "icing on the cake" for Amazon, Saunders said, citing niche supply areas it can expand into, including food, which he noted could become "a huge market" for the company.

"They can move into any direction they want," Saunders said of Amazon's B2B operations.

-Charles Passy

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September 26, 2025 12:30 ET (16:30 GMT)

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