2022 State of Business Procurement

Empowering decision-makers from organizations of every size, Amazon Business is unveiling the 2022 State of Business Procurement Report, revealing the latest trends and insights in smart business buying. 

The report was conceived and developed with customers, procurement professionals, business owners, and entrepreneurs in mind, and is now available for download from Amazon Business. The report launches just in time for Reshape, Amazon Business’ in-person, two-day event taking place in Scottsdale, Arizona. Reshape unites leaders across commercial and public sectors to discover new approaches and exchange insights with hundreds of fellow executives across finance, operations, procurement, purchasing, supply chain functions, and more.

This is Amazon Business’ second annual study to track and explore opportunities in online business purchasing across commercial, education, government and nonprofit, and healthcare industries, following 2021’s B2B E-Commerce in Evolution Report. Amazon Business surveyed 440 buyers who hold influential procurement roles across industries and organizations of every size in the U.S., examining the dynamic and rapidly transforming state of B2B procurement in recent years. 

Revelatory trends highlighted by the new report include:

• 91% of B2B buyers state a preference for online purchasing.
• 58% of B2B buyers now make purchases that have to be delivered directly to an employee’s personal residence, accommodating an increasingly distributed workforce as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 84% of B2B buyers say their organizations plan to increase how much money they spend with Black or other diverse-owned businesses.
• 63% of B2B buyers say that improving sustainability in their purchasing practices is a top goal.
• Increases from last year’s report indicate a continued prioritization of corporate social responsibility (CSR) objectives.

A preference for digital is holding strong

In last year’s report, 56% of buyers said they planned to make at least 40% or more of their purchase online. This year, that increased to 68% of buyers surveyed. Only 2% of those surveyed in this year’s report said they purchase exclusively offline.

Distributed purchasing and deliveries across multiple locations are quickly becoming a procurement standard.

Of those surveyed this year, 46% of buyers are responsible for making purchases for multiple offices and, of those, 24% are tasked with supporting offices in multiple countries. At the same time, most budgets are increasing or holding steady over 2021. Only 22% of respondents expected a budgetary decrease this year.

Businesses are increasingly prioritizing corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals, including supporting sustainable, diverse, and local businesses.

In this year’s report, 91% of buyers said they take seller certifications into consideration when purchasing, an increase from 88% in 2021’s report. Achieving sustainability goals presents a particular challenge, though–55% of buyers with sustainability goals say it’s difficult to source suppliers that follow sustainable practices. This presents opportunities for buyers to further leverage seller certifications as part of their Smart Business Buying strategy, closing the gap on sustainability-focused goals.

Download the full 2022 State of Business Procurement Report to learn more.