Businesses Can Receive Special Pricing With This Type of Amazon Account
Amazon Business is a platform that gives distributors and integrators special pricing and free shipping on various devices.
SEATTLE — Every integrator and his family have likely purchased something over years on Amazon.com, from gifts for family members to household items (like the current hot commodity… toilet paper). But few integrators are using Amazon Business, which offers special pricing and free shipping just for businesses. Amazon Business wants to change that.
Currently, Amazon Business, which was launched in 2015, offers various devices for the custom installation channel, including eero thermostats, Ring video doorbell stations, Echo Dots, Echo Shows and even the Amazon Fire Stick.
According to Touma Hayakawa, senior account representative for Amazon Device Sales, the primary buyers of those devices are distributors in the industry and retailers who take advantage of the special pricing to buy in bulk. But individual integrators have the same level of access to Amazon Business, which is, in essence, the business version of Amazon Prime.
Amazon has identified the installation channel, along with the homebuilder channel, as two key areas of growth.
“Our challenge is that integrators and homebuilders might be familiar with buying things like HDMI cable or other components on regular Amazon Prime, but they don’t know about the special pricing and shipping for their segment on Amazon Business,” he says, adding that Amazon currently doesn’t have plans to add products from other manufacturers to its Amazon Business platform to become, in essence, an online distribution portal for other brands.
Pricing discounts are based on volume. Distributors have one set of pricing, while integrators have another set. It is a completely self-service platform and is free to join.
So why is Amazon interested in this channel?
Hayakawa admits the volume of products sold via the custom electronics channel is small compared to the vast consumer-direct space.
“Amazon doesn’t really make any money selling any of these hardware devices anyway,” he says. “We are interested in the downstream impact of the sales that take place through the custom channel. We know that ultimately those devices sold to integrators are going to be installed in high-value homes. And we see that when a professional sets up a system with Amazon devices, the usage of those devices is higher than in a do-it-yourself home.”
Integrators must verify they are a business to create an Amazon Business account.
This article first appeared on SSI sister publication CE Pro
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About the Author
Jason Knott
Jason Knott is Chief Content Officer for Emerald Expositions Connected Brands. Jason has covered low-voltage electronics as an editor since 1990, serving as editor and publisher of Security Sales & Integration. He joined CE Pro in 2000 and serves as Editor-in-Chief of that brand. He served as chairman of the Security Industry Association’s Education Committee from 2000-2004 and sat on the board of that association from 1998-2002. He is also a former board member of the Alarm Industry Research and Educational Foundation. He has been a member of the CEDIA Business Working Group since 2010. Jason graduated from the University of Southern California. Have a suggestion or a topic you want to read more about? Email Jason at [email protected]
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