NetPlus Alliance distributors are raising their expectations for 2026 after another quarter of strong purchasing growth, with 84% now expecting sales to increase at least 3% this year.

Purchases by NetPlus members from the group’s suppliers and wholesalers increased 20% in the second quarter from a year earlier, matching the 20% year over year increase recorded in the first quarter.

The results come from the latest NetPlus Industry Outlook, a quarterly survey of business conditions among industrial and contractor supply distributors. The latest survey included responses from 121 distributor members in July and covered second quarter results.

The purchasing increase does not mean distributor sales grew 20%. Sales results varied considerably across the network.

69% of respondents said their sales increased at least 3% during the first half of 2026. Within that group, 47% reported growth of at least 8%.

Another 21% said sales were essentially flat during the first two quarters, while 10% reported declining sales.

Distributor expectations for the rest of the year strengthened from the previous survey.

84% expect 2026 sales to increase at least 3%, up 7 percentage points from the previous quarterly survey. 45% expect growth of at least 8%.

Another 13% expect sales to remain even with 2025, while fewer than 4% anticipate a decline. Only one respondent expects sales to fall 8% or more.

The improving outlook comes as distributors report stronger business from existing customers and new sales opportunities heading into the second half.

Data center construction is emerging as one source of growth. Several NetPlus distributors said data center projects are generating business, while respondents also reported that construction projects previously delayed are beginning to move forward.

Those gains are being tempered by cost pressures. Multiple respondents cited rising oil and gas prices and their effect on product and freight costs as a challenge.

“In a quickly evolving industry and economic landscape, NetPlus Alliance members continue to focus on the fundamentals of relationship building, accountability, and collaborative growth,” NetPlus president and CEO Jennifer Murphy said.

The survey results provide a snapshot of conditions among independent industrial and contractor supply distributors at a time when broader indicators are showing continued, but uneven, industrial growth.

The Institute for Supply Management reported this week that U.S. manufacturing expanded for an eighth consecutive month in August, although growth in new orders, employment and order backlogs slowed. Manufacturers also continued to report high input costs and supply constraints.

Against that backdrop, NetPlus members are entering the second half with a more positive sales outlook. The percentage expecting at least 3% growth has increased since the previous survey, while fewer than one in 25 respondents expects sales to decline for the full year.

The 20% increase in purchases from NetPlus suppliers and wholesalers also suggests members are continuing to replenish inventory and source more products through the group’s supplier network as sales expand.

NetPlus Alliance represents 400 industrial and contractor supply distributors and works with more than 220 manufacturers. The organization negotiates pricing, rebates, and other terms on behalf of its distributor members.

For distributors, the survey points to continued sales opportunities in the second half, particularly from existing accounts, data center development and construction projects that are moving forward after delays. But higher product and freight costs could make converting that growth into stronger margins more difficult.

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Graybar and BradyPLUS are among 10 suppliers added to OMNIA Partners’ public-sector e-commerce marketplace, expanding the platform to more than 8 million products and giving distributors broader access to government, education, and nonprofit buyers.

The expansion, announced Tuesday, also includes SHI, Fisher Scientific, School Specialty, Insight Public Sector, Johnson-Lancaster & Associates, Vari, Mediatechnologies and E-Z-GO/Cushman. Together, the additions broaden the marketplace across 200 product categories, including electrical, industrial, information technology, laboratory supplies, foodservice equipment, facility maintenance, and workplace furnishings.

Suppliers will sell through OPUS, OMNIA Partners’ procurement platform, which allows government agencies, schools, higher education institutions, and nonprofit organizations to purchase products from multiple suppliers through a single online shopping cart using competitively bid cooperative purchasing contracts.

OMNIA Partners said 40,000 public-sector procurement professionals now use the platform, which launched in April 2024. The company said OPUS connects buyers with more than 650 suppliers and is designed to simplify purchasing by reducing the time required to identify suppliers, compare pricing, and verify contract compliance.

Along with the supplier expansion, OMNIA Partners introduced new platform capabilities, including enhanced search, streamlined access to supplier contracts, a centralized W-9 document library, integrated chat support, shareable product lists, and expanded purchasing approval tools.

This announcement highlights how digital procurement marketplaces are becoming a more important route to market for wholesale distributors. As public-sector buyers continue shifting purchasing online, distributors are increasingly competing on digital capabilities alongside product selection, pricing, and service.

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ProEnergy Supply LLC has launched an artificial intelligence-powered procurement platform designed to help independent wholesale distributors connect with emerging AI-driven purchasing systems.

The platform, called IVAN, integrates with distributors’ existing business systems and makes commercial information such as pricing agreements, inventory availability, credit terms, rebate programs, and manufacturer authorizations accessible to approved buyers and AI procurement tools, according to the company.

The launch reflects growing interest across the distribution industry in agentic AI, which enables software systems to perform tasks such as supplier selection, quote generation and purchasing with limited human intervention.

ProEnergy said IVAN allows distributors to control which customers and procurement systems can access proprietary commercial information while preserving existing customer relationships and branding.

According to the company, the platform uses a rules-based scoring engine to generate supplier recommendations and does not permit participants to pay for preferential placement.

ProEnergy also said more than $1 billion in distributor revenue is currently covered by letters of intent or binding agreements related to the platform. The company did not identify participating distributors or provide additional details regarding those agreements.

The company said it filed a provisional patent application covering the technology earlier this year and plans to commercially launch the platform in the fourth quarter of 2026.

IVAN is initially being marketed to distributors serving electrical, solar, plumbing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning, and related industrial markets.

The announcement comes as distributors, manufacturers and technology providers invest in AI-enabled procurement capabilities in anticipation of broader adoption of automated purchasing technologies across business-to-business commerce.

While the platform’s long-term market impact remains uncertain, the launch highlights the growing effort among distributors to ensure their pricing, inventory and customer-specific commercial data can be accessed by the next generation of AI-powered procurement systems.

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Amazon is expanding access to its artificial intelligence-powered workplace assistant, Quick Plus, offering Prime Business members a 20% discount as the company moves to accelerate adoption of agentic AI among small and midsize businesses.

The promotion provides eligible U.S. Prime Business subscribers with discounted access to Quick Plus and extends the discount to additional users as organizations grow. New subscribers receive a 30-day free trial. The platform supports up to 300 users per organization.

The move is the latest sign that major technology providers are racing to embed AI assistants into everyday business operations, including purchasing, supplier evaluation, and workflow management.

Quick connects with more than 100 business applications, including Slack, Microsoft Outlook, Salesforce, and HubSpot. Unlike traditional AI chatbots, the platform is designed to perform tasks across connected systems after receiving user approval. Amazon said the software continuously learns from workplace applications, documents, and user activity to build a knowledge base tailored to each organization.

“Small business teams can’t stop their day to prompt AI,” Jigar Thakkar, vice president of agentic AI for business at Amazon Web Services, said. “Quick pays attention in the background, catches what’s slipping, and takes action once given the approval.”

Todd Heimes, vice president of marketing and Prime Business at Amazon, said the discounted offering is intended to expand the value of Prime Business memberships for smaller organizations.

Amazon said Quick operates with controls that prevent customer data from being used to train AI models and requires user authorization before completing actions. The desktop version can also access local files and run background agents that perform tasks and deliver notifications.

For distributors, the significance extends beyond workplace productivity.

Amazon says Quick can analyze vendor proposals, compare supplier agreements, research competitors, summarize industry information and generate documents ranging from spreadsheets to presentations. Those are functions that increasingly influence how buyers gather information and evaluate vendors before making purchasing decisions.

As AI assistants become more capable of conducting research and narrowing supplier options, distributors may need to ensure their product catalogs, pricing information, inventory availability, and technical specifications are accessible in formats that AI systems can easily interpret.

The announcement also reflects the broader rise of agentic AI, a category of software designed not only to answer questions but also to take actions on behalf of users. Technology providers including Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce are investing heavily in the space, viewing AI agents as the next evolution of workplace software.

For distributors, that trend could reshape how customers discover products and evaluate suppliers. Organizations that maintain clean product data, robust ecommerce capabilities and strong integrations with customer procurement systems may be better positioned as AI-driven purchasing workflows become more common.

The growing influence of AI assistants suggests that supplier visibility may increasingly depend not only on sales relationships but also on how effectively a distributor’s digital information can be accessed, understood, and acted upon by automated systems.

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Amazon Business is executing the most consequential expansion of its artificial intelligence capabilities since the platform launched a decade ago, rolling out a suite of AI-powered procurement tools, deploying agentic buying features that complete purchases on behalf of customers and committing to a $50 billion partnership with OpenAI that positions its AWS infrastructure as the backbone of enterprise AI for years ahead. For wholesale distributors, the cumulative effect of those moves is a competitive environment that is structurally different from the one that existed 12 months ago.

The platform now serves more than 8 million organizations worldwide and generates more than $35 billion in annualized gross merchandise value. All its new AI tools are built on Amazon Bedrock, the company’s managed generative AI service on AWS.

The Procurement AI Stack

The centerpiece of Amazon Business’s current AI deployment is the Amazon Business Assistant, a conversational AI tool available to U.S. customers at no additional cost. The assistant guides buyers through account setup, purchasing questions and savings opportunities in real time, drawing on past purchase data and account settings to recommend more efficient buying options. It learns from interactions and feedback over time and operates as an always-on support layer embedded in the buying workflow.

Paired with the assistant is Savings Insights, available to Business Prime members, which uses AI and large language models to analyze purchasing patterns and surface cost-saving recommendations — including bulk purchase opportunities, lower-priced seller alternatives, and Subscribe & Save options. For Business Prime Enterprise and Unlimited customers, Spend Anomaly Monitoring is now live, automatically flagging irregular spending behavior such as out-of-policy purchases, unusual categories or transactions structured to avoid approval thresholds.

Doug Gray, vice president of technology for Amazon Business, framed the design philosophy plainly. “Businesses need AI’s speed, without losing control,” Gray said. “We use AI to keep you in the driver’s seat, automating manual processes and making it easier to do your job.”

In collaboration with Deloitte and AWS, Amazon Business also introduced two AI-driven industry solutions built on Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker — one targeting industrial manufacturers, the other U.S. utility organizations. The industrial manufacturing solution, launching to select manufacturers in early 2026 and expanding to broader industrial sectors later in the year, uses AI agents to predict inventory disruptions, assess supplier quality and recommend corrective actions such as reallocating parts or expediting shipments. The utility solution applies predictive modeling, diagnostics, and geospatial analysis to forecast equipment replacements and grid reliability needs following severe weather events.

Both solutions are built on Deloitte’s IntelligentOps platform and are designed to shift users from reactive problem-solving to proactive decision-making — precisely the value proposition that MRO and industrial distributors have long delivered through direct account relationships.

Buy for Me and the Agentic Purchasing Layer

The most structurally significant development for distributors is not the procurement tooling, but the agentic commerce infrastructure Amazon has been building around it.

On March 11, Amazon announced a major expansion of its Shop Direct program, which allows customers to discover and purchase products from external merchant websites directly through Amazon — even when those products are not sold on the Amazon marketplace. The expanded program now includes more than 100 million products from more than 400,000 merchants. Merchants connect through established feed syndicators including Feedonomics, Salsify and CEDCommerce, enabling real-time synchronization of catalog data, pricing and inventory with Amazon’s search and AI systems.

For qualifying products, customers can use Buy for Me — a feature in which Amazon’s AI agent, powered by its Rufus shopping assistant, completes the purchase on the customer’s behalf from the merchant’s own website, using stored Amazon payment and shipping information. Orders appear in the Amazon interface under a dedicated Buy for Me tab. The merchant handles fulfillment, returns, and customer service.

“Product feeds give merchants a streamlined way to reach Amazon customers who are searching for their products,” said Amanda Doerr, vice president of Core Shopping at Amazon.

The competitive implications of that infrastructure for distributors selling through their own ecommerce channels are significant. Rufus, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant, was credited by Amazon with an estimated $10 billion lift in annualized sales in late 2025. The assistant draws on Amazon’s deep purchase history, product data, and catalog breadth to route customers to products — and now, through Buy for Me, to complete transactions on external sites on their behalf.

Amazon is simultaneously restricting third-party AI agents from accessing its platform while expanding its own reach outward. On March 9, 2026 — two days before the Shop Direct feed announcement — a federal court granted Amazon a preliminary injunction against Perplexity’s Comet browser, blocking the AI startup’s agents from accessing Amazon accounts. The legal move signals that Amazon intends to control the agentic purchasing layer on its platform, not cede it to independent AI operators.

The OpenAI Partnership Raises the Stakes Further

The strategic context sharpened on Feb. 27, when Amazon and OpenAI announced a multi-year partnership that includes a $50 billion investment from Amazon and the co-development of a Stateful Runtime Environment for Amazon Bedrock. The runtime environment will allow AI agents to maintain context, remember prior work and act across multiple systems over time. AWS will serve as the exclusive third-party cloud distribution provider for OpenAI Frontier, which enables organizations to build, deploy and manage teams of AI agents across enterprise systems.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, in his April 2026 annual shareholder letter, said the company’s AI revenue in its cloud computing segment has hit a $15 billion annual run rate and defended the company’s plan to spend approximately $200 billion in capital expenditures in 2026 — the largest such commitment in the company’s history — with the lion’s share directed at AI infrastructure.

For wholesale distributors, the OpenAI partnership matters because it expands the AI capability set available to Amazon Business and its enterprise customers. An AI agent architecture that can maintain context across procurement workflows, manage multi-step purchasing decisions and operate across ERP systems and ecommerce platforms is exactly the infrastructure that makes autonomous B2B procurement viable at scale.

What Distributors Are Up Against

The tools Amazon Business is deploying — spend anomaly detection, AI-guided savings recommendations, predictive procurement for industrial manufacturers, and an agentic checkout layer operating across 100 million external products — are designed to tighten buyer control over purchasing decisions and reduce the friction that has historically given distributor sales reps their opening.

Instead of a human buyer navigating a distributor’s ecommerce site or contacting an inside sales rep, an AI system can now evaluate suppliers across Amazon’s growing product universe and, in an increasing number of cases, complete the transaction autonomously. That shift makes structured product data, real-time inventory visibility, and competitive pricing the primary determinants of whether a distributor appears in an AI-driven sourcing query at all — not the relationship, not the rep, and not the catalog experience built on the distributor’s own platform.

Distributors that maintain detailed product information and accessible APIs may be more likely to appear in automated sourcing queries generated by AI purchasing systems. Conversely, incomplete, or inconsistent product data could make it harder for AI agents to evaluate supplier offerings.

Agentic commerce is still in initial stages, and most B2B purchases in wholesale distribution are still initiated by human buyers. But Amazon Business is generating more than $35 billion in annualized GMV, operating in 11 countries, and committing $200 billion in capital to the AI infrastructure that powers it. The window for distributors to make structural investments in data quality, digital accessibility and ecommerce performance is narrowing — and the pace of Amazon’s moves in 2026 suggests it has no intention of slowing down.

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Most B2B buyers now prefer to complete purchases without interacting with a sales representative, highlighting a shift toward digital, self-directed buying, according to new research from Gartner.

In a survey of 646 buyers conducted from August through September 2025, 67% said they prefer a rep-free experience. Meanwhile, 45% reported using artificial intelligence during a recent purchase, signaling that buying journeys are becoming increasingly automated and digitally driven.

“B2B buyers are progressing through critical buying tasks in more autonomous ways, and sellers can’t rely on static collateral to carry influence in those moments,” said Alyssa Cruz, senior principal analyst in Gartner’s sales practice.

The findings underscore a broader shift away from relationship-led selling toward digital-first engagement, where buyers independently research suppliers, evaluate options and define requirements before engaging — if at all — with a sales representative.

Gartner said the rise of AI in purchasing is forcing companies to rethink how they support both buyers and sellers. Central to that shift is what the firm calls “value clarity,” or a buyer’s confidence in how a solution improves outcomes in their specific role and business context.

Buyers with high confidence are twice as likely to report a high-quality purchase compared with those with low confidence, the firm said..

For distributors, the shift toward rep-free buying represents a structural change to traditional sales models built on field sales and account relationships.

Digital channels — including ecommerce platforms and online catalogs — are becoming the primary interface for customers. Buyers increasingly expect to search for products, compare pricing, check availability, and complete transactions without assistance.

At the same time, the role of sales representatives is evolving. As routine orders move online, reps are shifting toward consultative roles focused on complex products, technical support, and strategic accounts.

The shift also raises the importance of product data and digital content. Distributors must provide accurate, detailed, and searchable information — including specifications, pricing, and availability — to remain competitive early in the buying process.

In addition, wider adoption of AI tools is expected to shape the customer experience, from search and product recommendations to automated support. Greater transparency in pricing and availability could also intensify competition, particularly for commoditized products.

The move toward self-directed, AI-assisted purchasing is accelerating across B2B markets. For distributors, the challenge is to strengthen digital capabilities while redefining the role of sales — enabling customers to buy independently while adding value in more complex transactions.

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The funding round was led by Brighton Park Capital and Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives, with participation from existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, B Capital, XYZ Capital and Felicis, the company said.

ORO Labs develops software that connects procurement processes across multiple enterprise systems, including enterprise resource planning platforms, sourcing tools, and supplier databases. The platform is designed to help organizations manage purchase requests, approvals, sourcing workflows, and supplier onboarding through a single interface.

For distributors and other supply chain companies, procurement orchestration technology can help reduce manual purchasing tasks and provide greater visibility into supplier activity, spending, and contract compliance.

CEO and co-founder Sudhir Bhojwani said companies are looking for tools that allow procurement teams to operate more efficiently as supply chains grow more complex.

“Demand for orchestration has skyrocketed because procurement teams are under tremendous pressure to move faster,” Bhojwani said in a statement.

Founded in 2020, ORO Labs said its software is used by enterprises including Coca-Cola, Siemens Energy and Novartis, with deployments across organizations operating in more than 100 countries. The company said revenue grew 300% over the past year.

The company said it will use the new funding to expand product development, scale customer deployments, and grow its global customer base.

As part of the financing, Mike Gregoire of Brighton Park Capital and Clare Greenan of Goldman Sachs Growth Equity will join the company’s board of directors.

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The capabilities, first announced Nov. 12 at the Amazon Business Reshape conference, are now active for select U.S. users. Doug Gray, vice president of technology for Amazon Business, said the focus is on helping procurement teams move faster without sacrificing oversight.

“Businesses need AI’s speed without losing control,” Gray said in the keynote. “We use AI to keep you in the driver’s seat.”

AI Features Moving into Live Use

• Amazon Business Assistant — A generative AI guide built on Amazon Bedrock models that recommends catalog setup changes and more efficient buying patterns based on real-time spend data.
  • Spend Anomaly Monitoring — Now available to Business Prime Enterprise and Unlimited accounts to flag unusual or non-compliant transactions.
  • Additional updates enhance checkout-to-delivery workflows, including deferred delivery scheduling for large shipments, expanded palletized drop-offs, one-time password verification for higher-value orders, and unified delivery management across multiple locations.
  • Pay-by-invoice controls and group-level oversight tools are now available in nine countries.

Savings Insights — an AI feature that analyzes spending and recommends cost-saving actions — is planned for U.S. availability in late 2025.

Implications for Distributors

Analysts say the rollout could accelerate a shift in how organizations source supplies:

• AI is influencing SKU choice earlier, potentially redirecting purchases away from traditional distributors.
• Compliance expectations are rising, pushing distributors to match enterprise-grade spend governance.
• Operational convenience becomes a battleground as Amazon embeds logistics capabilities such as scheduling and secure delivery.
• Data-driven procurement strengthens buyers’ leverage in pricing and contracting negotiations.

As organizations standardize digital buying and require greater accountability, automation is becoming a core procurement capability — not a pilot program.

“These innovations are part of our broader vision to help organizations buy smarter and operate more efficiently,” Gray said.

For distributors, the message is clear: purchasing decisions are speeding up, and AI is increasingly deciding where the expenditure goes.

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The move comes as AI assistants rapidly reshape product discovery and online demand. Traffic referred by consumer AI platforms jumped 119% year over year in the first half of 2025, and Salesforce expects intelligent agents to influence 22% of global orders during Cyber Week. For retailers — and increasingly distributors — the shift represents a new front in customer acquisition and digital channel management.

A Platform Built for AI-Native Purchasing

Agentforce Commerce is designed to connect a merchant’s catalog, pricing, and checkout directly into AI-driven discovery platforms, using emerging standards such as the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP). Salesforce says brands will soon be able to make products fully shoppable inside ChatGPT through native integrations powered by ACP and Stripe.

On owned channels, the platform brings agentic capabilities into storefronts, mobile apps, stores, and service interactions. Retailers and distributors can deploy customized AI agents trained on product, order, and customer data to manage guided shopping, answer complex questions, generate recommendations, and automate fulfillment tasks such as order routing.

The goal: unify digital commerce, point of sale, and order management so a customer’s experience — and a company’s data — moves seamlessly across channels.

“Agentforce Commerce is delivering transformative new capabilities that span the entire agentic shopping journey,” said Nitin Mangtani, senior vice president and general manager of Agentforce Commerce and Retail.

Early Adopters

Brands, including Pandora and Pacsun are already using Salesforce’s agentic tools. Pandora reports a 10% lift in net promoter score after automating routine service inquiries and deploying AI-driven recommendations on its digital storefront. Pacsun is experimenting with AI shopping experiences on conversational platforms to better reach Gen Z and Gen Alpha customers.

Why Wholesale Distributors Should Care

While today’s announcement targets retail, the underlying shift — commerce flowing directly through AI agents — has direct implications for distributors.

• AI channels are the next-generation “search.”
  If end-users, contractors, mechanics, engineers, and procurement teams start asking AI agents for products — “Find me a 3-ton rooftop unit under $5,000,” “Show me alternatives to this MRO part,” “What’s in stock near me?” — distributors need their catalogs represented in those channels or risk losing visibility.
• Agentic commerce collapses the buying journey.
  Tools like ACP and AP2 point toward a world where product discovery, configuration, quoting, and ordering happen inside a single conversational interface. For distributors with complex SKUs, contract pricing, or inventory variability, failing to syndicate clean data into these ecosystems could push buyers toward competitors with more AI-ready catalogs.
• Unified data and order routing matter even more in B2B.
  Distributors operate fragmented tech stacks — ERP, WMS, CRM, ecommerce, field sales, counter sales. Agentforce-style systems show where the market is going: AI agents that pull from unified data to answer questions, guide purchases, and route orders across branches and distribution centers automatically.
• Manufacturers and retailers are training customers to expect AI-native experiences.
  As consumers and business buyers grow accustomed to conversational shopping and instant, AI-generated answers, distributors will face pressure to deliver similar experiences: guided product selection, spec matching, compatibility checks, and real-time availability.
• Disintermediation risk is real.
  If AI platforms become independent shopping channels — and distributors aren’t represented — the channel could shift upstream to manufacturers or downstream to aggregators.

The Broader Ecosystem

Salesforce’s strategy leans heavily on open protocols meant to give brands a foothold across AI ecosystems:

• ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol) for syndicating catalogs and enabling AI-native checkout.
• Stripe integrations for secure, instant purchasing.
• Google’s AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol) for cross-platform payments initiated by AI agents.

Agentforce also includes new automation tools for merchandising, point of sale, and fulfillment, along with expanded localization and guided shopping capabilities across seven languages.

The Bottom Line

Salesforce is making a bet that AI agents — not websites — will become the next major shopping channel. For retailers, it’s a way to reach customers wherever discovery happens. For distributors, it’s a big indicator that digital commerce is moving into AI-native environments, and whoever brings accurate product data, clean inventory, pricing controls, and AI-friendly content to these channels will gain an advantage.

The platform may be retail-focused today, but the underlying shift applies across every sector where product search, configuration, or replenishment drives revenue — including wholesale distribution.

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Throughout the conference, Amazon Business executives described a future in which buying is shaped not by ad hoc search or individual preference, but by policy-aware systems that guide every step of the purchasing process. The centerpiece of that shift includes three tools — Amazon Business Assistant, Savings Insights, and Spend Anomaly Monitoring — all running on Amazon Bedrock, the company’s generative AI infrastructure on AWS.

Shelley Salomon, Amazon Business’ global vice president, used the main-stage keynote to connect the new capabilities to a broader rethinking of procurement. “The world is evolving faster than ever before, but what remains constant in Amazon is our customer obsession,” she told attendees. She framed the new tools as a continuation of Amazon Business’ push to simplify buying for employees while giving procurement and finance teams real-time visibility into what’s happening across the organization.

Salomon expanded on that idea, saying: “For over a decade, we’ve redefined how organizations manage purchasing by delivering a faster, smarter, and more transparent buying experience. Amazon Business combines vast selection and competitive pricing with enterprise-grade tools — multi-user accounts, approval workflows, and deep analytics — to help companies manage business buying and operate more efficiently. Now, with new, AI-enhanced tools, we’re empowering organizations to reduce costs, make data-driven buying decisions, and get support when and where they need it.”

Her remarks reflected a clear shift in focus. Amazon Business emphasized not just product discovery or marketplace breadth — long-standing strengths — but the governance layer that decides what gets purchased, how often, and under which rules.

The Amazon Business Assistant, now available to U.S. customers at no extra cost, brings conversational, real-time guidance into everyday transactions. Employees placing infrequent or complex orders — often the source of off-contract or inconsistent spending — are walked through policy requirements, preferred categories, and account configurations. The system can surface savings opportunities, clarify rules, or flag potential compliance issues before an order is submitted, tightening the funnel through which spend can flow.

Savings Insights adds analytical weight to that process. Targeted to Business Prime customers, it reviews purchase histories, supplier terms, pack sizes, and item-level trends to identify missed savings and contract drift. What once required a dedicated sourcing exercise is now embedded directly in the procurement workflow, with AI calling attention to lower-cost equivalents or opportunities to consolidate purchasing into preferred suppliers.

For larger enterprises, Spend Anomaly Monitoring introduces a proactive layer of budget protection. Available with Business Prime Enterprise, the tool scans purchasing behavior for irregular patterns — sudden spikes in spend, unusual categories, repeat orders that deviate from norms — and alerts administrators in real time. The goal is to intervene early, long before issues would surface in monthly or quarterly spend reports.

Each of these features creates a more controlled, policy-anchored buying environment. For wholesale distributors, which means fewer discretionary orders, tighter compliance with preapproved catalogs, and more frequent price transparency as AI continuously evaluates alternatives. Distributors accustomed to winning business through responsive inside sales teams or long-standing customer relationships may find those pathways narrowing as automated systems take a greater role in guiding purchases.

Amazon Business already serves millions of organizations — including most of the Fortune 100 — and drives up tens of billions in annualized gross sales. The additions unveiled at Reshape 2025 are less about expanding selection and more about orchestrating the flow of spend across those customers. In effect, Amazon is positioning itself not just as a supplier, but as the intelligence layer that governs how purchasing happens.

For distributors, the takeaway is direct: competing in this environment requires deeper integration with customer procurement systems, cleaner and more structured catalog data, and a readiness to face constant, automated price comparison. The more procurement decisions are shaped inside AI-driven tools like Amazon Business Assistant, Savings Insights, and Spend Anomaly Monitoring, the more essential it becomes for distributors to show up — competitively and consistently — in the places where those tools are making decisions.

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