AmazonSupply have launched in Beta a new site aiming to offer Earth’s largest selection of essential products for businesses, labs, workshops and factories. They have more than half a million essential products for business and industry covering everything from sheet metal to a glass test tube and a replacement mop head.
Not only that but Amazon are offering a 365 day returns policy on all products so if a business over orders on a project they can get a refund at any time up to a year. There are no restocking fees, no need to give a reason for the return, no hassles – just ship the excess back to AmazonSupply for a refund. The only goods that can’t be returned are those with special shipping restrictions such as hazardous materials.
Amazon have also made one change which is possibly the most surprising part of AmazonSupply, it’s not a pure play online business – you can order from Amazon Supply offline by telephone. You can simply ring AmazonSupply from 8:30am to 7:00pm to place your order and if it’s valued at over $50 there’s free two day shipping.
AmazonSupply grew out of SmallParts who joined the Amazon family in 2005 and focused on tubing, parts and fasteners for the medical supply and research industries. They have now expanded and Amazonified both their service and selection hence the rebranding as AmazonSupply although they continue to supply 10,000 items branded as SmallParts.
With Amazon’s typical lack of concern of immediate profit (It took seven years for Amazon to turn their first profit), AmazonSupply is a real threat to the traditional business suppliers. They’re likely to be all about building turnover and building a reputation as the best business suppliers in the world rather than worrying about whether they are making immediate profits.
At the moment it’s unclear if third party merchants will be invited to sell on AmazonSupply, this could be a massive opportunity for expansion for them in the future.
It’s not known when trade supplies from Amazon might be available in the UK or other territories but in the mean time, in the US at least, AmazonSupply is open for business.
Many thanks to John Hayes of iContact for the tip on this story
