Amazon Business at Reshape: scale and an AI push
Brian attended Amazon Business’s Reshape conference in Nashville, which he said drew about 3,000 people, including more than 2,500 procurement officers from organizations such as the State of Illinois, the federal government, and Exxon. Amazon Business reports $60 billion in annualized gross sales and says it is trusted by 11 million organizations worldwide. It launched in 2015. Every announcement at the conference, Brian said, concerned AI tools that help procurement teams work more efficiently, and Amazon is investing about $200 billion in AI this year.
From non-managed spend to managed spend
Brian explained that much of Amazon Business’s volume comes from non-managed spend, which is unplanned purchasing to meet an immediate need: something broke, and the buyer needs one, two, or ten of them. Andy noted that Amazon has barely started on that opportunity and that it remains very real and disruptive to distributors.
Amazon is now going after managed spend as well, meaning purchases made through negotiated agreements with vendors, often on multi-year contracts. Managed spend is the bulk of B2B purchasing at midsize and larger organizations, and Amazon is building AI-driven tools to pursue it.
Vending machines and the distributor playbook
Brian described how Amazon is borrowing from the traditional distributor playbook. Distributors have long tried to differentiate through services such as vendor managed inventory and vending machines, because those services are stickier than individual transactions. Amazon Business now places vending machines in customer facilities through its Restock program, with auto-replenishment, and offers return lockers, so a worker can check out a hard hat for a day and check it back in.
Brian shared an irony. Amazon Business told him that, in its own fulfillment centers, certain personal protective equipment is managed through Fastenal vending machines. Andy asked whether Amazon is studying how Fastenal runs those machines, how people use them, and how much they spend, and whether Amazon could eventually replace them. He said he had no inside knowledge, but it would not surprise him. Brian agreed that Amazon learns from incumbents and acts when it believes it can do a job better.
Amazon has done this before
Andy compared it to Amazon’s logistics history. Amazon once relied on FedEx and UPS, then built its own network. Brian said Amazon is now the largest domestic small-package shipper in the United States, ahead of FedEx and UPS, and is commercializing that capacity through Amazon Supply Chain Services. Andy added that AWS followed the same model: learn from others, then build and sell your own.
How distributors differentiate, and where AI changes it
Brian listed the traditional distributor differentiators: broad selection, competitive pricing, fast and reliable delivery, deep inventory and high fill rates, ease of ordering, credit terms, value-added services like kitting and customization, product expertise, application support, and dedicated account reps. His view is that Amazon now does roughly 80 percent of that list well. The exceptions he pointed to are product expertise, technical knowledge, application support, and personalized support.
Andy’s concern is that AI could close that gap. He recalled trying Amazon’s product support five or six years ago and reaching an agent reading from a manual. A chatbot today can speak in a voice the buyer prefers, know the purchase history, and answer questions about use cases.
You need to act like today is the first day of the rest of your lives, and what you saw happening even a year ago is dated.
Andy
Brian added that distributors who assume their customers do not buy this way need to challenge that assumption, because the buyer is driving the change.
Where distributors still have an edge
Andy sees value-added services as the most defensible position: customization, kitting, and assembly, which require domain expertise and are hard for Amazon to deliver at scale in industries where liability and safety matter. He said too many distributors still think primarily about selling products.
Too many distributors still think about their businesses primarily about selling products.
Andy
He pointed to Hilti, the construction tool maker, which sells a fleet management model in which the customer has a subscription that covers service and replacement. Margins on stickier services are better than margins on products, and he said that is the mindset shift distributors need. Brian called the gap Amazon’s Achilles heel. Amazon grew up as a technology and automation business, and solution selling is uncomfortable for it. Its Amazon Business team includes a senior hire from Grainger who runs a team of 50, but Brian said they are not industry experts, and areas like installation, design, and technical support through the process are hard for Amazon to build.
A call to action, and a partner idea
Brian’s call to action for distributors: go beyond price, selection, and procurement integrations, double down on solutioning and niches, and find new ways to add value for a younger buyer. Andy floated a longer-term scenario in which small local distributors become channel partners to Amazon. Buyers purchase on Amazon, and the local distributor fulfills, services, and adds expertise, which would move the distributor into higher-margin work. Andy said few distributors have that mindset today, though some would adopt it.
The conversation continues at the Master B2B Mindshare Summit, March 16-17, 2027, with attendance capped at 300 and a format built on peer-to-peer conversations instead of booths and pitches. Details are at summit.masterb2b.com.