Amazon Business launches AI assistant for organizational purchasing

Amazon announced on November 12, 2025, new artificial intelligence capabilities for Amazon Business that enable organizations to reduce purchasing costs through automated guidance, according to the company's announcement at its Reshape conference. The Amazon Business Assistant provides conversational support for account configuration while analyzing purchase patterns to recommend efficiency improvements.

The announcement extends Amazon's broader AI agent strategy across its advertising and e-commerce platforms, with similar technologies now reaching procurement workflows. Amazon Business serves more than eight million organizations globally, including 97 of the Fortune 100 companies, according to the announcement. The platform generated over $35 billion in annualized gross sales with strong adoption across multiple sectors.

Shelley Salomon, vice president of Amazon Business, stated the company has "redefined how organizations manage purchasing by delivering a faster, smarter, and more transparent buying experience" over the past decade. The new AI-enhanced tools aim to help organizations "reduce costs, make data-driven buying decisions, and get support when and where they need it," according to the announcement.

Conversational assistant provides instant account support

Amazon Business Assistant launched on November 12 for U.S. customers at no additional cost. The tool combines Amazon's purchasing expertise with conversational AI to provide instant recommendations on account configuration and purchasing efficiency. Users access the assistant through an orange icon on their Amazon Business account page via desktop or laptop computers.

The assistant analyzes past purchase history to suggest more efficient buying methods and continues learning through user interactions and feedback ratings. When optimization opportunities arise, the tool automatically appears on the account page with context-specific support based on account settings. The technology operates through Amazon Bedrock, AWS's managed service for building generative AI applications.

All features announced at Reshape 2025 utilize Amazon Bedrock infrastructure, enabling Amazon Business to deploy AI capabilities across its enterprise purchasing platform. The same foundational technology powers Amazon's advertising AI agents and seller platform automation, demonstrating Amazon's unified approach to deploying AI across commercial operations.

Business Prime members gain analytics-driven savings discovery

Savings Insights launches in coming weeks for U.S. Business Prime members, providing AI-enabled analysis of purchase history and pricing patterns. The feature reduces time spent identifying buying trends by delivering recommendations through a dashboard interface accessible within Amazon Business Analytics.

Business Prime members with paid plans can access Savings Insights by navigating to the Amazon Business Analytics tab and selecting the Savings Insights section. The dashboard highlights eligible savings opportunities including quantity discounts for bulk purchases, lower-priced options from existing sellers, higher-value pack sizes, and Subscribe & Save options.

The analytics capability matters for procurement teams managing hundreds or thousands of purchase orders across multiple product categories. Traditional spend analysis requires manual data extraction, spreadsheet manipulation, and pattern recognition across fragmented purchasing systems. Automated insights eliminate operational overhead while surfacing actionable recommendations that directly impact cost structures.

Business Prime Enterprise plan administrators gain access to Spend Anomaly Monitoring, which automatically detects unusual purchasing patterns. The dashboard analyzes purchase history, pricing, and account settings to alert administrators about potential irregularities across four areas: orders from rarely purchased categories, irregular item repurchases, excessive daily spend patterns, and split purchases that might bypass approval thresholds.

Administrators access Spend Anomaly Monitoring by logging into Amazon Business accounts and navigating to the Business Analytics tab, then selecting the Insights section and choosing Spend Anomaly. The monitoring capability helps administrators oversee organizational purchasing without implementing restrictive controls that slow procurement workflows.

Industrial solutions target supply chain disruption prediction

Amazon Business, AWS, and Deloitte announced collaboration on two AI-powered solutions designed for industrial sectors. Built on Deloitte's IntelligentOps platform and enabled by Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker AI, the solutions aim to shift operations from reactive problem-solving to proactive decision-making in manufacturing and energy sectors.

The industrial manufacturing solution becomes available to select manufacturers in early 2026, analyzing patterns to predict potential parts and inventory disruptions before they occur. AI agents simplify order management, supplier quality oversight, and demand forecasting to improve operational transparency.

When potential disruptions are identified, the solution alerts manufacturers and recommends specific actions such as reallocating existing inventory or expediting shipping for compatible parts to minimize production delays. Plant managers will access the dashboard through their Amazon Business accounts to manage orders, review material needs, and plan production timelines. The solution expands to additional industrial sectors later in 2026.

The power utility asset management solution launches for U.S. utility organizations in early 2026, enhancing grid reliability through AI-driven diagnostics, geo-spatial analysis, and predictive modeling. The solution shares material replacement timelines and vegetation management data with utility organizations and Amazon Business to facilitate quick fulfillment and asset replacement.

This approach enables power utilities to predict and fulfill material needs dynamically through Amazon Business, decreasing response times and helping reduce unexpected service outages, particularly following severe weather events. The solutions represent what the announcement characterizes as "a significant leap" in operational efficiency for industrial manufacturers and utility providers.

Amazon Business reaches $35 billion in annual sales

Amazon Business has grown since its 2015 U.S. launch to serve organizations across 11 countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The platform actively serves more than eight million organizations globally, excluding emerging geographies, including 66 of the FTSE 100 and 38 of the DAX 40 companies.

Procurement and business leaders benefit from shipping options on hundreds of millions of supplies across categories including office, IT, janitorial, and food service. Business-tailored features include curated site experience, Business Prime membership, business-only pricing and selection, single or multi-user business accounts, approval workflows, purchasing system integrations, payment solutions, tax exemptions, and dedicated customer support.

The $35 billion figure demonstrates Amazon Business has achieved significant scale within the organizational purchasing market, competing against traditional B2B distributors and specialized procurement platforms. The platform's growth rate and customer retention indicate sustained demand for simplified purchasing workflows and consolidated supplier access.

Amazon Business continues developing technologies that help organizations define, meet, and proactively measure progress toward purchasing budgets and goals. The announcement states the company works closely with customers to understand business buying challenges and develop solutions addressing operational pain points.

AI deployment across Amazon's commercial infrastructure

The Amazon Business AI capabilities announced on November 12 align with Amazon's accelerated deployment of AI agents across its advertising platforms during the same week. Amazon unified its DSP and sponsored ads console on November 10, launched AI agents for campaign management on November 11, and introduced a Model Context Protocol Server on November 13 for natural language interactions with advertising APIs.

Amazon Bedrock serves as foundational infrastructure enabling this coordinated AI rollout. The managed service provides access to foundation models from Amazon Nova and Anthropic Claude, allowing Amazon to deploy similar AI capabilities across distinct business units simultaneously. Amazon's third-quarter advertising revenue reached $17.7 billion with 22% year-over-year growth, demonstrating the commercial impact of AI integration across its platforms.

The timing matters for marketing professionals because it reveals Amazon's systematic approach to deploying AI across all commercial touchpoints. Organizations purchasing advertising inventory through Amazon DSP now interact with AI agents for campaign targeting and optimization. Those same organizations purchasing office supplies, IT equipment, and industrial materials through Amazon Business encounter similar AI-driven recommendations and automation.

This unified infrastructure creates consistent experiences across previously separate Amazon commercial platforms while generating operational efficiencies through shared technology investments. The Amazon Bedrock foundation enables rapid deployment of new AI capabilities without requiring separate development efforts for each business unit.

Industrial manufacturing and utility solutions demonstrate Amazon's expansion beyond traditional e-commerce into complex B2B scenarios requiring specialized domain expertise. The collaboration with Deloitte provides industry knowledge while Amazon contributes logistics capabilities and AWS provides AI infrastructure through Bedrock and SageMaker.

Predictive maintenance and inventory optimization represent high-value use cases for AI in industrial operations, where production disruptions and unplanned downtime generate substantial financial losses. The solutions aim to prevent these costly events through pattern recognition and proactive intervention rather than reactive problem-solving.

Amazon Business purchasing automation reflects broader shifts in how organizations procure goods and services. Traditional procurement processes involve manual catalog searches, price comparisons across vendors, purchase requisition approvals, and reconciliation with accounting systems. AI-powered assistants automate routine tasks while providing strategic recommendations based on comprehensive data analysis.

The competitive implications extend beyond Amazon's direct B2B competitors to include procurement software vendors and purchasing optimization consultants. Organizations that previously relied on specialized analytics tools or external expertise for spend management can now access similar capabilities through integrated Amazon Business features at no additional cost.

Timeline

• September 17, 2025: Amazon introduces agentic AI across seller platform with autonomous account monitoring and inventory optimization
• November 10, 2025: Amazon enhances Performance+ and Brand+ with AI improvements featuring refined AI models and insight cards
• November 11, 2025: Amazon launches AI agent for automated campaign management across Amazon DSP and Marketing Cloud
• November 11, 2025: Amazon extends Marketing Cloud lookback window from 13 to 25 months for comprehensive year-over-year analysis
• November 12, 2025: Amazon Business announces AI Assistant, Savings Insights, and industrial manufacturing solutions at Reshape conference
• November 13, 2025: Amazon launches closed beta for AI agent advertising integration via Model Context Protocol Server
• Early 2026: Industrial manufacturing solution becomes available to select manufacturers
• Early 2026: Power utility asset management solution launches for U.S. utility organizations

Summary

Who: Amazon Business announced new AI capabilities for more than eight million organizational customers globally, including 97 of the Fortune 100 companies, developed in collaboration with AWS and Deloitte.

What: Amazon launched Amazon Business Assistant providing conversational AI support, Savings Insights for Business Prime members analyzing purchase patterns, Spend Anomaly Monitoring for Enterprise plan administrators, and two industrial solutions for manufacturing and utility sectors built on Amazon Bedrock.

When: Amazon announced the capabilities on November 12, 2025, at the Amazon Business Reshape conference, with Amazon Business Assistant launching immediately for U.S. customers and Savings Insights rolling out in coming weeks. Industrial solutions launch in early 2026.

Where: Amazon Business Assistant is available to U.S. customers through desktop and laptop computers via the Amazon Business account page. Savings Insights and Spend Anomaly Monitoring operate within Amazon Business Analytics dashboards. Industrial solutions will serve select manufacturers and U.S. utility organizations.

Why: The AI tools aim to help organizations reduce costs, automate routine purchasing tasks, make data-driven buying decisions, and shift from reactive problem-solving to proactive decision-making in supply chain management and industrial operations.