Social and environmental considerations are playing a larger role in the procurement process. Increasingly, over the past year, expectations between consumer and business purchasing experiences have become blurred as business buyers expect the same fast, convenient, and personalized digital buying capabilities they’ve grown accustomed to at home. And consumers want to support diversity and sustainability products and initiatives from the brands they give their dollars to. The 2021 Amazon Business B2B E-commerce in Evolution report revealed that the consumer push to prioritize social and environmental issues is also important to both B2B buyers and sellers, in all industries.

• While increasing efficiency was the top buyer procurement priority for 2021, improving sustainability in purchasing, supporting local businesses within our community, and increasing diversity among suppliers were all close behind.
• Additionally, many buyers said their companies plan to increase their purchasing budgets reserved for Black and minority-owned businesses in 2021; and of those, almost half plan to increase their budgets by 20% or more.