Amazon’s b2b unit to hit $10 billion

Amazon.com is having some luck getting buyers of corporate office supplies to shop like teenagers armed with their parents' credit card.

Amazon Business, the company's business-to-business sales program, is on track to post sales of more than $10 billion over 12 months, assuming the company keeps up the pace it recorded between June and August, Amazon said this week.

That's up from the cumulative $1 billion sales reached before the end of the program's first year, in 2016 - a sign of the Seattle company's success in selling to corporate procurement offices, and the manufacturers that supply them.

Amazon grew into a retail giant by expanding into ever larger slices of online consumer retail, using expertise built up selling books and media to break into categories such as housewares, electronics and auto parts.

Six years ago, the company set off to replicate that success with corporate business. It launched a precursor to its business-only shopping portal, rolling out custom features designed to please corporate buyers who might otherwise rely on competitors such as Office Depot or specialty suppliers.