David Versus goliath

This article first appeared in the April 2025 publcation of Workplace360 magazine.

Hands up if you can remember May the 4th 2017? I know it’s only 8 years ago and you may have some personal reasons to remember some of 2017, but can you remember May the 4th (this is not a Star Wars joke by the way!)?

I can.

Actually, I can’t remember that actual day itself, but I do remember the impact of something that happened that day.

I’ll tell you. May the 4th 2017 was the day that Amazon Business was launched in the UK.

“A new service to meet the procurement needs of a businesses of every size” apparently.

It launched with the promise to offer businesses (or every size) some key features, such as:

• Free One-Day Delivery on orders of £30 or more

• VAT Invoicing

• Business Analytics to allow businesses to gain visibility and control of their spending

• Multiple user account set up with set spending limits, purchasing approvals

And access to lots (and lots and lots) of products. From a single source of supply.

Really? Is that it? So nothing that we, as a so-called leading independent office supplies company at that time don’t already do. We do all of that. So what if they boast 250,000 business products, we have access to about 20,000….that covers pretty much everything anyone will need for their business. And our customers love us and we are trusted and and and and. Move along. Nothing to see here….!

Fast forward about, what, a year, maybe less, and boom, there goes the margin positive ‘tail end’ product sales we regularly enjoyed (maybe took for granted) from our customers.

Ouch. That smarts a bit.

Let’s not panic. We still enjoy most of the (core) spend from our customers and they still love us. What do you mean we now only offer the same as all our other competitors, independent dealers, contract players, et al? And, what was that? They are all prepared to sell it cheaper than us? So it’s a race to the bottom again is it? Didn’t we all nearly ‘win’ that one when the big North American operators came to ‘take over’ the UK office supplies market a few years back?

Hopping forward again to today and we have seen Amazon Business take a, what, €1b a year bite out of the UK and Ireland’s business supplies market to become the biggest supplier to businesses of ‘our’ products.

How did that happen? Wow, these guys are good.

With Amazon announcing their new Amazon.IE in Ireland for 2025 I thought it was worth taking another look at what this means to the independent dealer.

Let’s start by taking a look at what they offer businesses today as, well, it must have moved on leaps and bounds since 2017 surely.

• Free shipping with orders over £20

• One day delivery with delivery scheduled shots

• Payment method options

• Simplified purchasing process and controls

• Quantity discounts

• Access to millions of products (millions now!)

I could add to this list but you can find it yourself readily enough.

I guess my point here is that if, you/me, as an independent dealer today, were to see a competitor launch this as a customer solution it wouldn’t likely raise even a small concern would it? Yet here we are seeing Amazon eating away at the B2B market like a hungry caterpillar every day.

So how do we, David (we are David by the way in case the title needs explaining) handle this Goliath, let alone defeat him?

Can I be blunt? We can’t. Not then and not now.

So, pull down the shutters, it’s game over for the independent dealer. And for the contract players too by the looks it. Cash in what you can and set about putting together the Online Muffin Shop / Cycling Tours around Wantage / Flower Pressing Classes for Cancelled Comedians business we really want to do.

What I mean by’ we can’t’ is that is we cannot defeat this Goliath at their own game. That ship has sailed and taken all our buried treasure from the 80’s and 90’s with it.

The sheer depth of the Amazon Business commercial offering is, at face value, too big and broad and powerful to compete with. And will only evolve.

And yet, the independent dealer today still continues to survive and, if you will allow me to whisper it softly, occasionally flourish.

How come?

As always, and it NEVER changes, it is because of the customer.

‘Of course it is’ I can hear you say. ‘What is this article, The Statement of The Bleeding Obvious?’

But have we really taken notice of the customers wants and needs? Have we adapted to their expectations and experiences. Do we really know what they are?

The answer to the last question is actually staring us in the face in the shape of Amazon Businesses’ success in the UK market to date.

When I look at the commercial offering of Amazon Business today, I don’t see anything that wasn’t apparent and available to businesses from the independent dealer many years before they arrived and is still more than available today.

I will concede that fact that AB can offer sooooo many more products (‘millions’)- although I still can’t see why businesses would want to access to millions of products when they only regularly use, what less than 1,000 different SKU’s. I certainly won’t conceded that Amazon’s original market presence was based on being ‘cheaper’ than anyone else still holds water. Nor can we accept that ‘one-day’ delivery is a game changer - that landed about the same time as the original single source solution became a thing in the 80’s.

No sir. The AB B2B solution has taken hold because of some very simple principles

• The customers finds them easy to use (of course they do, pretty much every one of the Business customers is likely to use Amazon personally too – the business customer is VERY comfortable with the user experience)

• The customer knows they can source anything the need ‘from a single source of supply’ - even if it isn’t a single supplier. This is a very simple yet powerful difference I’m not sure we all do a great job of demonstrating in our own offerings

• The customer is aware of them/knows about them/can find them easily

• The customer trusts them!

That last point. They trust them. Amazon Business have gathered pace as a trusted supplier through proving they will do what they say. Over and over. And, add to that again, the high levels of familiarity and comfort the business user has experienced as a personal customer. Habit is a very powerful thing, especially combined with convenience.

Taking on Goliath

I’ve already said that I don’t believe for one minute we can take on AB at their own game. Yet, I truly believe (actually I know) that any independent dealer will be able to ‘compete’ with Amazon’s commercial customer solution summarised above.

But, in order to do so, we have to focus, like never before, on the customer. And not just every and any customer. We have to focus on the customer who values what we do and sees you as a partner to their business not just a supplier of products (and services).

But which customers will value you in this way?

I’ve got some great news. Lots of them. A lot of them are Amazon Business customers. They are the customers who are using AB because of convenience and trust and being able to source all of their products from a single source of supply. Nothing you can’t do. That’s a positive start.

Dig just a little deeper and take a look at an example of the kind of customer who I am talking about. Not the business itself but the actual customer – the person who is responsible for making the decision as to who they use. And why they use them.

I’m generalising now but I’m going to bet in a lot of cases that person has the responsibility to make sure everything is ordered and available and deliverable for their business. But I bet it isn’t their actual job. It is possibly part of their job or maybe even something they have been given to do. That is why they are not only drawn to Amazon Business – ease of use, convenience, familiarity, trust - but they are often the people it is most difficult to make contact with as a salesperson. It is just isn’t important enough. It just isn’t worthwhile looking at other options. Nobody is going to thank them for choosing you over a worldwide trusted solution like Amazon if it goes wrong. Who would make that decision and sully a reputation for something that isn’t even their main job?

Generalising again, this is typically a small business. A start-up business possibly/probably. SOHO users of course. Businesses where multiple box deliveries, fluctuations in purchase prices of low value items, where it comes from, etc are not business critical. Amazon Business are absolutely cleaning up in this kind of customer. I think they are a tough kind of Amazon Business customer to crack.

Raise your sights a little higher and you find the mid-market customer. Let’s say those businesses who employ more than 10 employees, possibly up to 100. Any sector will do, it doesn’t matter (that is another article for sure). This customer’s decision motivations evolves into want rather than just need. Often they will know what they want but very often they won’t know what they need for their business. For themselves even.

And this area, for me, is the most fertile hunting ground for the independent dealer.

Why? Because the value of a trusted supplier relationship replaces (or enhances) the merits of a trusted supplier. The ability to trust a partner to manage their business for them, to help them, guide them, advise them, becomes truly valued.

Yes you have to tick the commercial boxes but I hope I’ve already covered that and you agree that, really, there isn’t anything out-of-this-world from Amazon Business you can’t compete with.

And for me, this is where a diversified customer solution comes into its own. As a small / start-up business grows its needs change. The need for more products and services is there. That ‘buyer’ who was taking an hour or so a week or a few minutes a day to order the products is now spending more time finding and sourcing and buying stuff and spending less time on their actual job. The business itself is starting to notice the spend levels, the changing costs of the products themselves, the number of boxes arriving, the admin and payment processing time. All the things that gave birth to the original single source solution are, and will always be, evident to developing business.

Raise the view again to slightly larger businesses, let’s say as many as 250 employees and the needs of that business are not really that different, just an expanded version of the smaller business customer. I’ve always loved this kind of ‘mid-market’ customer (10-250 employees say) as I’ve always seen/experienced this as the kind of customer who not only appreciates the solutions of an independent dealer but, more importantly, actually values what you do – i.e. are prepared to pay a fair price for it.

I use the term ‘mid-market’ customer as a catch-all but, in simple terms, it really is any business customer who is not yet big enough to dedicate a procurement resource but is starting to feel the impact of changing needs of their business.

And those businesses are, for me, the perfect kind of customer for a diversified product and service offering ‘from a single source of supply’.

Is it that simple?

No it isn’t. It never is. It can’t be. If it was we’d all do it and everyone would win. Taking on a Goliath like Amazon Business at their own game is not the smartest idea. But you don’t have to compete with Amazon Business at their game. The independent dealer can match the core commercial offering but also has so many more areas in which they can add value; be that personal contact, on-hand expertise/knowledge, being local, your own delivery personnel, consolidated deliveries, and so on. These are all value-added features that the customer will benefit from.

Adding value as a supply partner to your customers doesn’t come just from broadening your range or products and services through diversification. Seeing as my TSP and colleagues and I have written half a dozen articles now on the subject of diversification you know where our mindset is on this subject – you have to do it. Where you start, how you evolve, which areas etc. are wonderfully varied and business specific.

Correct that. It isn’t your business specific; it is customer specific. Your customer will determine which areas you need to explore and embrace as they grow and evolve. Stay close and understand their business and you are firmer ground. That customer will vote with their feet if you don’t.

That may be tempted by a competitor of yours if you don’t diversify. Or it could be they take the path of least resistance and just go and buy from a place they can find easily and feel most comfortable and familiar with. Any ideas who?

Gary Naphtali has enjoyed a 30-year career in sales and sales leadership roles and led businesses and teams from start-up to mutli-channel organisatons. Gary has advised businesses and organisations at a regional, national and international level, and coached, mentored and trained individuals - from trainee to board level - in more than a 100 businesses.