B2B supplies marketplace giant Amazon Business shared its 2024 State of Procurement Report on Nov. 14, which detailed that a majority of procurement teams expect their budgets to rise next year, and many leaders are evaluating how they can further invest in tools and technologies to optimize a strategic approach to business buying.

Highlighting B2B trends and global insights around procurement needs, priorities and challenges, the third annual report features insights from government, financial services, hospitality & foodservice, health care services, manufacturing, medical & pharma, retail and telecom industries. The insights stem from buyers in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain.

The report summarized the findings from its survey of 3,108 procurement decision-makers and executives around the world in partnership with KRC Research.

Amazon Business’ Worldwide Director, Todd Heimes, joined the MDM Podcast earlier this month to discuss the marketplace’s rapid growth and why it still sees immense opportunity ahead.

Among the report’s key findings are that 53% of respondents expect their procurement budgets to increase in 2024 vs. 2023, and 98% indicated they were planning investments in analytics and insights tools, automation and AI over the next few years.

Other findings included the following stats:

• 44% of respondents listed efficiency and complexity as a challenge facing procurement. Those are listed as the top internal challenges facing procurement today.
• 36% of respondents indicated that rising costs for purchases is the top external challenge facing procurement today
• “Costs and budgets” was picked as the top risk facing procurement over the next two years, picked by 29% of respondents. Markets and supply chain volatility was next at 25%.
• “Retaining and developing existing talent” was picked as the top priority facing procurement over the next two years, picked by 86% of respondents. Attracting or hiring top new talent was close behind at 84.
• 95% of respondents indicated their organization has to outsource procurement activities to third parties
• 95% of respondents say indicated procurement has room for optimization
• 81% of respondents have internal or external mandates to purchase from different types of certified sellers. Many of those — 4 in 10 — who do n’t have required responsible purchasing goals still take supplier ESG factors into consideration.
• 85% of respondents say the difficulty of sourcing suppliers that follow sustainable practices prevents their company from setting or achieving sustainability goals for procurement

“We are entering a new era of smart business buying where senior leaders are understanding the impact procurement can have on efficiency and overall company success,” Alexandre Gagnon, Vice President of Amazon Business Worldwide, said in a news release. “Heading into 2024, the procurement function is now cross-disciplinary, spanning both functional and strategic purviews as buyers are planning to invest more in technology and optimization while future-proofing their companies and organizations.”

Many more details can be found by downloading the report from here.