Procurement and supply chain directors want more sustainability and visibility into the products and services they buy online and offline from B2B sellers, according to a recent Amazon Business survey of over 3,000 procurement pros.

For example, 94% of companies want to know the place of origin for the products they procure for their organization, and 90% want to know the type of transportation used to ship the products.

“With a clear vision for more responsible purchasing, the question is whether or not organizations are positioned to execute that goal,” the Amazon report says. “Even though six in 10 respondents have mandates for sellers that follow sustainable practices — and many more would like to purchase from these sellers even if not required — 85% of respondents say the difficulty of sourcing suppliers who follow sustainable practices prevents their company from setting or achieving sustainability goals for procurement.”

As B2B companies deal with procurement costs, staffing, and supply chain issues, they focus on digital transformation strategies. More than half of survey respondents said they already use such procurement applications as analytics, automation and electronic invoices, the Amazon Business study found.

At the same time, more than two-thirds of respondents said they face such challenges as retaining and developing procurement staff talent, cutting procurement costs and building resilient supply chains.

“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,” says Alexandre Gagnon, vice president of Amazon Business Worldwide.

Sign up

Sign up for a complimentary subscription to Digital Commerce 360 B2B News, published 4x/week. It covers technology and business trends in the growing B2B ecommerce industry. Contact Mark Brohan, senior vice president of B2B and Market Research, at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @markbrohan. Follow us on LinkedIn and be the first to know when we publish Digital Commerce 360 B2B News content.