Why you should separate home and work purchases: 5 common myths debunked

For many small business owners, the boundary between work and personal life gets fuzzy. Knowing where to keep things separate can make your business more efficient. 

When it comes to purchasing, some small business owners we talk to, particularly sole proprietors, use their personal Amazon.com accounts to buy for home and for work. Let’s look at five of the most common misconceptions we hear from small business owners about their purchasing behavior and see how separating your work and personal shopping can help.

Myth #1: “I can easily find everything I need for my business on Amazon.com."

Amazon.com is built for personal shopping. Amazon Business is built for business purchasing, which means we've curated each storefront with your needs in mind. On Amazon Business, you get access to business-relevant selection from hundreds of thousands of sellers. For small businesses, it’s a one-stop shop where you can consolidate purchases.

Plus, with a free Amazon Business account, you can save money with business-only pricing on eligible items and everyday deals tailored to businesses. And because we know that you’re more likely to purchase in higher quantities for work, we offer Quantity Discounts starting at just 2+ units on eligible items on Amazon Business. 

Myth #2: “I save time by buying for my home and my business all at once.”

While it may seem like it saves time to add that bag of dog food to your cart while you’re stocking up on supplies for your office at work, you’re actually making your job harder. When you mix your business purchases with your personal shopping, it’s harder to track business expenses, invoices, and taxes separately from your personal purchases, and you miss out on critical time and money-saving opportunities that can help you run your business better.

Moving your business purchasing to an Amazon Business account can help you:

1. Order, and reorder, faster with a tailored user experience: When you buy for home on Amazon.com, you can take advantage of personalized recommendations, easy reordering from your order history, and search and navigation that helps you save time on your personal shopping. When you buy for work on Amazon Business, you’ll find business-relevant selection, recommendations, and tools to expedite re-ordering that will save you time on your business purchasing.
   
2. Save time on reconciliation with line-item transaction details: Amazon Business can reduce the time you spend reconciling business purchases and reduce the risk of errors from manual expense reconciliation. Automate the process by receiving line-item detail on every Amazon Business purchase made with eligible commercial cards through your existing billing and data feeds. 
3. Automate reporting: Save time compiling recurring reports with Amazon Business Analytics, which automatically pulls in Amazon Business spend data to populate canned or custom reports. Use the data to identify your purchasing patterns and find ways to save money and buy more efficiently. And at tax time, you’ll be ready with reports that give you a clear picture on your expenses.

Myth #3: “I’m the only one buying for my business, so it will be a hassle to switch back and forth from my personal to my business account.”

It’s easy to switch between your personal Amazon and business accounts. You don’t need to log out and log back in to switch accounts, and you will maintain a safe separation of information for better security. Just go to go your account drop down menu and tap on “Switch Accounts.”

Additionally, consider your goals. Most small businesses want to grow, which means they need to build to scale. Adding more team members to your Amazon Business account will help. You'll be able to delegate responsibility, and you'll maintain visibility and control over team members' purchases with built-in features for multi-user account management. 

Myth #4: “Since I’m always on the go, I need to make purchases from anywhere. I can only shop on Amazon Business when I’m at work.”

The Amazon Shopping app supports both your personal and business accounts. You can switch seamlessly between accounts on any device, including your work computer, home computer, mobile phone, or tablet. You can purchase for your business wherever you go, whenever you want. 

The mobile app also makes it easy to manage your team’s purchasing when you’re on the go. When team members make purchases, you can use the app to quickly approve or reject their orders with just a few taps.

Myth #5: "If I switch to Amazon Business, I'll lose the Amazon Prime benefits I love.”

Already enjoying Prime at home? You can keep your personal Prime benefits and unlock additional benefits suited for work by adding Business Prime Duo to your existing Amazon Prime account for only an additional $69 a year.

Business Prime Duo gets you access to convenient, free shipping on eligible purchases on Amazon Business and Progressive Discounts that unlock higher savings the more you buy of eligible items. You'll also get exclusive member-only offers and benefits like Instant Customer Feedback by Delighted.

With Business Prime Duo, you can also apply for the Amazon Business Prime American Express Card. Cardmembers can earn rewards or enjoy flexible payment terms like 5% Back or 90 Day Terms on U.S. purchases at Amazon Business, AWS, Amazon.com and Whole Foods Market with an eligible Prime membership (Earn 5% Back on the first $120,000 in purchases each calendar year, 1% Back thereafter).

With Business Prime Duo, you can have the best of Amazon for home and the best of Amazon Business for work.

When you separate your work and home purchases by moving business purchasing to Amazon Business, you establish boundaries that can help you run your business better.

For Roland Strobel, owner of the vegan restaurant The Cider Press Café, Amazon Business has become a one-stop shop that helps him do more in less time. “Amazon Business has such wide range of products that it’s become a regular supplier for many different needs from specialty food items, paper goods, kitchen supplies, even building maintenance and repair. Because I’m often pressed for time, I find it’s fastest if I go directly to Amazon Business to search for what I need.”

Learn more about how Amazon Business can work for your small business or get started now by registering for a free account.