Amazon Business to procurement professionals: Get ready for AI agents to buy for you

Matt Yanchyshyn, vice president of marketplace and partner services for Amazon Web Services, closed out the Amazon Business Reshape conference in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday by making a bold claim from the main stage, “I do think we will be talking about agentic payments at scale this time next year.”

Speakers at the two-day user conference for Amazon’s business-to-business procurement marketplace nevertheless emphasized that agentic procurement is still developing and that companies have time to get started. “It’s not too late,” Céline Vuillequez, vice president of Amazon Business Europe, said, also during the closing session. “The best time to start is now.”

Companies looking to introduce AI agents into procurement should resist the temptation to tackle large strategic purchasing categories first, Vuillequez said. “You should do the opposite, you should start with the tail, with small purchases,” she advised. “Set categories and spending limits so you can step back easily if you need to.”

Indeed, establishing governance and the level of supervision for AI agents is essential, says Vuillequez. She advised companies to:

This story was originally published by Supply Chain Quarterly. Read the full story at Supply Chain Quarterly →