Top Strategies for Reducing Procurement Costs

A company’s base product price can go up significantly when indirect procurement fees like administrative, overhead, and transportation are added to the direct costs of purchasing suppliers and materials.

You should expect your overall expenses to rise and your profit margins to fall as a result of adding on procurement and purchasing-related costs including shipping fees, transaction charges, and higher unit prices for small purchases.

Supplier price depends on many factors, so you can never be guaranteed a good bargain. Although it may be difficult, it is possible to get procurement under control by using the right strategy and tactics to negotiate fair pricing for items and avoid unnecessary expenses.

This article goes over the P2P cycle, all its components, and how much they cost.

What is Procurement Costs?

A company’s method for acquiring the supplies and services it needs to run its operations is known as the procure-to-pay (P2P) process. It covers the whole process, beginning with the request for products or services and ending with their accounting.

The expenses that arise from this purchase procedure are known as procurement costs. An important measure of a company’s financial health and spending patterns is these expenses. Businesses can learn a lot about their operations and the efficacy of their procurement strategy by analyzing procurement costs.

Not only do procurement expenses show how much the resources are worth, but they also show how those resources affect the company’s growth and overall position. Businesses can improve their buying selections and growth strategies by thoroughly analyzing procurement expenses.

The P2P process dictates how a company gets what it needs, and the procurement expenses show how well the company’s procurement operations are aligned with its overall strategy, how much they’re worth, and how efficient they are.

Some Instances of Procurement Costs?

Businesses should be mindful that additional fees may be beyond the base costs that affect the overall purchase price when they acquire goods or services from suppliers. You can reduce some of these procurement costs by being well-prepared and satisfying your suppliers’ needs. Custom orders, revisions to the scope or timing, refunds, and other scenarios may still incur expenses.

Out of 341 procurement experts and chief purchasing officers surveyed in 2023, 46% will make cost savings a top priority in the next years.

You should be aware that there are often additional costs associated with procurement that should be considered. These include shipping fees, which are applied if the order value does not meet the free delivery minimums, rush order upcharges, special packaging surcharges, small order processing fees, cancellation penalties, restocking fees, storage fees, and penalties for large orders that are canceled after production has begun.

Companies can improve their procurement cost management while acquiring operational goods and services by gaining insight into the factors that contribute to these various additional charges, developing streamlined procedures, and including budget contingency plans. To keep extra costs to a minimum, buyers must carefully balance factors such as personalization, order quantity, delivery logistics, and inventory flows with urgency.

Here are some examples of procurement costs:

Example 1- Additional Expenses for Shipment

Additional delivery costs may apply if your order total exceeds the minimum a supplier requires to qualify for free shipment. As an illustration, the supplier might impose a $10 delivery cost if the minimum order value is $100, but you only purchase $50 worth of merchandise.

Example 2- Overly Rushed Production Costs

You can be liable to pay additional rush costs if your custom order requires expedited production compared to the supplier’s usual timetable. For instance, if you want your furniture ordered in two weeks instead of four, the manufacturer may ask you for an extra $200.

Example 3- Additional Charges For Custom Packaging

There may be a packaging surcharge if you require non-standard packaging, such as crates or pallets, rather than the supplier’s normal cardboard boxes. As an example, a $20 pallet fee could be applied to a $50 order.

Example 4- Minimal Purchase Costs

Because they are less efficient at fulfilling small orders, some providers charge more for orders below a specific quantity. For orders under $300, a food distributor, for instance, might tack on a $5 minor processing fee.

Example 5- Fees For Cancellation

After a supplier has put time and effort into a particular or large order, there may be a cancellation fee depending on the work done. Canceling an order for 500 units already in production would incur a cost of $150, for instance.

Example 6- The cost of restocking

You can be responsible for paying restocking fees if you send an item back and the supplier has to put more effort into refilling it. An example restocking fee would be $60 for a $300 return, which is 20%.

Example 7- Storage costs

You can be responsible for storage fees while the goods are held at the supplier’s warehouse if you fail to collect them by the agreed-upon date. For instance, a big piece of equipment kept beyond the scheduled pickup date will incur a $ 10-day fee.

Top 5 Ways to Cut Down on Procurement Expenses

Way 1 – Begin the Art of Bargaining

Customers would rather not deal with vendors in a negotiation. However, if you want to save money for your company, you need to be upfront and honest with your suppliers about the prices. When both parties can agree on reasonable pricing, negotiations can move smoothly and provide positive results. This will increase the likelihood that your existing supplier will continue to work with you.

You must determine the significance of a single supplier to your product or service’s production cycle. 

Could you get your hands on a particular item or substance from another supplier if you needed it? To paraphrase, you should use extreme caution while bargaining with the supplier if they are your only valid option. 

They may rely on your business for most of their income, so you shouldn’t assume you need them more than they need you. Finding a happy medium would be beneficial for both sides in that situation. Get your figures in order before you even start talking to the supplier by finding out how much their materials typically cost on average.

Way 2 – Make Sure You Buy Just What You Need

Making smart purchases instead of buying the most expensive things. Marketing often tells people to buy in bulk to save money, but it’s important to think about the risk. Success depends on how well the things sell, and it’s not always easy to tell what will sell.

To set reasonable investment goals, you need to pick a reasonable number of items over an excessively big number. It’s better to have a reasonable number of things that you can handle well. It makes sense to order extras in case demand goes up, but care should be taken to avoid losing money on unnecessary losses.

Let’s say you want to start a small business selling items that you made yourself. It might be smarter to start with a moderate amount of materials instead of getting a lot of them all at once. 

You can test the market and see how much people want your items this way. If things do well with customers, you might want to make more of them and buy more materials. This method lowers the chance of losing money that comes with having too much inventory right from the start.

Way 3- Comparing Value and Brand Names

As a customer, it’s easy to be fooled by a brand. Things you buy from a well-known company may not be as good as cheaper choices, but you feel safer and more stylish when you do. 

It’s the same for businesses that buy from the most well-known sellers. They might have been in business for decades and made tens of millions of dollars in sales. You should ask yourself if their goods are worth the higher prices. The best way to buy something is to compare all of your choices based on several factors, with price and quality being the most important. 

For example, an engineer of your company might ask for “Brand X engines” because that product contains a good brand name, without being specific about the horsepower, emissions standards, size, etc. Even though it’s convenient, this habit can accidentally narrow choices to solutions that aren’t as good or as cost-effective for your company. 

Evaluate the market before relying on a specific company because maybe other sellers might be able to offer the same or better goods at lower prices.

A broader view can help you find options that have benefits that are greater than the costs of switching. Just make sure that any big changes to suppliers are supported by a full cost-benefit study of the whole supply chain.

The important thing is to make choices based on the total value over the whole lifecycle, not just the price of the initial purchase or the inertia of the company. This practice makes sure that the business gets the best results.

Way 4 – Get Rid of Price Comparisons

Choosing a service based on price is, without question, the top priority. Nonetheless, there are supplementary considerations that can ultimately have an effect that is at least as large as the final cost of the purchased good or service.

For instance, a product that is marginally more costly than a competitor’s might be the better option because of the vendor’s excellent customer service, ease of order placement, product quality, packaging, and prompt deliveries. In cases where each of these is first-rate, the savings made possible more than justify the initial investment in the product or service.

Way 5- Evaluate Current Agreements

As the production process advances and new acquisitions are made, some of the long-term procurement contracts become almost automated, with no one paying attention to them since they were considered satisfactory enough at the beginning. On the other hand, those contracts may not be as beneficial over time, so it’s important to review them frequently.

Occasionally, a competing vendor may emerge, potentially influencing the vendor selection process with drastically reduced costs or other compelling reasons. On the other hand, your long-term vendor cannot budge on pricing due to specific global trends, which could force you to renegotiate your contract.

Assessing the validity of long-standing contracts for your business may be worthwhile. The market may have altered due to changes in the economic climate if you have been collaborating with the same vendors for an extended period. Seeing this might make you look for other sellers with better deals. You can review your present suppliers and discuss a possible contract renewal with these new proposals.

Way 6- Invest in Procurement Outsourcing

One efficient way to keep procurement costs in check is to outsource related tasks. Working with an experienced procurement outsourcing partner gives you the peace of mind that all of the above methods will be applied on your behalf.

For instance, a savvy procurement outsourcing partner would use data and technology to control indirect procurement, approach prices and contracts logically, and ensure that you never have to worry about procurement fraud. This is only a tiny sampling of the options.

When you weigh the benefits of enhanced efficiency and cost savings throughout the procurement process against the price of hiring procurement outsourcing services, the former becomes more attractive due to their high level of expertise and personal attention. You can see the positive effects on your bottom line right away.

Managerial instructions must be followed. Asking yourself if the right individuals are ordering your stuff is a worthwhile endeavor, no matter how tough the question may be. You won’t be sorry you took the time to assess this if you don’t want to waste money on mistakes that can hurt your business down the road.

En resumen

To sum up, administrative fees, overhead, shipping charges, and higher pricing for small orders are examples of indirect procurement costs that can eat away at a company’s profitability by increasing basic product costs.

Fair supplier negotiations, ordering just what is needed, comparing value beyond brand names, evaluating total lifetime cost beyond initial price, reviewing contracts regularly, and outsourcing procurement to experienced partners are all ways for businesses to keep these costs in check. Organizations may safeguard their bottom line and reign in wasteful expenditure by strategically managing procurement costs with techniques like these.