4 golden rules for improving your Class C purchases

Class C purchases or spot buys representing a small 5% fraction of the total spend but a big 60% amount of PO is in general a pain and not a focus unless outsourced to one or several specialists.

Manutan is one of those specialists and since years is publishing very good content about their core business : taking over on the complexity of managing the spend tail. For more than 10 years, Manutan has been providing hundreds of customers with support and guidance about Class C purchases and in one of their article they are underlining 3 golden rules to follow in order to streamline Class C purchases :

” 1. Work with a supplier offering an extensive product range (addressing the “long tail”), providing logistical services to all the company’s sites and issuing highly detailed reports. Data is the keyword in this area.
2. Implement an e-procurement solution. Programs are currently available to suit all types of company and budget. Examples include Punch-Out, hosted catalogues and other solutions for companies without an e?procurement system.
3. Ensure that the supplier knows how to work with your procurement department in order to sign a blanket agreement and also communicate with users to promote the agreement, such as through on-the-ground visits”.

I would add to the above a 4th and # 1 rule :

4. Ensure the supplier provides extensive monitoring and reporting capabilities – also called data driven capabilities – so that you can improve the way you manage your Class C and ‘your’ user experience to further reduce costs or enhance efficiencies.