Welcome to the fourth instalment of our procurement marketplace blog series—a series that will teach your procurement team everything you need to know about procure-to-pay marketplaces and how you can transform your agency and empower your employees with access to a marketplace platform.
So far, we’ve covered:
- What is a Procurement Marketplace? 5 Benefits You Can Expect with Centralized, Cloud-Based Tech
- Bridging the Gap Between On-Contract Spend and Staff Mobilization
- Compliance vs Savings in Purchasing: How an AI-Powered Marketplace Can Change the Game
This blog discusses what you should look for in a procurement marketplace to set your team up for the most success. That’s because, as the world becomes increasingly digital, more and more public agencies are turning to procurement marketplaces to streamline their purchasing processes.
These online platforms allow organizations to connect with suppliers and make purchases quickly and efficiently. However, not all procurement marketplaces are created equal. In fact, there are several key factors that you should consider when choosing a procurement marketplace for your organization. In this blog, we’ll discuss 5 important things you should consider when choosing a marketplace solution.
1. How Will You Onboard Your Suppliers?
One of the first things you need to consider when setting up a procurement marketplace is how you will onboard your suppliers. This process can be time-consuming and complicated without the right solution in place. When evaluating marketplace solutions, you should be considering a scalable method to onboard suppliers. The goal of a procurement marketplace, like Euna Procurement’s marketplace solution, is to achieve 100% vendor inclusion—meaning you should choose a solution that doesn’t limit marketplace connections, take crazy amounts of time to onboard vendors, and doesn’t require suppliers to expend a lot of time and money to create a marketplace shop.
Tip: Choose a solution with a single integration point to reduce IT burden & streamline supplier onboarding
Euna Procurement’s marketplace solution serves as a single connection point to your ERP, eliminating the need for an additional integration point for each supplier. We work directly with your suppliers to connect them to our Marketplace via quick connections or our free, integrated supplier storefronts. This allows suppliers to rapidly connect to the marketplace without the need for any involvement from your IT team.
2. Will DBEs Be Included in Your Marketplace?
Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBEs) are often left out of traditional procurement eCommerce configurations due to their lack of budget to create punchout stores (which can cost thousands of dollars) and their lack of IT resources to successfully connect to an ERP system. However, by including DBEs in your purpose-built procurement marketplace, you can promote equal treatment and create a more robust library of goods and services for your staff to shop from. Look for a marketplace that offers a free storefront for vendors and is user-friendly, making it easy for small businesses to participate.
Tip: Equip all your suppliers to succeed, and promote 100% vendor enablement
Euna Procurement provides a free & easy to use storefront for all suppliers that is easy to use and is fully integrated with the marketplace, which can integrate with your ERP. This levels the playing field and allows you to have a truly comprehensive marketplace that is filled with ALL your supplier—not just the large ones.
3. How will you ensure staff adoption?
There is nothing worse than paying for something that never gets used. That is why it is critical for agencies to consider their end users when shopping for and selecting a marketplace solution. You should factor in things like usability, roles & permissions, and training when going through the evaluation process.
Tip: Boost user adoption by leveraging a familiar & intuitive marketplace
Euna Procurement’s marketplace solution is designed to resemble familiar shopping websites to minimize learning curves and promote rapid adoption rates.
4. How Will You Ensure Best Value Purchases at Scale?
One of the main goals of a procurement marketplace is to ensure best value purchases at scale. To achieve this, it is important to choose a marketplace that offers comparison shopping and aggregates vendors & products into one search function. This not only saves time but also allows for better comparison shopping. Look for a marketplace with advanced features like an AI-powered savings advisor that can find cost savings by identifying similar or alternative items to help stretch your budget further.
Tip: Easily maximize cost savings by centralizing your marketplace and using spend optimization
Euna Procurement’s marketplace solution stops overpriced purchases before they start, with our AI Powered Savings Advisor. It automatically scans your cart for cost savings while factoring in things like availability, shipping costs, identical or substitute items, and more—delivering an ROI that can be measured in months, not years.
5. Will You Integrate Your Marketplace with Your ERP?
Another important consideration is whether your procurement marketplace will integrate with your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. This integration can streamline processes and improve efficiency, making it a key feature to look for in a marketplace.
Tip: Choose a marketplace solution that’s flexible to fit your processes
Euna Procurement’s marketplace solution is purpose-built to function as either a stand-alone product and or be integrated with your ERP system. Either option you choose will give all the functionality and customization you need to successfully enhance your purchasing process.
Don’t Settle for a One-Size-Fits-All Marketplace
With the right marketplace solution, you can streamline your purchasing process, promote equal opportunities for all suppliers, and ultimately achieve cost savings and efficiency.
Request a demo today to learn more about Euna Procurement’s offerings for all 5 of the topics we covered in this blog.