Buying Office Supplies: How to Improve Your Procurement Process

Simplifying the Procurement Process for Office Products 

No matter what industry you work in, it’s crucial that you have an efficient process for procuring supplies. You want to make sure your employees have quality supplies to work with, while making sure you aren’t spending too much money. By reevaluating your existing procurement system, you can save a lot of money and avoid headaches in the future. 

We can help you if you don’t think you are procuring office supplies efficiently. Try using the following tips to enhance your procurement process. 

 Speak With All Departments Before Placing an Order

The first step to improving your procurement process is to spend some time talking with employees from all departments. Talk with your employees to get an idea of what they’d like you to pick up during your next order. For example, if everyone says there aren’t enough sanitizing wipes in the office, you know that ordering more should be a top priority. 

By doing this, you can create one comprehensive order that has everything your employees need to have. This means you won’t have to deal with making a separate order to grab something that someone forgot to bring to your attention. 

Review Your Current Stock of Supplies

Before placing an order, you should review your current stock of office supplies, as well as your facility and breakroom supplies. This will give you an idea of which items should take priority when you set up your next order. 

As an example, if you serve coffee you should check to see how many cups you have for the coffee maker in the breakroom. Lots of people drink coffee, so if you see that stock is running low, restocking it should be a high priority. 

Don’t make assumptions on how many supplies you have, and don’t make guesses on how quickly you will go through them. If you aren’t careful, you could understock or overstock certain supplies. In turn, you’ll either overspend on supplies you didn’t need, or you’ll run out of supplies and have to buy more. 

Be Courteous To Your Supplier

Another way to improve the procurement process is to maintain a strong relationship with your supplier. Take the time to talk things out with the people who work for the supply company you work with. Remain professional and courteous when you speak with them, and make sure all necessary payments go out on time. 

By doing this, the supplier will do what’s possible to guarantee your own satisfaction. The company might also be willing to negotiate new deals with you as your business goals change and evolve. All and all, maintaining a professional attitude will ensure that you work with a reliable supply partner for a long time. 

Take Advantage of Discounts When Possible

If you want your procurement process to be as efficient as possible, you need to look for ways to lower costs. When you’re talking things over with your supplier, check to see if anything is available at a reduced price. If you can get what you need and save some money, don’t hesitate to do so. 

If you’ve been maintaining a good relationship with your supplier, opportunities to save money will happen a lot more often. Spend carefully, and you can free up more money to use in other business ventures. 

Use Recurring Orders 

There are many benefits to shopping with CMF, and one of them is our recurring orders system. 

When you’re in charge of several things at once, it can be easy to forget about setting up an order for a restock. You can make the procurement process easier for yourself by setting up a recurring orders system. This involves creating one order and having the same items sent to you again after a set amount of time has passed. 

There are several benefits to using recurring orders, and the big one is that you don’t have to keep making individual orders. If there are items that you go through often, setting up a recurring order for them ensures that you continuously receive them. From there, you can dedicate your time to more pressing matters, and you’ll never have to worry about running out. 

Looking for an efficient vendor to help you procure office supplies?
CMF Business Supplies is here to help you.