eProcureAI / Platform / Retail and consumer
IndustryStores need to solve problems locally without inventing their own supplier base. A head office catalog with store level requesting gives both, and makes indirect spend visible by location for the first time.
Indirect spend, not merchandise. The category most retailers cannot see clearly.
Retailers know their cost of goods to the penny. Ask what the estate spends on store maintenance, cleaning, consumables and equipment and the answer is usually a shrug and a consolidated figure.
That is not carelessness. Merchandise runs through a buying system built for it. Indirect spend happens in hundreds of small decisions across dozens of locations, most of them made by a store manager solving a problem that afternoon.
Individually every decision is reasonable. Collectively nobody can say whether two stores paid different prices for the same thing last month, or how many suppliers the estate is actually using.
The answer is not to centralise every decision, which slows stores down and creates workarounds. It is to give stores a catalog negotiated centrally, let them order from it themselves, and route anything outside it for review.
Stores keep their speed. Head office gets the price and the visibility. Nobody has to phone anybody.
Retail runs to a calendar. A supplier needed for a seasonal launch cannot spend two weeks in onboarding, so the onboarding has to be something the supplier completes themselves in days rather than something your team assembles.
On a phone from the shop floor, with the store already known from who is asking.
The item comes from a catalog negotiated centrally, so the store gets the group rate without knowing what it is.
The area manager approves within their threshold. Head office is not in the loop unless the value requires it.
Received on a phone where the delivery arrives, including shortages, so the invoice can match.
Cost per store by category, with the same item at two prices flagged automatically.
A store manager between customers is not going to open a desktop procurement system. If requesting takes more than a couple of minutes it does not happen, and the supplier gets phoned instead.
Central pricing only helps if the things stores need are in it. A thin catalog quietly teaches people to buy locally, which is where the price spread comes from.
Seasonal and promotional suppliers arrive on a deadline. Onboarding they complete themselves in days is the difference between a launch on time and a launch waiting on paperwork.
Merchandise runs elsewhere. These are the categories that usually have no clear owner.
| Category | What it covers | Who usually buys it | What it needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Store maintenance | Repairs, fixtures, small works | Store or area manager | Approved contractors with current cover |
| Consumables | Bags, cleaning, back of house supplies | Store manager | Catalog with minimal approval |
| Equipment | Fridges, tills, shop fittings | Area or head office | Full approval and commitment tracking |
| Marketing and promotional | Point of sale, seasonal materials | Marketing, delivered to stores | Fast supplier onboarding to a deadline |
Store maintenance is usually the largest of these and the least visible, because it is spread across the most locations.
The most common early finding, and usually fixed by putting the item in the catalog.
Each one reasonable locally, collectively unmanageable and largely unassessed.
Insurance tracked to expiry rather than checked once at onboarding.
A shorter approval route rather than a phone call outside the system.
Recorded on a phone so the invoice matches against what arrived.
Cost per store by category is the report that starts the useful conversations.
Stores stop phoning suppliers when ordering properly is quicker than picking up the phone.
Order from a catalog and confirm what arrived. Both from a phone.
Applies central pricing, routes locally, and makes the estate comparable.
We will show the price spread across your estate and where a catalog would close it.
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