In today’s fast-paced and ever-changing business environment, the importance of digital transformation cannot be overstated. One area where digital transformation is having a significant impact is in B2B e-procurement. From sourcing to purchasing and payment, businesses are realizing the benefits of digitizing their procurement processes. Traditionally, B2B procurement has been a time-consuming and complex process involving numerous stakeholders and manual paperwork.
However, by embracing digital technology, businesses can streamline their procurement processes, improve efficiencies, and reduce costs. Making the switch from traditional procurement to e-procurement can help businesses to automate their processes, enabling them to focus on higher-value activities that drive business growth.
In this article, we will explore how e-procurement can streamline your business. We will examine the key benefits of digital procurement and discuss how companies are using technology to transform their procurement processes. Whether you are a small or large business, digitizing your procurement processes can help you stay competitive, reduce costs, and improve overall efficiency. So, let’s dive in and explore the benefits of moving from traditional to digital procurement.
What is B2B Procurement
B2B procurement, or business-to-business procurement, refers to the process of acquiring goods or services from other businesses for use in the operations of a company. B2B procurement is a critical function of any business, regardless of size, industry, or location, as it is essential for acquiring the necessary resources to run the business.
The B2B procurement process involves several stages, including identifying the need for goods or services, sourcing potential suppliers, evaluating their offerings, negotiating terms and pricing, and ultimately making a purchase. The procurement process can be complex and involves various stakeholders, including procurement teams, finance, legal, and operations.
Traditionally, B2B procurement was a manual, paper-based process that involved significant administrative effort and time. However, advances in technology have transformed the procurement process, making it more efficient, streamlined, and accessible. Today, businesses can use digital tools and platforms to automate their procurement processes, reducing the manual effort and streamlining the process.
What is E-Procurement
E-procurement is the process of automating procurement activities using digital technology. This includes sourcing, ordering, and paying for goods and services through online eCommerce platforms. E-procurement systems can improve efficiency, reduce costs, and increase transparency in the procurement process. They can also enable businesses to better manage their supplier relationships and make data-driven decisions to optimize their procurement strategy.
For example, businesses can switch to e-procurement through B2B eCommerce platforms like Shoppable Business to source suppliers, negotiate terms and pricing, and manage contracts. They can also use B2B eCommerce marketplaces to exchange purchase orders and invoices with suppliers electronically.
In addition to streamlining the procurement process, e-procurement offers several benefits to businesses, including cost savings, improved efficiency, and enhanced transparency. By using digital tools, businesses can access real-time data on spending and supplier performance, allowing them to make more informed decisions and improve their overall procurement strategy.
B2B procurement is a critical function of any business, and digitizing the process can offer significant benefits. With the right digital tools and processes in place, businesses can streamline their procurement operations, reduce costs, and improve overall efficiency. By embracing digital transformation in B2B procurement, businesses can gain a competitive edge.
How Switching to E-Procurement Can Streamline Your Business
- Increased Efficiency
Digitizing B2B procurement through an ecommerce marketplace can streamline the procurement process, making it faster and more efficient. Businesses can manage their procurement process online, reducing the manual effort and time required to manage the process.
When businesses digitize their B2B procurement process through an ecommerce marketplace, they can significantly increase efficiency. By using an ecommerce marketplace, businesses can manage the procurement process online, streamlining the process and reducing the time and effort required to manage it manually.
For example, an ecommerce marketplace like Shoppable Business can provide a centralized platform for businesses to manage procurement activities, such as identifying needs, selecting suppliers, negotiating pricing, and making purchases. The platform can also automate many of the steps in the procurement process, such as generating purchase orders, tracking supplier performance, and managing contracts, eliminating manual processes that can be time-consuming and prone to errors.
Furthermore, ecommerce marketplaces like Shoppable Business can provide a transparent, real-time view of the procurement process, enabling businesses to track their spending and supplier performance easily. This allows businesses to identify areas where they can reduce costs, negotiate better pricing, and optimize procurement processes for maximum efficiency.
- Cost Savings
By reducing manual effort, digitizing B2B procurement through an ecommerce marketplace can save businesses money on administrative costs. Additionally, businesses can leverage the marketplace’s network of suppliers to secure better pricing and reduce costs.
Digitizing B2B procurement through an ecommerce marketplace like Shoppable Business can help businesses save costs in several ways. One of the most significant advantages is the reduction of manual effort required to manage procurement processes. This can save businesses a considerable amount of money on administrative costs, as well as reduce the time required to manage the process manually.
Moreover, businesses can leverage the ecommerce marketplace’s network of vetted suppliers to negotiate better pricing and reduce costs. A B2B eCommerce marketplace can provide businesses access to a broad range of vetted suppliers, making it easier for them to find suppliers that can offer better pricing, quality products, and improved delivery times. With more options available, businesses can compare pricing and select the most cost-effective options for their procurement needs.
Additionally, using an ecommerce marketplace like Shoppable Business can simplify the procurement process, making it easier for businesses to manage their spend and reduce unnecessary expenses. By automating many procurement activities, businesses can eliminate redundancies and reduce errors, helping to optimize the procurement process and reduce costs.
- Improved Supplier Management
By using an ecommerce marketplace to manage procurement, businesses can centralize their supplier management, allowing them to manage multiple suppliers easily and effectively. Using a B2B ecommerce marketplace like Shoppable Business to manage procurement can help businesses improve their supplier management processes significantly. The marketplace provides a centralized platform that allows businesses to manage multiple suppliers easily and effectively.
By centralizing supplier management, businesses can gain a clear overview of all their suppliers, enabling them to better manage and monitor their supplier relationships. With a centralized supplier management system, businesses can track supplier performance, assess risk, and identify opportunities for improvement.
Additionally, using an ecommerce marketplace can help businesses to maintain better communication with their suppliers. Shoppable Business provides a platform for businesses to communicate with suppliers, share information, and collaborate on procurement projects. This can help businesses to establish strong relationships with their suppliers, improving their ability to negotiate pricing and terms.
- Enhanced Transparency
A B2B ecommerce marketplace can provide real-time data on procurement activities, supplier performance, and pricing, which can help businesses make informed decisions and improve their procurement strategy.
An important benefit of using a B2B ecommerce marketplace to digitize procurement processes is enhanced transparency. An ecommerce marketplace can provide real-time data on procurement activities, supplier performance, and pricing, which can help businesses make informed decisions and improve their procurement strategy.
With an ecommerce marketplace like Shoppable Business, businesses can track their procurement activities in real-time, allowing them to stay on top of the process and make informed decisions quickly. Shoppable Business can provide businesses with data on supplier performance, such as delivery times, quality of products, and compliance with contractual terms. This data can help businesses to evaluate the effectiveness of their suppliers and make informed decisions about which suppliers to work with in the future.
In addition, Shoppable Business can provide businesses with pricing data on products and services from multiple suppliers. This allows businesses to compare pricing and make informed decisions about which suppliers to work with. By having access to transparent pricing data, businesses can negotiate better pricing and improve their business procurement.
- Better Collaboration
Another benefit of e-procurement through an ecommerce marketplace is better collaboration. Ecommerce marketplaces like Shoppable Business can foster better collaboration between suppliers and buyers, enabling them to work together to create custom solutions that meet specific business needs.
As we’ve mentioned earlier, it’s easier for suppliers and buyers to communicate more easily, share information, and collaborate on procurement projects. The marketplace can provide a platform for real-time communication, allowing suppliers and buyers to work together more closely and efficiently. This can help businesses to identify new opportunities and create innovative solutions that can drive growth and improve their bottom line.
Furthermore, by fostering better collaboration between suppliers and buyers, ecommerce marketplaces can help businesses to build stronger relationships with their suppliers. This can lead to better pricing and terms for the buyer, and increased business for the supplier.
- Access to Wider Range of Vetted Suppliers
Using a B2B ecommerce marketplace can provide businesses access to a broader network of suppliers, enabling them to find the right supplier for their needs. This is a significant benefit of digitizing B2B procurement processes through an ecommerce marketplace, as it can help businesses to find the best suppliers for their needs.
Ecommerce marketplaces often have a wide range of suppliers from different regions, with different specialties and products. By using a B2B ecommerce marketplace, businesses can easily search through the database of suppliers to find the right fit for their needs. The marketplace can provide a platform for suppliers to showcase their products and services, allowing businesses to make informed decisions about which supplier to work with.
Moreover, B2B eCommerce marketplaces like Shoppable Business often have a vetting process for suppliers to ensure that they meet certain standards. This can include quality control, compliance with regulations, and customer service. By working with vetted suppliers, businesses can be assured that they are working with reputable suppliers that meet certain standards.
In addition, using an ecommerce marketplace can help businesses to find niche suppliers that may be more difficult to find through traditional procurement methods. For example, a business may need a supplier that specializes in a particular product or service that is not readily available through their existing suppliers. By using an ecommerce marketplace, businesses can easily search for and find the right supplier for their needs.
- Enhanced Security
Ecommerce marketplaces can provide secure and centralized procurement management, reducing the risk of fraud and errors in the procurement process. Enhanced security is another key benefit of e-procurement through an ecommerce marketplace. Ecommerce marketplaces can provide secure and centralized procurement management, reducing the risk of fraud and errors in the procurement process.
Traditional procurement methods often involve manual processes, such as paper-based forms and manual approvals. This can create opportunities for fraud and errors, as well as make it difficult to track the procurement process. By using an ecommerce marketplace, businesses can streamline the procurement process and reduce the risk of fraud and errors.
An eCommerce marketplace like Shoppable Business has built-in security features, such as encryption and secure payment processing. This can help to protect businesses and their sensitive data from cyber threats and hacking attempts.
- Improved Record Keeping for Compliance
By digitizing B2B procurement through an ecommerce marketplace, businesses can keep track of their procurement activities in a centralized location, simplifying record-keeping and improving compliance. Improved record-keeping for compliance is another key benefit of digitizing B2B procurement through an ecommerce marketplace. By using an ecommerce marketplace like Shoppable Business, businesses can keep track of their procurement activities in a centralized location, simplifying record-keeping and improving compliance.
Procurement compliance is a critical concern for businesses, as non-compliance can result in fines, legal action, and reputational damage. Many industries have strict regulations governing procurement activities, and it can be challenging for businesses to keep up with these requirements using traditional procurement methods.
By using an ecommerce marketplace, businesses can simplify compliance by providing a centralized location for all procurement records. This can include information about suppliers, products and services purchased, pricing, delivery information, and more. By having all this data in one location, businesses can quickly and easily generate reports and audits, making it easier to comply with regulations and standards.
Additionally, ecommerce marketplaces can provide businesses with tools for tracking and managing compliance requirements, such as supplier compliance assessments and verification of product certifications. This can help businesses to ensure that they are working with suppliers who meet the necessary compliance standards.
- Streamlined Invoicing
Ecommerce marketplaces can provide businesses with a streamlined invoicing process, allowing them to issue and receive invoices electronically. This can save time and reduce the risk of errors associated with manual invoicing processes.
Traditionally, invoicing has been a troublesome and time-consuming process for businesses, involving paper-based documents, manual data entry, and long processing times. This can lead to delays in payment, errors in invoicing, and increased administrative costs.
By using an ecommerce marketplace like Shoppable Business for procurement, businesses can streamline the invoicing process, reducing the time and effort required to issue and receive invoices. Electronic invoicing can also improve the accuracy of invoicing, reducing the risk of errors and disputes over payments.
Moreover, many ecommerce marketplaces provide features that allow businesses to automate the invoicing process, including the generation of invoices and the integration of invoicing with accounting and payment systems. This can help to further reduce the administrative burden on businesses and improve the overall efficiency of the procurement process.
- Increased Scalability
One of the key benefits of e-procurement through an ecommerce marketplace is the increased scalability that it provides for businesses. As a business grows and expands, its procurement needs also grow, and traditional manual procurement processes can quickly become too tedious to manage.
However, by using an ecommerce marketplace like Shoppable Business for procurement, businesses can scale their procurement operations more easily and efficiently. The centralized platform and automated processes of an ecommerce marketplace allow businesses to manage a larger volume of procurement activities without the need for additional manual effort.
For example, as a business adds new suppliers or products to its procurement activities, an ecommerce marketplace can quickly and easily integrate these new components into the procurement process. This ensures that the procurement process remains efficient and effective as the business grows.
In addition, an ecommerce marketplace can provide businesses with access to a larger pool of vetted suppliers, which can further support business growth and expansion. With a wider range of suppliers to choose from, businesses can source the products and services they need to grow their operations, without worrying about the limitations of manual procurement processes.
Majority of Businesses in the Philippines is still not Digitized
Did you know that the majority of business in the Philippines is not still not digitized? According to the survey conducted in 2020 by DTI’s Baseline Survey on Digitalization of MSMEs ,out of the 31,820 Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) that participated, 61.73% reported that they have no digital tools, while 38.27% reported that they have at least one digital tool, while only 2.88% of the 31,820 (MSMEs) that participated have an e-commerce website.
To further the details of the survey:
- 30.77% of the MSMEs have a website or a social media account, which is the most common digital tool used by MSMEs in the Philippines.
- 8.77% have a point-of-sale (POS) system.
- 8.18% have an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
- 3.64% have a customer relationship management (CRM) system.
- 2.57% have an electronic payment system.
Based on the data from the Baseline Survey on Digitalization of MSMEs from DTI Philippines, it is evident that a significant percentage of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the Philippines have yet to embrace digital technologies to improve their business operations and reach customers.
Given the increasing importance of digital technologies in today’s business landscape, it is becoming more critical for MSMEs to digitize their business to remain competitive and sustainable. The survey revealed that the most common digital tool used by MSMEs in the Philippines is a website or a social media account, which highlights the need for businesses to establish an online presence to engage with customers.
Moreover, the low percentage of MSMEs with e-commerce websites indicates that there is an opportunity for businesses to expand their market reach and sales by setting up an e-commerce platform.
Joining a B2B eCommerce platform like Shoppable Business can allow your business to go online with a user-friendly interface, helping your business stay competitive, productive, and efficient in the increasing business landscape through helping you switch from traditional business procurement to e-procurement
Why Shop with Shoppable Business for Your E-Procurement Needs
Shoppable Business is a B2B eCommerce marketplace in the Philippines where business-to-business can buy and sell products to satisfy procurement and business needs. You can get great discounts when you buy items in bulk which saves your business more money.
Buying office equipment for a business is all about getting your money’s worth. Getting the most value out of your business purchase includes; price, longevity, energy consumption, and similar of the sort. It is an investment that is needed for your business to be productive.
How Shoppable Business is Different from Other Marketplaces in the Philippines
✓ 100% Authentic branded products only, no fakes or non-branded products allowed
✓ All sellers must be a legally registered business in the Philippines
✓ Financing available for both buyer and sellers
✓ Refer your existing customers onto our platform and enjoy 0% marketplace fees on all of their orders!
✓ Sales Invoices are Provided for Every Sale
✓ 2307 forms for businesses that require it
✓ Same Day Shipping for select products
✓ Installation Services and scheduling within the platform for select products
✓ Product Cataloging – all products listed on our platform go through a Quality Assurance process to ensure product details are accurate such as technical specs, descriptions, images and categories
✓ BuyBox Technology – Sellers with the best performance win the BuyBox and customers can also buy from other sellers on the same listing, eliminating the problem of duplicate listings in the search results
✓ Sellers can provide tiered discounts to customers
✓ Recurring subscriptions for customers who need deliveries occasionally
✓ Procurement tools such as single purchase orders, buying policies per department, split order fulfillment, reporting, and multiple payment options
✓ All items sold must be located in the Philippines, no cross-border selling allowed
Shopping with Shoppable Business for your business procurement needs saves you a lot of time and money. Shoppable Business is a B2B eCommerce marketplace where you can get huge discounts when buying in bulk. Not only that, but Shoppable Business also provides sales invoices for businesses that require it.
In Conclusion
Switching your traditional procurement to e-procurement through a B2B ecommerce marketplace like Shoppable Business can offer significant benefits to your business. By streamlining the procurement process, reducing manual effort, improving efficiency, and providing better access to suppliers and pricing, digitization can lead to significant cost savings, increased transparency, better collaboration, enhanced security, improved compliance, and increased scalability. Ultimately, by digitizing your procurement process, you can save time and money, improve your procurement strategy, and support the growth and expansion of your business.
Digitize B2B procurement in the Philippines with Shoppable Business and we’ll help you streamline your product sourcing process. Create an account here: Become a Buyer
You can request for a quote and we’ll connect you with our vetted suppliers, brands, and manufacturers!
