Purchasing strategy as a source of competitive advantage

The purchasing strategy is one of the pillars supporting the company’s competitive advantage. Building a coherent vision of the supplier base, eliminating weaknesses and focusing on the advantages allows on the one hand to generate savings, and on the other to build trust and loyalty of customers. That is why more and more companies give shopping strategies the highest priority.

The most important goals of the purchasing strategy

What are the most important goals of the purchasing strategy? Of course, much depends on the current goals of the organization and its development plans, but in practice the following objectives are most often identified:

• Improving the quality of suppliers and their development.
• Streamlining logistics and reducing capital frozen in inventories.
• Lowering the cost of obtaining services and materials.
• Acquiring modern technologies and R & D resources to develop our own product offer.
• Building relationships with suppliers appropriate to their contribution to the added value of the final product or service.

Tools supporting the creation of a purchasing strategy

To create a consistent purchasing strategy uses different tools. However, IT systems that enable the collection and analysis of large amounts of data are currently the most effective. Thanks to modern technologies – such as machine learning – IT systems allow you to:

• Planning, monitoring and current update of the purchase budget.
• Supplier segmentation and active management of their results.
• Identifying risks in the supply chain and their immediate elimination
• Designing activities aimed at improving competitiveness and monitoring of implementation.

It should be also noted, that a properly designed system significantly reduces the time needed to identify problems and take corrective action. It can therefore also be used as a tool for day-to-day management of the supply chain.