we missed two renewals this quarter. both sitting in a spreadsheet nobody was actively maintaining.
i know we need a better system but everytime i bring it up it becomes a whole conversation about budget and priorities and nothing changes.
how is everyone else handling this? is there something lightweight that actually works or are most teams still just hoping someone remembers
hello,
i’ve been beating myself up over this question I answered to in an interview I had recently. Currently a buyer in F&B but want to move industries.
Company I interviewed for is smaller, a contract manufacturer for both semiconductor and medical device equipment.
The interviewer asked “how would you respond if ,last minute, a vendor stated that they were not able to complete an important delivery due to shortages or out-of-stocks that had implications for a big customer project”
My answer was that I’d evaluate where we stood with this vendor, and at no point was being unprofessional ever worth it, but that I’d try and find another solution to try and get the parts or materials.
the interviewer corrected me and said that what he was looking for was asking the vendor “what can they come up with, if anything?”
i have been beating myself up about how wrong my answer was and was curious, besides the interviewers response, if there was a better way to answer the question?
Considering giving up my cushy Federal agency CO position for a Senior Procurement position with Johnson and Johnson. Extra pay would be like $40,000 a year more to start, but I’d be giving up a pension 30-35 years down the line (I’m 32) and be giving up serious job security (but for all I know J&J is relatively safe).
I currently make about $125,000 a year with my bonus, this position would start at roughly $160,000.
I’m working on getting certs and additional training. I have experience in sourcing and can be a “low level” analyst since that is what I do. I’m not just placing orders. I’m analyzing risk and also mini project managing.
Got another “due to rising material costs we’re increasing prices by 8%” email from one of my suppliers last week. Second one this year.
Honestly I never know what to do with these. Like is the 8% actually justified? No idea. I’m not gonna go research commodity prices lol. So it usually comes down to either eat the margin hit or bump my prices and hope customers don’t notice.
Tried pushing back once and the supplier just sent some vague “our costs have gone up across the board” reply. Cool, thanks.
Curious what everyone else does:
**• how** do you actually negotiate these or just accept them?
**•** has anyone successfully pushed back completely? what worked?
**•** at what point do you just start looking for a new supplier?
Feels like the big retailers have entire teams for this stuff and us small guys just take whatever number lands in the inbox.
when ppl think of procurement they usually state negotiation or cost savings, but in ur exp, whats the most underrated skill that made the huge difference in ur job and why?
Hi there, I’m trying to understand what’s the best way for our company to assess the right path with choosing an ERP vendor. We’re a manufacturing company with multiple offices in South East Asia and we have multiple sales channels (offline and online). We also run tons of mini sales programs we develop internally. My question is, how do I go about assessing the different ERP vendors? Any best practices or tips?
We’ve also been approached by a software developer who has basically said that he can build this for us for a fraction of the cost of what the bigger vendors are estimating but he has no experience with developing an ERP system before. What are the pros and cons here with going with him?
Would appreciate any inputs or tips from those who have successfully gone through an implementation process.
I've got 3 years buyer experience but can't get hired to bigger companies because I don't have SAP or Coupa experience.
Kinda just a cry for help but if anyone knows anything that could get past that hump let me know.
Hi everyone,
I’m currently in the final stages of the interview process for a Senior Manager, Procurement Digitalisation position based in Prague, Czech Republic. The feedback so far has been incredibly fast and positive, so I want to be fully prepared for the upcoming salary negotiation.
I’d love to get some insights from anyone managing procurement/digital transformation teams in the CEE region or anyone currently working in Prague at a corporate/global hub level.
My Background:** **10 years total in Procurement, with the last 5 years specifically in senior/managerial roles.
The role is a mix of strategic procurement, digital transformation (systems, automation, tools), change management, and heavy stakeholder management (cross-functional/regional). It sits at the intersection of Procurement, IT, and Business Strategy. Initially posted as Expert, it was adapted to Sr Mgr.
Given that this is a highly specialized niche and carries senior management responsibilities, I want to make sure I don't lowball myself. My work would be almost 100% remote.
What is a realistic monthly gross salary range (in CZK) for this level of seniority in the Czech Republic nowadays? Initially, for the Expert role, I said 115,00P CZK gross, but I’m not sure if I’m too low.
What do typical bonus structures look like for Senior Managers in corporate hubs there?
Any benchmarks, recent data points, or negotiation tips for the Czech market would be highly appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
I used to think the hardest part of sourcing was getting a good price. Nope. It’s getting suppliers to reply with the same level of urgency that you have. Typical week trying to find a new vendor: Contact 12 suppliers. 5 reply with a one-line answer that doesn't help. 3 ask questions that were already covered in the RFQ. 2 say “Yes friend, we can do” but ignore the actual specs. 1 sends a catalog for a completely different product category. 1 disappears the second you ask about sample lead times. Then the real nightmare starts: The "Minor" Change. You decide to change one detail maybe a logo placement or a slightly different box material and suddenly you’re stuck in copy-paste hell. I spent half of yesterday manually pinging 8 different people on WhatsApp and Email just to say: "New packaging size, please update the quote." Half of them missed the message, and the other half sent quotes for the old version. I recently started using Accio Sourcing Toolkit to try and unf*ck this process. What I realized is that I don’t need "AI magic"—I just need a system that isn't a mess of browser tabs. Specifically, two things changed the game for me: The "One-to-Many" Update: Instead of texting 10 people individually, I just update the requirement in Accio Work, and it pushes the change to every supplier in the loop. No more "Wait, did I tell the guy on WeChat about the new logo fee?" The Automatic Nagging: It has an automated follow-up feature that tracks who hasn't replied to my latest spec change. It does the "Just checking in" dance for me, so I don't feel like a crazy person refreshing my inbox every 20 minutes. It’s honestly less about "buying AI" and more about having a dashboard that forces suppliers to quote against the exact same spec. By the time I look at the comparison table, I’m actually looking at data, not just a pile of random guesses. For people doing ecommerce or small business purchasing: How are you managing this right now? Have you found a way to automate the follow-up nightmare? I’m genuinely curious if there’s a better way to stop the ghosting.
We're a supplier that sells into large enterprises. We're used to handling long and complex questionnaires but today we got invited by a large corporate to a security platform that forces us - as a vendor/supplier - to take a subscription to the platform ($1,200/year) before we can complete the questionnaire?
Has anyone seen that as a common practice? It shocked me honestly that we - as a supplier - have to pay to get our own processes audited and security checks done. First time we've encountered it.
As a matter of principle, we actually don't want to incur any costs before a contract is signed but wanted to see if people have encountered a similar situation before?
Hi all, just completed my level 4 and starting my level 5. I’ve got several years of experience in procurement and found the Level 4 very easy. How much of a step up in difficulty is the level 5 compared to level 4 from those that have done it?
Welcome to the monthly r/procurement Vendor, AI Product Procurement Software Spotlight!
This stickied thread is the designated space for software developers, AI founders, consultants, and service providers to share their platforms, launch new tools, or look for beta testers or advice from professionals.
**For Vendors:**
* Please pitch your product clearly: What problem does it solve, who is it for, and how can our community access it?
* Keep your pitches contained entirely within this thread.
**For Procurement Professionals:**
* Feel free to browse, ask questions, or provide honest feedback to the developers looking to improve their solutions.
*Reminder: Unsolicited product pitches, commercial marketing posts, or lead-generation threads outside of this monthly spotlight violate our community rules and will be removed immediately, potentially resulting in a permanent ban. Let's keep the main feed peer-to-peer!*
I've been working on supplier selection for a new project over the past couple of weeks. Instead of just collecting a few quotes, i tried to build a proper comparison.Production capacity, quality systems, technical capability, lead times, communication, past projects, certifications, ownership structure, potential risks.
I even organized everything into a comparison matrix so management could clearly see the strengths and weaknesses of each supplier. To make it easier, i also used a few sourcing tools, including Alibaba, SourceReady, Thomasnet, Global Sources, and even some internal ERP and supplier databases, alongside our internal records to compare supplier capabilities and keep all the notes in one place. After everything was scored, one supplier stood out pretty clearly. They weren't perfect. Their price was slightly higher than the others. But their responses were consistent. Their technical team answered questions directly. Their production capability was well documented. Overall they simply looked like the lowest-risk option. My thinking was pretty simple. This project is important enough that paying a small premium is worth avoiding larger problems later.
Then the final management meeting happened. The supplier that got approved wasn't the one i recommended. It was another supplier that everyone already knew had a few obvious weaknesses. The deciding factor? They were cheaper. That's it. Now i'm sitting here looking at my comparison spreadsheet wondering why i spent so much time evaluating supplier risk when price ended up outweighing everything else. Maybe it'll work out. I honestly hope it does.
But i can already imagine the conversations we'll probably be having a few months from now if those known issues start becoming real problems. For those who've been in procurement longer...
Hi everyone,
I am currently planning a future move to Europe, with Spain being my main area of interest, and I am considering whether it would be beneficial to obtain a procurement or supply chain certification before making that transition.
I am based in the U.S. and have around eight years of procurement experience, primarily in the petroleum and EPC industries. I have been researching certifications such as CIPS and ASCM, but they appear to be quite costly.
I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has gone through a similar transition or has insight into which certifications are most valued by employers in Spain or Europe. Are there any more affordable options, alternative paths, or practical ways to strengthen my profile before applying for procurement roles in Europe?
Thank you in advance for any advice or recommendations.
So I sort of stumbled into a procurement analyst role in a fortune 500 company, and turns out I really enjoy this career field. I love the idea of eventually being a category manager, but I worry about being mediocre. Obviously I want to move up but also I don't want to move too soon, so I'm really curious what people feel are the best skills to develop to be a top-shelf procurement specialist and eventually a category manager.
We've got Power BI, a planning tool, and one of those "control tower" things that cost a fortune and mostly just tells me what already went wrong. like ok, great, the truck's already late, thanks.
Then we have meetings, figure out what it means, and make the call. And sit through losses being unfolded.
We can see plenty. The problem is timely action. Any tool that you used that solves this?
Genuine question for the procurement people on here.
I’m working on a software renewal and from the start the recommendation has always been to renew with the current supplier. That hasn’t changed and everyone involved knows that’s the direction we’re taking.
As part of the commercial review, I decided to do a light touch market benchmark. Not because I’m looking to replace the supplier, but because I wanted to validate value for money and strengthen our negotiating position before signing anything.
A couple of suppliers came back asking for some high level information so they could put together indicative pricing. That’s when some stakeholders started asking why I was engaging other suppliers, even though I’d already explained this wasn’t a replacement exercise.
Am I wrong for thinking this is just part of good procurement???!?!
If I’m expected to challenge pricing and negotiate the best commercial outcome, surely understanding what the market looks like is part of that. It doesn’t mean we’re changing suppliers, it just means we’re doing our due diligence before renewing.
Curious how everyone else approaches renewals. Do you benchmark the market even when you already know you’re staying with the incumbent, or do you just negotiate with the existing supplier?
To all scm and hr, I'm a fresher with ai and data science background, have zero interest in ai and coding or programing in general, I'm final year now. I genuinely love supply chain and logistics, good and love data analysis, business analysis and research, and great with communication, I mean I'm genuinely good in communication.
Want to get into core industries supply chain roles or analysts roles, any advice ?
I also will be very willing for an opportunity to work in startups.
I plan on doing my mba aft two years of experience, I have both personal and professional reason. Feel very blank, don't find linkedin very helpful.
Any advice, or suggestions please let me know.
I'm involved in a review of potential manufacturing suppliers for a new production project, and it has reminded me how easy it is to focus too much on unit price when selecting.
In your experience, what evaluation criteria have been most influential on long-term supplier performance? responsiveness in RFQs, engineering support, quality systems, lead-time consistency, change management, or something else.
What clues did you find when you looked back that a supplier was a good one before you signed a contract?