Minimize your procurement problems with ERP software

Best procurement practices supermarkets must adapt

Procurement is a critical process in supermarkets. You must order the right products at the right time to serve your customers’ demands. For this, you need to manage the inventory for several product categories with different expiry dates and seasonality.

Also, quick changes in customer needs and preferences requires you to be on your toes constantly. You have to have a network of suppliers to maintain a consistent supply of products to avoid being unavailable. Since the margins are low, you need smart planning to respond to challenges rapidly. Thus, managing procurement is a vital need for supermarkets.

They must adopt the following best practices to ensure strong performance:

Keep a strong network of suppliers

There is a big competition going on between different supermarket stores. They fight over the prices and availability of several brands in all product categories. So, you must determine the best deals and keep multiple choices for customers to win over them.

Another need is a strong network of suppliers. They must find all possible suppliers providing many different products at reasonable rates. The primary consideration is their delivery schedules and the time between orders received and the delivery of goods.

Analyze buyer preferences and behavior to develop accurate forecasts

Your inventory remains in check only when you develop accurate demand forecasts. Accurate demand prediction saves you from over-ordering and missing any items on shelves. You will always have items when customers demand them. Thus, the chances of customers returning from your stores empty-handed reduces.

Now you can procure your products based on these demand forecasts. If it is the same repetitive cycle in a definite period, you can set alerts for ordering. Or, you can ask your suppliers to repeat the cycle of order after a set defined period. Thus, it reduces your effort and makes the procurement of products smoother.

Customize your procurement procedure for your supermarket location

If you have several supermarket stores in one city, state, or country, not all will have the same sales. Similarly, not all will have the same demand and procurement processes. So, you must customize your procurement procedures as per the location demands.

The customer demographics change for every supermarket location. So, the demand for a few product categories also differs. You must change your procurement strategies as per the change.

Some products may not be high sellers in one location but sell the most in some other location. So, you will be sourcing your products as per the store’s sales and forecasts.

Adopt ERP software to enhance the ordering process

Technology makes a lot of processes and workflows manageable and smoother. You can do the same for supermarkets as well. The best solution is to adopt ERP software.

ERP software has the feature of sales forecasting based on an understanding of customer preferences. It allows you to procure inventory based on forecasts. The inventory data on the ERP system helps you find not-selling items, which you can remove from shelves.

Thus, you can schedule your procurement by analyzing customers’ past buying behavior. You know when to buy what and from whom, giving you the flexibility to offer the best prices to customers.

Websys is a prominent vendor of ERP software and solutions to companies in different industries. We offer our ERP software to supermarkets to make their processes efficient and productive. Our solution digitizes your processes to generate effective results. The ERP software:
• Automates your manual procurement processes, saving your time from being wasted on manual processes.
• Improves collaboration between departments, making it easier for procuring managers to get relevant data faster.
• Tracks your customers’ spending behavior and sales by product category to change your procurement habits.