Organisations must embrace digital procurement strategies in order to save cost and improve their margins. This will go a long way in helping companies navigate the current harsh business climate and position them for survival and subsequent viability.

The foregoing was disclosed in a report released by the Research and Strategic Business Development Unit of e-commerce giants, Konga.

The report revealed that companies operating in the Third World must embrace modern procurement dynamics to save time and money. Furthermore, Konga affirmed that the slow pace associated with the procurement process in Nigeria requires creative strategies to ensure that spiraling costs/losses are minimised.

“It takes an average of two weeks for an SME to buy a simple Toner cartridge for a laser or Ink jet printer. Likewise, it takes multinationals over four weeks from the time of request for quotes from vendors through the process of selection, issuance of Local Purchase Order (LPO) until time of final supply by the vendor.

“This is even in cases where the SME or multinational is lucky to select a quality vendor.”

Additionally, the Konga research report affirmed that procuring companies end up with fake products at exorbitant prices as a result of the failure to embrace cutting-edge, digital procurement practices.

“Even with these transparent and competing procurement processes, best prices and genuine products are not guaranteed. Therefore, why go through these processes and end up losing money?”

Subsequently, Konga has challenged small business owners, SMEs, corporate organisations, multinationals and agencies in the public sector to upgrade to the global best practices in their procurement processes.

“In this era of thinning profits, companies should embrace digital procurement strategy. In other words, procurement has left the analogue stage and gone online. Online procurement is the way to survive as competition in the Third World gets more intense. Aligned to this is the cost of fund which continues to go higher and vendors have no choice but to incorporate these in final cost to the consumer.”

The well-researched report further advised firms to shop smartly and save money by shopping through reliable E-commerce platforms such as Konga.com which hosts a number of merchants. In addition, the presence of competing merchants ensures the availability of price-sensitive genuine products who deliver reliably within hours, irrespective of the locations in the country.

“Today, with an improved digital payment system in Nigeria, SMEs and big firms can open e-wallets through which they can take advantage of stocked multiple warehouses nationwide and take delivery of their products same day or on the next, at the most.

“Konga has an example of such through Konga Pay, a secure Central bank of Nigeria-licensed payment platform. On Konga.com, prices are open, delivery costs are known as merchants compete to sell, thereby saving corporates a lot of money and time to focus on their core businesses. This also enhances transparency in the procurement process.

“Most successful companies and even families abroad have embraced this digital procurement process to buy smart, save money and time and increase profit. It is as simple as ABC. Before you buy, you can check prices on Konga.com and you will appreciate the savings. Also, Konga takes absolute responsibility for all products on its platform, no matter the quantity.

“Likewise, Konga has nationwide storage and delivery capacity to store products for firms who would order large quantities and take delivery gradually. And with robust technologies, partners can view their products in the warehouses, irrespective of the location of the warehouses in Nigeria.”

In conclusion, the report noted that a number of profitable companies in Nigeria have tested and already transitioned to the Konga corporate digital procurement platform. Benefits of the transition, described as unquantifiable, are expected to grow by over 65% by the year 2023.

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