Benefits of a Group Purchasing Organization
A guide to exploring the benefits of working with a group purchasing organization to save money, time and effort.
Savings and beyond...
A group purchasing organization leverages the collective purchasing power of thousands of businesses to secure lower prices for their members. GPOs also bring balance to the negotiating equation because they already have relationships and contracts in place with vendors and suppliers.
We understand saving money is crucial. The real value, however, and where you’ll truly benefit from working with a group purchasing organization like Una, lies beyond the initial cost savings. As a true sourcing accelerator, our goal is to become an extension of your procurement team. Una does this by offering assistance on everything from supply chain management, data and analysis, education, and more.
In the end, a partnership with a GPO should provide you with the support and tools you need to source smarter, save time and effort, and, ultimately, help your organization become more profitable.
This guide will break down 10 perks of working with a group purchasing organization and how a GPO like Una strives to be your true partner in procurement.
10 Benefits of a Group Purchasing Organization
Cost Savings
Saving money is oftentimes one of the top priorities for procurement professionals when they first entertain the idea of working with a GPO. While obviously not the only benefit of a group purchasing organization, the cost savings that businesses will find when working with a GPO is a definite and immediate perk.
When you pool your buying power with other businesses, you receive the benefit of upfront savings from higher volume and pre-negotiated discounts. A large, well-established group purchasing organization will be able to facilitate substantial contracts with commonly used vendors that you might not have otherwise had access to.
With Una, you not only benefit from contracts that provide you cost savings, but you are free to utilize only the contracts that benefit your company and have no minimum spend requirements.
For more details on how a GPO works and how group purchasing fits into your overall sourcing strategy, download our Complete Guide to Group Purchasing and check out these other resources:
Supply Chain Management
A lot of resources can be eaten up by trying to manage the purchasing and negotiation processes with suppliers. GPOs can provide valuable cost-avoidance solutions to organizations by helping them standardize and streamline their purchasing through supply chain management.
If a GPO manages some procurement activities from start to finish, it will drastically cut down on the number of internal resources required to handle purchasing for businesses, freeing you up to focus your energy on your core competencies within your business.
This may not make sense for every single category, but for a company’s nonstrategic spend or tail spend, utilizing a GPO to help manage suppliers is a smart move.
Be sure to browse through Una’s supplier portfolio and review our technology vendor list to find the best purchasing solutions for your business:
Partner in Procurement
Group purchasing organizations should work as an extension of your internal procurement department. Your GPO should also know its place when it comes to complimenting your existing sourcing strategy.
A GPO like Una is always striving to come alongside processes you already have established, and be an additional resource for efficient sourcing, supplier and contract management, and a partner with years of procurement experience that spans across many different business types.
Una’s playbook, How to Jumpstart Procurement, offers an inside look at our process and how we help organizations facilitate sourcing efficiency and profitability:
Cost Analysis
Understanding your company’s current purchasing and procurement status can be challenging and time-consuming. GPOs can help sort through the data and analyze your savings quickly and efficiently.
Una’s cost analysis serves as a way to benchmark your current pricing and assess the value of your contract with a supplier. Our team will send your spend information directly to our supplier base to compare costs and identify potential savings opportunities.
Customized Member Programs
Sometimes a company’s purchasing needs require plans that go beyond out-of-the-box setups. Make sure that any GPO you choose to work with offers flexibility built into its supplier contracts.
At Una, our supplier partners can customize their programs to meet your company’s unique purchasing needs. Our experts will work directly with you to identify your goals, define what success looks like, and recommend suppliers that will meet your specific requirements.
Learn how these real Una members are taking advantage of the programs we have to offer to save money, time and effort:
Data & Analytics
Another benefit of a group purchasing organization? Getting to use tools and software you may not be able to access on your own, or don’t have the budget to implement.
Through innovative technology and advanced analytical tools, Una helps you eliminate product and service duplications, analyze potential savings, and evaluate competitive purchasing behavior.
Here are a few more articles highlighting the procurement and IT data problems sourcing professionals face, and how to combat these challenges:
Category Management
One of the great benefits of a group purchasing organization is the ability to essentially bring in additional category managers to help manage nonstrategic or tail spend categories that otherwise may be ignored. And, if you’re ignoring categories altogether, there’s a really good chance you’re missing out on potential savings.
Engaging with a GPO for things like travel, office supplies, facilities maintenance, or other indirect spend categories will not only save money but also time and effort, freeing up the procurement team to focus on other strategic projects.
Wondering exactly how a GPO like Una goes about managing certain categories? Dive into our category management resources here:
Personalized Consulting
If you don’t know where to begin, we’re happy to help. Our team will help you find any blind spots in your spend visibility. We’ll review how your spending is set up and help you figure out whether it’s ideal or can be improved. Our experience helps guide our decisions and enables us to pinpoint the areas you can save.
Learn more about Una, meet the team, and see how we deliver on our brand promise:
Speed to Savings
GPOs can facilitate a faster way to savings thanks to pre-negotiated contracts that are already set in place. You can bypass the process of vetting suppliers and negotiating contracts because the GPO has done all of this for you. All you have to do is pick your favorites and start saving.
At Una, our “keep it moving” mentality means our team delivers at a pace that sets us apart. We have implemented tools that speed up the process and remove bottlenecks so our members can reach us and get connected to savings quickly.
And unlike some of the bigger GPOs out there, if you request more information or wish to speak to someone directly, our Sourcing Advisors will be in touch with you personally within 24 hours.
Ready to improve the procurement process and increase the rate at which you save money? These resources can help:
Free Membership
There are a few ways a GPO may be structured when it comes to operating and making money. When looking for a GPO to partner with, make sure you choose one that offers free membership.
At Una, our pricing structure is set up so membership is always free to join and free to use. We collect an administrative fee from our suppliers and use those fees to finance our services, allowing us to make and keep membership free for our members.
In addition to never charging a membership fee, Una does not require members to purchase from certain suppliers or commit to a specified purchase volume. Members are also free to pick and choose which suppliers will best suit your needs. As a result, you are in control and our team of Sourcing Advisors is here to provide support every step of the way.
Download our playbook to learn how to get the most value out of your GPO membership:
Ready to start saving - for free?
Don’t miss out on the benefits of a group purchasing organization.
Now’s the time to take full advantage of deep discounts, pre-negotiated contracts and a robust supplier portfolio to help you streamline the purchasing process and become more profitable.
Contact us to learn more and start saving today.
By submitting this information you are agreeing to our terms of participation.