Navigating Procurement Challenges During the COVID-19 Era

It’s no secret the pandemic’s brought many economic and logistic challenges to every single industry. On this installment of Get Your Fix, Vixxo’s Sr. VP of Sales & Marketing, Rick Upton, and the VP of Solutions Architecture, Michael Sutherland, focused their attention on four specific verticals (retail, restaurants, convenience, and grocery.)

What procurement challenges do these verticals face, how have these issues intensified since the COVID-19 pandemic, and how can robust data analysis help procurers tackle these challenges?

“There is a lot of complexity that everyone in procurement is dealing with,” Upton said. “Everyone has a growing workload with continued cuts. They are trying to do more with less.”

“I see procurers taking on more and more categories,” Sutherland added. “Where they may have been on the re-sale side, now, potentially, they are focusing on the not for re-sale side. Instead of buying goods and services and fixtures, they’re challenged with whole new categories.”

While Sutherland knows the procurers Vixxo partners with are up to the challenge, they are looking for guidance.

Looking at vertical specific challenges, the wide variety of offerings in grocery stores is a big one. The grocery store is akin to the retail experience, with many dining options and delivery services layering complexity into the procurement department.

In addition to adding COVID-19 to the mix, stocking issues and finding new ways to make the grocery experience safe are the new concerns.

“I think grocery stores face certain procurement challenges that are spilling over to facilities,” Sutherland said.

And while convenience, retail and restaurants all share similarities to the challenges faced by grocery stores, each one has its unique procurement issues to solve.

One constant remains: they all need experienced partners to guide them through this pandemic and help create solutions that will give procurement the tools they need to be successful and innovate.

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