How Do GPOs Work Within My Overall Procurement Strategy?

By Katherine McCleery | April 1, 2020

Una is on a mission to empower lean procurement teams, who we refer to as “Sourcing Heroes,”  to overcome the challenges of managing their entire department. With a holistic approach using group purchasing, you can reclaim your valuable time, find new cost savings, and focus on leading the team.

To answer the common question of how GPOs work, we’re going to bring it back to basics. First, you’ll learn how group purchasing organizations (GPOs) function, who’s involved and, finally, how a GPO can fit into your overall procurement strategy.

We’ll cover the following:

  • The concept of collective buying power
  • Una’s relationships with suppliers and members
  • How to save time and effort by skipping supplier negotiations
  • Fees associated with joining a GPO
  • Finding value beyond cost-savings

Strength in Numbers

Group purchasing organizations leverage the collective buying power of their members to obtain volume discounts from suppliers and retailers. Any business, large or small, can join a GPO and take advantage of a “strength in numbers” concept when purchasing goods and services. Most organizations only spend a modest amount when it comes to particular categories like office supplies or parcel shipping, for example. Because you’re not spending as much as a Fortune 500 company, you’re likely to pay more for those items. By joining a GPO, you are increasing your collective buying power, which is the ability of a group of consumers (Una members) to leverage the GPO size in exchange for discounts. As a result, the GPO unlocks access to pre-negotiated savings you otherwise wouldn’t be able to get on your own.

Relationships Matter

A great GPO will have strong relationships with the world’s top suppliers. Una has spent years developing partnerships with high performing, culture-driven suppliers that are typically out of reach for most businesses. We happily serve as the gatekeeper, connecting our members to the best enterprise-level contracts available.

Save Time and Effort

Sourcing Heroes manage multiple categories, maintain supplier relationships, make purchases and find cost-savings.  As such, your time is worth as much as the value-driven savings you deliver, so let a GPO do the heavy lifting for you.

Our advisors are continually working with our suppliers to develop member-centric contracts that give you an average of 22% savings. The work is done, all you have to do is start saving.

Fees to Get Started

There are some GPOs that charge a membership fee, while others collect admin fees from suppliers instead. It’s important to ask for that information upfront so that you are completely aware of how your GPO is working for you.

Una never charges a membership fee. Once you’re signed up, you have access to all of our supplier contracts and immediate business savings.

Every time you entrust your purchasing needs to Una, we get paid a fee by the suppliers. This is because the negotiated committed volume is much more efficient for major suppliers and they want our business to reach our customers.

We use that fee to finance our services, allowing us to make membership free for our members. Simply put, we make money by saving you money. So the more money we save you, the more money we make! It’s a win-win!

Save More Than Money

When choosing the right group purchasing organization, you should consider how that GPO offers value beyond cost-savings as well:

  • Are you saving time, or are you still having to negotiate terms with suppliers?
  • Are the supplier contracts offered to you better than what you can get through your own effort?
  • Is group purchasing even the right solution for your business?

At Una, we understand that there are many ways to operate a successful procurement program, therefore we encourage a diversified approach to sourcing where group purchasing enhances the values that drive your business.

At Una, we go a step further by offering our members added benefits such as supply chain management and procurement partnership consulting, saving your company time as well as money.

If you are considering joining a group purchasing organization to help you save more than money, reach out to our team of advisors to find out if Una’s solutions are a good fit for your procurement strategy.

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