Every store must spend money on necessary items that don’t directly make them money — things like cleaning services and corrugated cardboard boxes, plastic cutlery for take-out foods and plastic shopping bags. Such items and services — known as indirect spend — can’t be resold to customers to defray their costs. Therefore, it’s critical for store operators to procure these products and services as cost-effectively as possible.

This e-book helps procurement professionals in independent stores and regional chains understand how they can implement third-party sourcing to reap the maximum value for every dollar of indirect spend. We’ll explore the true cost of indirect spend, which encompasses everything from takeout boxes and grocery bags to marketing and advertising, packaging and consumables, and the gas and electricity needed to power your stores.

We’ll explain how third-party sourcing can help produce the maximum value for indirect spend by:

• Relieving personnel and resource limitations
• Providing access to more robust procurement technology
• Enhancing negotiating power with vendors
• Creating cost-saving consistency in procurement processes
• Boosting purchasing power through consolidation of spend with other organizations

We’ll also explore what to look for when evaluating third-party sourcing partners for your organization.