10 Ways to Optimise Procurement for Faster Retail Growth

Procurement is way more than mere paperwork and purchase orders. Retail is all about speed and margins, and the way you source and manage stock can either drive your growth or hold it back. If your procurement process is clunky, disconnected, or too reactive, you’re hurting your business growth. But get it right, and it becomes a growth engine, keeping shelves stocked, costs under control, and operations running smoothly. In this post, we’ll cover ten practical ways to optimise procurement and help your retail business grow faster.

1. Align Procurement with Business Growth Goals

If procurement teams don’t know where the business is headed, they’re just guessing. And guessing leads to stockouts, overspending, and missed opportunities.

Start by getting your procurement team in the loop. Share sales targets, expansion plans, marketing campaigns, international shipping processes—anything that might affect demand. When they understand what’s coming, they can plan smarter, place timely orders, and negotiate better deals.

Procurement should never work in a silo. Treat it like a strategic partner, not just an admin function. That mindset shift alone can speed things up and cut down costly missteps.

2. Embrace Demand Forecasting and Inventory Planning

Guesswork is expensive. One wrong call, and you’re either stuck with excess stock consuming storage space or you’re scrambling to restock fast-moving items and losing sales in the process. The fix? Smarter forecasting and tighter inventory planning. Utilise tools like Inventory Planner, Netstock, or built-in features on platforms like Shopify or Zoho Inventory to identify trends, forecast demand, and optimise order timing.

Put simply, good software can track seasonality, analyse sales patterns, and set reorder points automatically.

Also, don’t ignore what’s happening on the ground. Field teams often have early insights into local demand shifts. Equip them with sales force automation software to capture real-time data from stores or regions. When that local intelligence flows back into your planning tools, your forecasts become sharper and your buying decisions become faster.

3. Diversify Your Supplier Base

Relying on one supplier is essentially putting all your eggs in one basket. If they encounter delays, quality issues, or pricing changes, you’re at a disadvantage. And so are your shelves. So, spread the risk. Build relationships with multiple suppliers across regions. This gives you options when things go sideways and often leads to better pricing and terms.

To keep it manageable, use tools like Procurify or Kissflow Procurement Cloud. These help track supplier performance, compare quotes, and keep all communication in one place. Bonus: they make onboarding new suppliers much easier.

Diverse suppliers = faster reactions, better prices, and fewer nasty surprises.

4. Digitise Procurement Processes

Still managing procurement with spreadsheets and email threads? That’s a recipe for delays, errors, and miscommunication.

It’s time to go digital. Use procurement platforms like Coupa or Zycus to manage everything—from purchase requests and approvals to vendor communication and invoice tracking—all in one place. Digitising your workflow speeds things up, adds transparency, and gives your team instant access to data. No more chasing updates or digging through inboxes to find a PO. It’s cleaner, faster, and far easier to scale.

5. Automate Routine Workflows

Manual tasks slow everything down. Chasing approvals, entering data, or matching invoices by hand? Your team can better spend that time building customer relationships and marketing strategies. Automate the repetitive stuff. Utilise tools like Pipefy, Kissflow, or ProcurementExpress.com to streamline purchase order creation, approval workflows, invoice matching, and even automate reordering for fast-moving stock.

Set rules once, and the system takes care of the rest—no micromanagement needed. You get fewer errors, faster turnarounds, and a procurement team that can actually focus on value-added work. Smart automation clears the clutter and keeps things moving.

6. Leverage Data for Better Decision-Making

Gut instinct has its place. But making the right calls every time means relying on actual data. 

Track what matters: supplier lead times, procurement cycle time, order accuracy, stock turnover, and total cost of ownership. Tools like Power BI, Tableau, or built-in analytics in platforms such as TradeGecko or Odoo can help transform raw data into clear, real-time insights. Also, connect procurement data with sales, finance, and inventory systems. This provides a more comprehensive view and helps identify patterns or bottlenecks before they become issues.

7. Negotiate Better Contracts and Pricing

If you’re ordering the same products regularly, such as in dropshipping businesses, you’ve got leverage—so use it. Negotiate volume-based pricing, early payment discounts, and service-level agreements (SLAs) that lock in delivery times and quality standards. This saves money and also gives you more control over your supply chain.

To keep track of it all, consider using contract management tools that let you flag renewal dates, track compliance, and store every clause in one place—so you’re never caught off guard.

8. Strengthen Supplier Relationships

Great suppliers aren’t just vendors. They’re partners. And when this relationship is strong, they’ll flag issues early, prioritise your orders, and even help you innovate.

Don’t just talk to them when something goes wrong. Schedule regular check-ins, share forecasts, and involve them in the planning process. Clear communication upfront saves a lot of time and effort later.

Ultimately, good relationships = faster responses, better terms, and a more resilient supply chain.

9. Prioritise Sustainable and Ethical Sourcing

80% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainably produced or sourced goods, with an average premium of 9.7%. So, sourcing isn’t just about speed and cost anymore—your customers care about where products come from and how they’re made. And increasingly, so do regulators.

Work with suppliers who adhere to ethical labour practices and utilise sustainable materials. Ask for certifications, audit reports, and visibility into their own supply chains.

10. Continuously Review and Optimise the Procurement Strategy

Procurement isn’t a “set it and forget it” function. Markets shift, suppliers change, and customer expectations evolve fast. Establish a regular review cadence to assess your procurement performance. Are your lead times improving? Supplier costs creeping up? Are you still aligned with your growth goals? Conduct regular audits, track key performance indicators (KPIs), and identify inefficiencies. Keep your procurement agile, data-driven, and aligned with what your customers care about.

Wrapping Up

Retail moves fast. Your procurement should too. Don’t treat procurement as a back-office function. Think of it as a growth lever. When it runs smoothly, the whole business feels it. Stock flows better. Margins improve. Teams move faster.

The ten strategies we’ve covered are practical shifts you can start making right now. Whether it’s automating routine tasks, building strong supplier relationships, or making smarter use of data, each step adds up to a procurement process that’s faster, sharper, and more future-ready.

At the Institute of Supply Chain Management (IoSCM), our Procurement Academy creates confident and certified procurement professionals by working with businesses and individuals to deliver tailored courses in purchasing, procurement and supply chain management. Our flexible and innovative online training courses allow you to use your work experience to help you towards an accredited professional qualification. Call 0800 1422 522 today to find out more.