As a young child, my parents would always say "Safety in Numbers". In procurement buying groups there is some truth to that but "Strength in Numbers" is more the case.

Today’s eSourcing Wiki-Wednesday topic is Purchasing Consortia. Sometimes these are called Buying Cooperatives. Buying Groups are prevalent in all industries. By joining volume, specifications and purchasing power, the savings for the procurement group has been significant.

This article is several years old but does a nice job explaining the benefits of a buying group. In the article is lists a few of the following benefits:

• Strength in numbers: Aggregating buying power offers benefits that each organization cannot achieve on their own.
• Superior pricing: Leveraging the larger volume allows members to take advantage of superior pricing.
• Best practices: Knowledge sharing allows members to identify best practices.
• Strategic value and time savings: Allow internal resources to focus on the strategic tasks. More resources are available to get more done.
• Spend analysis and quality contracts: Buying Cooperatives have vision across the members to see what and with who they are spending. With that information, the members benefit from the spend visibility they have to share.
  

Have you experienced any of the benefits of a buying group? Did you feel like you were working smarter?.