Purchasing Software

What is purchasing software?

Purchasing software automates the entire purchasing cycle for businesses—from creating purchase orders and analyzing budgets to managing supplier relationships and procuring goods. The software enables purchasing managers and individuals in the procurement team to track and record purchase orders, acknowledgments made by the vendors, and delivery confirmation by the supplier. It also assists users with their invoice processes, which includes invoice generation and invoice processing. Purchasing is a subset of the broader procurement services. 

How do you track purchase orders?

Purchasing software offers several features, such as purchase order tracking, order processing, and inventory management that allows procurement professionals to track and manage their purchase orders. To track a particular order, simply use the search function of the software that helps you track orders using the order numbers, vendor name, and other criteria. Once you’ve located the order, you can easily check its status and other details, such as the items ordered, the cost, and the expected delivery date online.

Why do businesses need purchasing software?

• Speeds up the purchasing process: Purchasing software automates and speeds up the procurement process for users by automating multiple day-to-day tasks, such as generating purchase requisition, maintaining vendor information, and generating reports to track spending and relevant trends. Additionally, the software automates the approval process for purchase orders and provides users with useful insights that further help them streamline and optimize their procurement processes.

• Manages vendor relationships: Purchasing tools offer a central repository to store vendor information, including their contact details, acknowledgments, payment terms, and vendor performance data. The software also provides tools to streamline and manage vendor interactions that can help businesses in maintaining strong vendor relationships.

• Streamlines the approval process: In addition to automating several time-consuming tasks, the purchasing platform also streamlines the approval process for purchase orders, including routing purchase requisition to appropriate individuals or teams for approval and offering an audit trail of approvals. The software also helps the procurement team in setting up rules and thresholds for managing the approval process.

How much does purchasing software cost?

Purchasing software cost in the following price ranges*:

• $13 - $18

• $19 - $49

• $49+

Most products in the market are priced on a per month basis and can be divided into three pricing tiers based on their starting price.

How does purchasing software help SMBs?

• Lowers the cost of purchase: Purchasing software offers analytical tools that can be used by businesses to compare different suppliers, including their pricing plans and payment conditions. The software features spend analysis and spend management that allow procurement managers to track budget and identify savings opportunities in the entire purchasing process. These ensure better contract negotiations and increased returns on investment.

• Facilitates recurring purchase order management: Several purchasing tools allow businesses to set up and manage recurring purchase orders for goods and services. This allows the status of these orders to be tracked, helping ensure that the businesses never run out of stock. Purchase order scheduling and order tracking are some of the features offered by purchasing software that can help with recurring purchase order management.

• Improves visibility over day-to-day transactions: Purchasing software offers purchase order generation, invoice tracking, and reporting to provide small businesses an overview of their purchasing activities, including the status of each transaction, associated cost, and current inventory levels. Moreover, it offers a centralized platform for tracking and managing business purchases that provide businesses with complete control over their transactions. 

Sources

Products evaluated for the pricing calculation were taken from GetApp’s purchasing software directory. The pricing ranges exclude freemium versions of the products. The features highlighted were identified based on their relevance and the percentage of products in the Get App’s directory that offer them.

*The pricing included is for the entry-level/lowest-priced offerings found on vendor websites as of December 12, 2022. These ranges correspond to the 25th, 75th, and 100th percentiles of pricing information gathered from vendor websites of sample products.

The above list includes pricing for the base plans of most products. An enterprise or premium product that is priced higher may include additional features such as compliance management, contract management, customizable templates, and inventory management.