Evolution of Search Leaves Procurement Websites In The Stone Age

Traditionally, government based and private funded procurement sites have been useful portals for companies to promote themselves and their products. However, due to increasing leaps in online search based technology, is the procurement process really as necessary as it once was?

Procurement websites can offer users a centralised source for finding suitable suppliers, potentially cutting down the time when trying to find out information on products and services. However, this is only of use if you can actually find what you are looking for.

Search technology has undergone such rapid advancements in the past year alone, with the likes of Google leading the way with smarter, broader intelligent results with a simple interface. But it may seem that some online procurement sites are failing to keep up to date their search capabilities, making it difficult and time consuming for users to locate what they’re looking for to help them do their job. And with the economic pressures on businesses and public services to work smarter and act quicker, these hindrances are not welcome.

The procurement process is not without its advantages and its principals are still true. It can create an equal level playing field which allows both large and small companies the opportunity to bid for those all important contracts. Plus it supposedly makes it more likely all relevant businesses are listed, as opposed to having to battle it out in the competitive arena of search engine advertising, where the multinational corporations and their deep advertising pockets, reign supreme.

Procurement sites might be able to provide equal opportunities to the David and Goliaths of the business world, but once again, success is highly dependent on whether the procurement site delivers on its promise and can help the user find the services, products or information they are looking for.

In the most part, the person making the decision to sign up to procurement companies and their sites isn’t the person who would end up using the sites. And because these individuals haven’t included the users in the process or tried to understand their needs, this inevitably results in the user trying to find an alternative method such as comparison shopping sites, which are widespread and easy to use.

In the commoditised market, shopping comparison sites dominate for the consumer. For the seller, they provide an alternative avenue to potential customers. For the buyer, they are presented with a wealth of functionality, such as suggested search, product sort (e.g. A to Z, Prices low to high) and filtering on product attributes; all designed to make it easier for the consumer to find their best option.

What’s more, with the introduction of customer reviews on products and rating of sellers, this all adds a new dimension to the appeal of such shopping sites and clearly shows what procurement sites should be offering. But for the B2B market, if you were searching for shop displays or trying to locate a good IT consultant, there is a lack of such vertical comparison sites.

At the end of the day, the looming recession has turned time into an even more precious commodity and when weighing up the process of using procurement sites versus the quality of results gathered from online searching, it is easy to see which one is worth its weight in gold.
—
Andrew Regan writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.