Comet – A Leading Electrical Goods Provider Joins the ProcServe Trading Network

Executive Summary

Public sector at Comet is one of the first electrical goods providers to join the ProcServe Trading Network. Public sector at Comet is now integrated with Zanzibar, the strategic eMarketplace and electronic invoicing system, delivered by ProcServe on behalf of the UK Government.

Limits on spending across the UK public sector have stimulated the need for purchasing solutions which deliver the greatest possible value for money and best value deals, but without compromising quality of client service standards. The Zanzibar eMarketplace is designed to meet those requirements in a way that reduces administration and encourages competitive pricing amongst the suppliers committed to trading with the public sector through such a channel.

Public sector at Comet’s Retail Goods Framework is now available to all public sector organisations in the UK through Zanzibar. As the framework is an agreement encompassing pricing and conditions which has been negotiated centrally, the whole UK public sector can benefit from the value for money deals on offer.

The Challenge: Rolling out a more efficient way of ordering to public sector clients

The Public Sector team at Public sector at Comet joined the ProcServe Trading Network in September 2008, having already been supplying many public sector organisations and a number of government-wide strategic programmes. Joining the trading network gave Public sector at Comet access to several UK public sector eMarketplaces including Zanzibar, the Department for Education’s OPEN programme for Schools, and the Welsh Assembly Government’s xchangewales programme.

Becoming part of this cost-saving eMarketplace initiative was a logical progression for Public sector at Comet. Like most of its competitors, the company was quick to add an eCommerce dimension to its operations when B2C Internet retailing evolved over a decade ago. It gave purchasers the ability to compare prices and delivery on identical products from a range of suppliers.

The Solution: Becoming a supplier on the ProcServe Trading Network

Collaborative Procurement ensures that the selection and ordering of goods online is more efficient than buying from the retailer’s own site. ProcServe has been a pioneering innovator in this field, establishing several public sector eMarketplaces on its ProcServe Trading Network.

Endorsed by HM Treasury, Zanzibar is hosted and managed centrally so that individual organisations have no IT or administrative costs when using the system. The ProcServe Trading Network is available free of transaction charges or subscription fees for all supplier organisations.

Suppliers whose stock is made available through the Zanzibar community of marketplaces have been sponsored to join by a participating buying organisation. To achieve that status, they are carefully vetted and ‘tick all the boxes’, allowing purchasers to go ahead and order goods and services without having to issue tenders. Jason Orchard, Public sector at Comet’s Business Development Manager for Charities and the Public Sector, says, “We see the Zanzibar eMarketplace as an important route into areas of the public sector where Public sector at Comet is currently under-represented. Along the way, we have been able to fine-tune our products and services to meet the needs of a community demanding true value for money.”

Public sector at Comet met with ProcServe and examined the Zanzibar proposition and saw it as an opportunity to raise its profile further amongst public sector clients. Suppliers are sponsored to join Zanzibar by a public sector buying organisation which is already signed up to the eMarketplace. In the case of Public sector at Comet, this was the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), whose requirement was for a bespoke catalogue. This peer-to-peer arrangement between purchaser and supplier provides for a subset of the supplier’s total catalogue to be made available online, and accessible only to staff within CPS. “As part of our sustainability agenda, we wanted to ensure CPS staff only purchase white goods with high energy efficiency ratings. Public sector at Comet have been very helpful in ensuring that their content meets this criteria, helping us to achieve our sustainability goals,” explains Simon Whitehead, Head of Zanzibar Purchase-to-Pay at CPS.

Orchard explains that public sector organisations may also choose to access the entire product catalogue online through Zanzibar: “Many of our clients – which include schools, other central government departments, local authorities, universities and organisations within the NHS – take that route.”

Results: Real-time value for money goods and services available online

Public sector at Comet worked closely with the ProcServe Supplier Services team to register and upload its catalogue onto the trading network. The company regards the relationship it has forged with ProcServe as highly successful, and is keen to join three new market areas into which the eProcurement solution is expanding. One of those is the Welsh NHS, which creates significant opportunities for suppliers like Public sector at Comet to deliver products and services cost effectively at a time of growing financial austerity.

For an organisation handling electrical goods sourced from around the world, prices are time-sensitive, as the cost at which the company purchases stock for resale varies from day to day. Those costs have to be reflected in the sale prices offered to purchasers. Orchard states: “Electronic procurement has involved a learning curve for Public sector at Comet and our clients. When we were awarded our contract under the framework, the challenge was to ensure a seamless ordering process for all our public sector clients. With the encouragement of those organisations, we are moving rapidly towards achieving that objective.”

Public sector at Comet is developing an interface to allow Zanzibar users to view the fully updated prices in real time for any item within the general catalogue or a tailored subset of it. While that innovation is being implemented, users see a default price and call the supplier’s dedicated public sector advisors to secure the prevailing price of the stock items they require.

Far from defeating the objective of an online procurement system, this interaction with the staff at Public sector at Comet has proved invaluable in cementing client relations and responding to any concerns or queries that the client’s team might have. “Ordering electronically with Public sector at Comet is helping the CPS achieve visibility of spend and eliminate ad hoc procurement practices throughout the organisation. The ease of access to Public sector at Comet’s catalogue via Zanzibar also helps our staff spend their time more effectively,” explains Simon Whitehead, CPS.

Jason Orchard closes by saying “Public sector at Comet has spent two decades developing our role as a leading B2B supplier and established a large presence within the UK public sector. Making the company’s business catalogue available on Zanzibar further highlights our commitment to this expanding part of our client base.”