Trade Interchange Reverse Auctions and eRFX Home e-Procurement Phone +61 (0)2 8002 1341

Reverse Auctions Across Industries

One of the most common questions asked of our organisation is 'have you run auctions in our industry?' Whether the answer is yes or no, one thing all industries have in common is an indirect spend. Whatever the industry, indirect categories are often the first to be considered for reverse auction. This is due to a number of factors including lower perceived risk to the business, less critical supplier relationships and direct management of the spend.

Our recommendation is always to walk before you run. Take a relatively straightforward indirect supply that you control. The successful outcomes of the first auctions provides the confidence and internal proof needed to take this to other stakeholders in the organisation.

The Top Ten Indirects

The following list (in no particular order) represents ten of the most common indirect items that are put through reverse auction. For certain industries some of these categories are regarded as directs or critical to the organisation, for example distributors are likely to regard couriers as critical to their business.

  • Stationery
  • Electricity
  • Courier
  • Telecom charges - fixed and mobile
  • Printing
  • IT hardware - Servers, desktops, laptops, MFDs, printers
  • IT software licensing
  • Office furniture
  • IT consumables
  • Recruitment services
Industry Specific

Industry specific or specialised items can also be considered once familiarity and confidence in reverse auction usage is achieved by the buying organisation. The primary questions remain the same, can it be clearly specified and is there adequate competition? As reverse auction specialists, we make no claim to have any expertise in your industry and so we work closely with your subject matter experts to build an auction that accurately reflects the contract in question.

To show just how specialised items can be, the following list of auctioned items (through various reverse auction providers) includes a few unexpected categories:

Ejector seat
  • MRI Scanners
  • Pigs ears
  • Ejector seat components
  • Bakery mixes
  • Bathroom suites
  • Packaging and labelling
  • Court reporting and transcription services
  • Fabric cutting services
  • Airline ground handling services
  • Pistons
  • Cleaning chemicals

The list is as varied and obscure as the requirements of industry. For every industry or category specialist, there are items that they recognise as less strategic and possibly over priced. In those situations, reverse auctions provide an efficient and fair way to establish true market price.

Trade Interchange Reverse Auctions on-line demonstration

Item Examples

The following are examples of items that have been price negotiated through Reverse Auctions (multiple reverse auction providers):

Agency staff 39% | Air freshener | Airfreight 30% | Batteries 29% | Bottled Water 58% | Brochures 41% | Bulk envelopes 12% | Capital Equipment 19% | Car and commercial vehicle hire 8% |Car Car Rental 13% | Catering Services 8% | Cleaning Services 25% | Computers 29% | Contingent labour 15% | Couriers 27% | Electrical cabling and install 13% | Electricity 22% | Envelopes 10% | Facilities management | Fleet - leased cars 10% | Fleet Management 18% |Chair Fork lift trucks | Forks 22% | Freight 29% | Furniture 52% | Gas 13% | Hotel accommodation 32% | ICT consumables | Insurance | IT equipment 32% | IT Hardware 23% | IT recruitment 50% | Labels | Labour services | Land line telephony | Land lines calls direct access | Laptops 31% | Laser Printers 48% | Laundry contracts | Lights 34% | Limousine Services 21% | Logistics 8% | Luggage 17% | Mail and courier contracts | Mail and distribution 12% | Media Supplies 30% | Mobile telephony 34% | Modems 49% | National Integrated pest management services | Natural gas | Office Furniture 27% | Office supplies 33% | Oils and lubricants 13% | Packing Services 13% | Paper 36% | Paper and paper board 16% | Parking services | PCs 25% | Pest control 59% | Photographic services | Power infrastructure | Print 33% | Printing | Re-cycling 14% | Reprographics 40% | Scanners 23% | Screens 40% | Security 15% | Solar Lighting 60% | Statements and letters 24% | Stationery 58% | Supply of cleaning materials hardware goods and related products | Telecommunications - outbound telephony 35% | Telecoms | Telecoms (Fixed) 38% |Mobile Phone Telecoms (Mobile) 40% | Telecoms and RMO service | Telecoms contract | Temporary building hire 23% | Temporary Staff 64% | Toners |Toners Travel Management 63% | Utilities 17% | Vending Machines 22% | Warehousing | Waste Disposal 32% | Water 14% | Wheeled bins |