Retailers face uncertain demand patterns as concern over the global economy linger. For most, razor-thin margin have become losses, as firms have struggled to return to profitability despite uncertain growth. They need predictable spending on marketing and advertising programs, and a centralized mechanism to manage that spend more effectively and deliver a consistent store experience across locations.

Manage spending on store marketing campaigns and non-merchandising consumables with Coupa e-Procurement.

Using Coupa, retailers can streamline the procure-to-pay process for all non-merchandising spending, including print. Coupa decreases the time it takes to create orders and also automates the PO communication process with suppliers, saving time and money. And given how cost-conscious retailers need to be in the current economic environment, Coupa is also incredibly affordable compared with alternative systems. And finally, since Coupa can be fully configured and operational in just a few hours, there’s no risk of getting bogged down in an expansive IT project before receiving benefits.

Coupa helps retailers protect margins with smarter spending practices

Coupa is a vital component of retailers’ drive to reduce operating expenditures and maintain margins. They use Coupa to increase scrutiny over marketing programs and the purchasing of store consumables. With Coupa, they can cut costs while still maintaining the consistent store experience so vital to their brand management efforts. Specific advantages of Coupa Cloud Spend Management for retailers include:

• Centralized control over procurement processes and greater visibility into spending at the store level, without having to deploy IT resources or professional buyers in each location.
• Broad adoption with an easy-to-use solution that requires minimal change management and training to learn or adopt, perfect for workforces characterized by non-office personnel, or that have high turnover or seasonal fluctuations in their employee base.
• Ability to segregate content and streamline store-level purchasing through content groups. For example, with Coupa, retailers can segregate catalog items, how to buy policies, contracts, punchout sites and more by region, store layout, or other logical grouping, to standardize ordering processes in each location.
• Full budgeting support, including budget remaining checks before requisitions are approved, and roll-up reporting for store-level, and regional (or district) spending relative to budget.
• Universal access via any web browser. As the only true multi-tenant cloud company in the e-procurement category, the software can be accessed from the Amazon cloud via any web browser. There is no hardware to buy, or software to install.
• Fast time to value. Everything you need to get started is included in a single subscription price and standard implementations are free, perfect for organizations designed to be self-sufficient at the store level, without expensive IT overhead.