StudiesPurchasing Life Science Products The Science Advisory Board polled 1,450+ scientists on their purchasing practices for life science products in order to determine the advantages and disadvantages of four different methods. These purchasing methods are internal supply centers, internal purchasing hubs, traditional methods and online. Because ordering lab supplies through traditional methods (i.e. email, fax, mail or phone) is tedious and time consuming due to searching through printed catalogs and drafting purchase orders, many life science suppliers are promoting online ordering. Despite this investment in developing searchable online catalogs coupled with detailed product information, scientists still place 45% of their orders via traditional methods. However, when gathering information on a life science supplier’s new products, over 80% of researchers most often rely upon these Web sites. While scientists can buy life science products through scientific marketplaces designed to help them identify these products and compare suppliers' prices, our study indicates that they overwhelmingly prefer to use supplier Web sites instead. “Scientists value the convenience of online ordering because it allows them to spend more time at the lab bench," remarks Tamara Zemlo, Ph.D., MPH, Director of The Science Advisory Board. “Online ordering can be a positive experience that allows scientists to access to a wide variety of products easily at any time of day or night, seven days a week.” In addition to these upfront benefits, online ordering can also consolidate the ordering process thereby reducing accounts-payable transactions. This improved efficiency saves the scientist’s institution both time and money. Instead of relying on the Internet, some scientists purchase their products internally through their institution. For example, products can be obtained from a supply center/storeroom physically located on-site or via an internal purchasing hub (“hub”). Hosted within institutions, these hubs can be as simple as an internal site where researchers have the ability to order products from multiple suppliers to a complete “eProcurement solution”—providing ordering capabilities, but also affording researchers with the ability to search through content from multiple suppliers, view real-time stock availability, monitor and track orders, and access order history. Scientists prefer to purchase products through an internal purchasing hub rather than via a supplier’s Web site primarily because organizational discounts are automatically applied. Scientists claim that offers of free shipping would encourage them to shop for life science products from a supplier’s Web site rather than through a hub. This willingness to switch purchasing modes is likely reinforced by study respondents stating that it is easier to find products of interest on a life science supplier’s Web site than it is at an internal purchasing hub. While researchers value the ability of both hubs and Web sites to display customized prices for their organization, they rank automatically deducting purchases from their lab’s budget and displaying their purchase history as the second and third most important features of a hub. In contrast, scientists consider a supplier’s Web site’s ability to list current product availability and track their shipments as quite important features. ### Please click here to read additional insights into purchasing life science products and incentive programs suppliers should offer their customers by members of The Science Advisory Board. [ View Current & Future Studies ] [ View Past Studies ] |
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