Purchasing

Purchasing is the operational core of procurement: raising purchase orders, confirming pricing and availability, receiving goods and processing payment. It focuses on executing buying decisions efficiently and accurately, once sourcing and supplier selection have been done upstream.

While often used interchangeably with procurement, purchasing is narrower — it is the buying act, whereas procurement is the whole strategic discipline around it. Digital purchasing through catalogues and marketplaces speeds up ordering, applies approval controls and captures clean spend data automatically.