Every individual order makes sense. Together, they are not a system.
Ask ten veterinary clinics how they place their orders, and you will get ten different answers.
One has a fixed order day: everything in one go, and everyone on the team knows when to flag what is running low. Another orders several times a week, in between appointments, whenever there is a spare moment. Others keep a shared document or a running list that the team adds to throughout the week. Or simply a handwritten note on the counter next to the dispensary.
Every approach has its own logic. The whole does not.
What a typical order actually looks like
Someone on the team checks what is missing or nearly gone. That rarely happens in a system. Usually it is a visual scan, a list, or just memory.
Then comes the switching: manufacturers with direct pricing, a wholesaler for the broader range, an express supplier when something is needed fast. Sometimes via a webshop, sometimes by email or phone. With some suppliers, still by fax. Simply because that is how it works.
It makes sense that clinics order from multiple suppliers. Manufacturers are often cheaper. But ordering just one product directly and falling short of the free-shipping threshold means paying delivery costs anyway. So the order gets held, bundled through the wholesaler, or pushed back a day. The same calculation plays out every week.
Every individual decision is reasonable. The system as a whole was never designed. It just grew — and that matters more than most clinics realise.
What gets lost along the way
When everything runs smoothly, it is easy to miss what this way of ordering is actually costing. That usually only becomes visible once the system comes under pressure.
When the person who always orders is away. Nobody knows exactly which supplier handles which product, and more time goes into figuring it out than into placing the order.
When a product is out of stock. Knowing where to find a quick alternative lives in one person’s head. If that person is not there, the search starts from scratch.
When someone else has to take over. Which supplier for which product, which discounts apply where, why certain things always go through a particular route — none of that is written down anywhere. It is faster to do it yourself than to explain it.
And then there are the things that never become visible at all. Whether you are still paying the same price as last week. Whether there is a promotion running that nobody has spotted. Whether the same product is cheaper somewhere else.
Most clinics never even ask those questions. Simply because tracking down the answers takes time that does not exist.
The problem is not the effort
Every order gets placed. The shelves get restocked. The practice keeps running.
But the full picture is missing. What gets ordered, when, from whom, at what price — and where there is room to do it better. The information exists, sitting in order confirmations, emails, and delivery notes. It is just scattered, and nobody brings it together.
Once you see everything side by side, something shifts. Not in how you work, but in what you can see. Where prices differ. Where margin is slipping away unnoticed. Where a better choice is possible — one you cannot make right now, because you do not have the overview.
Curious what your ordering process looks like when you see it all in one place for the first time?
VetProcure is free for veterinary clinics. Connect your existing supplier accounts and see for yourself what becomes visible. No IT setup required, no commitment.
Register for free or book a short demo if you want to see how it works first.