Every order makes sense on its own. Together, it’s not a system.
Ask ten veterinary practices how they place their orders, and you’ll get ten different answers.
One has a fixed ordering day: everything in one go, and clients know when to submit their requests. Another orders several times a week, in between appointments, whenever there’s a moment. Others work with a handwritten list or index cards that accumulate throughout the week, until the order is large enough to place.
Each approach has its own logic. The system as a whole does not.
What a typical order actually looks like
Someone on the team, often a veterinary nurse, sometimes the practice owner, checks what’s missing or running low. This rarely happens in a system. Usually it’s done by eye, from a list, or simply from memory.
Then comes the switching between suppliers: manufacturers with direct pricing agreements, the wholesaler for the broader range, and an emergency supplier when something is needed urgently. Sometimes via a webshop, sometimes by email or phone — and with some suppliers, still by fax. Not by choice, but because that’s simply how it works.
The fact that practices order from multiple parties is entirely rational. Manufacturers are often cheaper. The wholesaler makes it easier to combine orders and reach the minimum order value for free delivery. The emergency supplier delivers the next day when it really matters.
Every individual choice makes sense. The overall setup was just never designed, it grew.
What gets lost along the way
As long as everything runs smoothly, it’s hard to see what this model actually costs.
That changes the moment the system comes under pressure:
- When the person who always does the ordering is away and nobody else knows exactly where to order what.
- When a product is out of stock, and the knowledge to quickly find an alternative with the same active ingredient lives in one person’s head.
- When a routine gets interrupted, and nobody can quite remember how it went.
And then there are the things that never become visible at all.
Whether you’re still paying the same price as last week. Whether a promotion is running somewhere that nobody noticed. Whether the same product is cheaper through a different channel.
Many practices never ask these questions. Not because nobody wants to, but because finding out takes time that simply isn’t there.
The problem isn’t the effort
The problem isn’t that it takes effort. The problem is that nobody can see what’s actually happening.
Every order gets placed. The stock room gets filled. The practice keeps running. But the full picture is missing: what is ordered when, from whom, at what price — and where there’s room to do better.
The information exists. It’s in order confirmations, emails, and delivery notes. It’s just scattered and nobody brings it together.
What if all of that were in one place?
Only when you can see everything side by side does something actually change.
You don’t need to change how you work. But with a clear overview for the first time (what you order, from whom, and at what price) you can see where differences exist and where you’re leaving margin on the table without realising it.
See what your practice currently can’t see
VetProcure gives you a single overview of what you order, from whom, and at what price — with your existing suppliers and conditions intact.
No new system. No change to how you work. Just visibility where there wasn’t any.