For practice owners and practice managers who know their procurement could be smarter — but are still ordering the way they always have.
It’s Tuesday morning. The first patient is about to arrive. Better place that order quickly.
You open the first supplier website. Then the second. Then a third, because one product was cheaper elsewhere. Or was that last week? You order what’s on the list, from who you always order from. Whether that’s the best price, you’re not entirely sure. There’s no time to find out right now.
Next week you’ll do the same.
There are sentences that sound like routine — but hide costs in plain sight. “We’ve always ordered this way” is one of them. Not because it’s wrong. But because no one has ever calculated what it costs.
The time no one counts
When everything you need is in stock, you’re done quickly. But that’s rarely the case.
Because the moment one product isn’t available, the real work begins. You open another website or search on Google. If you don’t know the alternative off the top of your head, you search by active ingredient — on a third website, sometimes a fourth. Some clinics we spoke to run into this problem multiple times in a single week.
On average, veterinary clinics spend 3 to 6 hours per week on procurement and inventory management. That seems manageable. But added up over a year, it’s no longer hours. It’s working weeks. Work that never appears on any invoice.
More costs no one sees
And the hidden costs don’t stop at time.
After staff, procurement is your biggest cost. On average 20 to 30% of revenue. For a clinic with a turnover of €500,000, that’s up to €150,000 per year.
Yet most clinics barely manage this actively.
Prices vary by supplier. Discounts come through promotions or sales reps. Cheaper alternatives are yours to find. The information exists — it’s just scattered.
So you order the way you always have.
That feels logical. Until you do the maths.
A 5% difference on your procurement spend is €7,500 per year. Not as a saving you capture — but as a loss you don’t see. Every year.
The real problem
Time loss and margin loss look like two separate problems. But they share the same root cause: lack of visibility.
What do you order most? Where do you spend the most? Where are the price differences? Which supplier handles the most orders — and what does that mean for your next annual negotiation? Most clinics don’t know. Not because they don’t want to — but because it’s not visible anywhere.
Why the system makes this difficult
One clinic we spoke to tried to automate their procurement process through their practice management system. Too many errors. Too much correction work. So back to manual, via the familiar websites. Not because it’s ideal. But because it works. More or less.
Current systems help you order. They don’t help you buy better. As long as it works “well enough,” there’s no reason to stop and ask what it’s actually costing.
Until someone sees it all side by side for the first time.
What changes when you do
You keep ordering from your trusted suppliers. But suddenly you see what’s happening: where prices differ, where alternatives are cheaper, where you’re leaving margin on the table.
And only then can you choose.
See what your clinic isn’t seeing
With VetProcure, you get a single overview of what you order, from whom, and at what price. You work with your existing suppliers and conditions — but with full visibility.
Book a no-obligation demo — we’ll show you what the platform means for your procurement.