Every quarter, Unit4 reports on statistics covering insights into the savings performed by Scanmarket by Unit4 eAuctions executed globally. The statistics are provided for procurement professionals who wish to better understand and optimize their businesses to achieve higher savings and efficiency.
Unit4 has been reporting these statistics each quarter since 2006, and they continue to be a highly valuable data asset to gain insights into categories and strategic sourcing trends.
Despite the modest savings rate compared to 2023, this outcome is not entirely unexpected as the first quarter of any given year typically presents lower activity. If patterns hold true, the subsequent quarters of this year should show promising activity upticks.
Despite many attempts to contain and end the global conflicts, we are still seeing the adverse impacts of geopolitical events hitting trade and supply chains. Inflation rates and interest rates are finding new, less-volatile levels, but consumer goods prices continue to steadily rise, luckily at a slower pace compared to recent years.
The number of eAuctions executed in Q1 fell 33.42% from Q4 of 2023, but only a modest 2.06% over. This outcome is unsurprising as Q1 usually ends with similar results year after year. Despite the year’s slow start, the ending activity level of Q1 should not be indicative of the anticipated outcomes for the remainder of 2024. We still hear from customers that eAuctions are seen as a reliable source of savings and price optimization across various categories.
Diving into the category volumes, the top-10 categories held steady from Q4, but with several shifts amongst the various positions. The top three categories in Q1 were Services, Construction, and Industrial Machinery. Once again, Services reclaimed the lead as the most-auctioned category, delivering solid savings of 12.51%.
Noteworthy savings performers for Q1 were Marketing Materials, with a remarkable 21.75% savings rate, and Retail non-food with 16.29%. Ingredients for food production suffered as price pressure mounted, thus concluding Q1 in seventh place with a negative savings rate of -3.22%.
As Q1 concluded, Scanmarket by Unit4 reported a savings rate of 9.25%, reaffirming the buyers’ embrace of eAuctions to counter inflationary pressures and secure better category prices. The results of Q2 are eagerly awaited to see if the activity and savings potential will beat the strong quarterly showings of 2023.
