Leisure company uses web to streamline suppliers

Bourne Leisure has kicked off an e-procurement pilot in a shake up of its supplier base that will cost around £400,000 in the first year and may see the number of its suppliers reduced by half.

The private hospitality company, which operates the Haven, Warner Breaks and Butlins brands, will implement an on-demand purchase-to-pay system provided by e-procurement specialist Wax Digital.

The system will potentially allow 12,000 employees to browse and order goods ranging from paper clips to flat screen TVs from approved suppliers over a central web portal. It will incorporate e-auctions to help staff get the best prices on their purchases.

silicon.com Retail & Leisure

Get the latest retail and leisure news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the R&L newsletter today!

Bourne Leisure IT and procurement director Simon Crawshaw told silicon.com the pilot will be implemented in the company's 36 Haven sites. Providing the pilot goes well, rollout to the remaining 16 sites will commence in the second quarter of this year and take about two months.

As a result of streamlined purchasing and better visibility of buying behaviours, the company's financial performance should experience a lift. Crawshaw didn't specify the impact the project will have on the company's costs but said he would be happy if the bottom line improved by five per cent.

He said: "Our spending is of an order of magnitude that any percentage saving will be huge."

However, Crawshaw expects the benefits will also include freeing staff from time consuming purchasing processes and giving management a clearer picture of spending.

He said: "To a [holiday] complex manager, buying is a hassle that takes him away from his day-to-day job. These guys are not buyers. Purchase-to-pay provides them with a streamlined way of dealing with suppliers."