Sourcengine, the electronic component industry’s leading e-commerce marketplace, today announced that it has integrated its ‘Quote It‘ RFQ functionality with its BOM (Bill of Materials) Tool to simplify the component sourcing process for manufacturers and other purchasers. The integration of these two tools bridges the existing, negotiation-intensive purchasing process with the e-commerce-based future of component sourcing.
“The future of B2B purchasing will look like and bring the advantages of the consumer e-commerce experience we all recognize today, but most purchasers will still want vendors to work on their behalf and earn their trust,” said Thomas Ruzika, senior product manager at Sourcengine. “By integrating Quote It and the BOM tool, purchasers are not only able to request a quote for an entire list of up to 4,000 parts, but can turn over negotiations on any of those parts to Sourcengine to secure a special quote from across its network of more than 3,000 vendors, potentially unlocking additional inventory and reduced pricing – which is particularly critical amid ongoing shortages.”
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Sourcengine’s BOM Tool allows purchasers to source and purchase entire bills of materials or any parts lists from thousands of traceable suppliers all in one place. Purchasers only need to register a Sourcengine account at no cost and they can upload lists of up to 4,000 items to be quoted in seconds. Additionally, the tool allows purchasers to customize criteria, such as pricing and lead time, to ensure all priorities are considered. From there Sourcengine aggregates the best offers from the thousands of vendors on its platform. Purchasers can download results as an Excel file to easily share with their teams, review quotes, add all or individual items to their carts, and purchase with a single click, making it the ideal tool, especially in shortage situation.
The Quote It Tool leverages the negotiation power and expertise of Sourcengine to find additional stock and better pricing. Purchasers simply upload product lists, desired quantities, and target prices to Quote It and a team of sourcing experts takes over to negotiate. Following those negotiations, Sourcengine aggregates the best offers in a cart and notifies the purchaser via email so they can easily view the results and complete their transaction directly from the online marketplace.
With the integration of the BOM Tool and Quote It, purchasers can source their materials via the Sourcengine marketplace and select products from their quoted BOM to send directly to the Quote It tool for further negotiation. This functionality streamlines the traditional negotiation-based model, which opens up additional inventory and reduces pricing, within the framework of an e-commerce purchasing experience that offers speed and simplicity.
“By optimizing e-commerce for electronics components while providing a digital version of negotiation, we’re able to both simplify purchasing and build market transparency,” Ruzika continued. “This modernization of the purchasing process and increased visibility are not only core to Sourcengine’s mission, but key to achieving the improved supply chain that organizations will rely on moving forward.”
