1. The concept of direct procurement
Direct procurement (Request For Quotation, RFQ) means that buyers post procurement information on the Alibaba platform to find suitable sellers; after suppliers view the customer’s procurement needs, they will provide quotes in a timely manner according to the buyer’s requirements to establish contact.
Direct procurement service can greatly improve the buyer’s procurement efficiency while helping suppliers to better complete orders and win more high-quality buyers.
2. Direct procurement service process
Buyer’s demand release – demand review → supplier quotation – quotation review → buyer review → both parties communicate.
3. Advantages of direct procurement
(1) Buyers can find suitable suppliers more quickly. Buyers can display their procurement needs and obtain quotations from more suppliers, thereby quickly finding high-quality suppliers.
(2) Suppliers can actively look for buyers. Through direct procurement, suppliers can directly grasp the buyer’s needs, and then actively develop customers after receiving quotations from more suppliers.
(3) Convenient quotation and order management. There is a pre-defined quotation form in the RFQ, which facilitates the integration of supplier quotation information. Quotation management can be used for transaction tracking and customer management.