Online purchasing frees buyers for strategic work.

Purchasing, December, 1999

One of The Thomson Corporation's goals for 1999 was to have requisitioners place 50% of their orders for office supplies with Office Depot via the Internet. As it turns out, that goal was modest. By the end of August, some 63% of the publishing giant's office supplies buy with Office Depot was being transacted online.

Based in Stamford, Conn., Thomson has 35,000 employees at 400 locations worldwide. As such, the organization has a decentralized purchasing operation. Typically, each of Thomson's 200 companies does its own buying but regularly takes advantage of agreements negotiated at the corporate level for the entire enterprise.

About 90 of the companies buy office supplies through Thomson's corporate agreement with Office Depot, about $3.5...

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