One sourcing platform, total procurement visibility for iconic retailer Galeries Lafayette

Overview

Procurement for Parisian-based retail

With over a century of heritage and some of France’s best-known brands under its umbrella, Groupe Galeries Lafayette (Galeries Lafayette) remains a cornerstone of French retail. But even an institution needs innovation to stay agile.

For Galeries Lafayette, that philosophy of innovation is found within its indirect procurement team, which manages non-retail purchases such as HVAC systems, marketing services, and office equipment. In a group spanning several entities, including La Redoute, Galeries Lafayette and Louis Pion, this is no small task.

We spoke to Gavin Prévost, Acheteur at Galeries Lafayette, to understand how Market Dojo is helping the group enhance traceability, unlock savings, and streamline collaboration, both internally and externally.

* All quotes are translated from French and edited for clarity.

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Challenges

Indirect procurement, direct impact

Indirect procurement may not deal with haute couture, but it’s critical to keeping stores running smoothly.

“We buy everything that is not sold in stores,” Gavin explains, “It can be electrical compliance services, air conditioning, ventilation units… all the things that make the stores work.”

With responsibility spanning Galeries Lafayette, La Redoute, Louis Pion, and more, the procurement team has to ensure every euro spent is optimised.

“Cost savings are the ‘raison d’être’ for the procurement department. After that, our role is to support the business and make the group work optimally to ensure that there is no disruption in the operation of the stores,” explains Gavin.

“The main challenge is to succeed in having suppliers who respond best and in the most optimal way possible whether that’s on a financial level or for the needs of the business,” Gavin tells us. “That’s a lot of research to build a supplier panel for the different commodities. We also search for synergies within the group so for example, pooling categories of purchases between La Redoute and Galeries Lafayette.”

Driving consistency across a diverse group

Gavin’s team also faced the challenge of standardising procurement practices across different business units, while encouraging internal stakeholders to involve procurement early.

“The purchasing policy has changed recently… for larger purchases, the procurement team needs to be involved and manage a tender.”

“It’s a daily job, to identify the projects where we can help to optimise the expenditure. We look at where there’s been no recent tenders or the same suppliers used for several years then identify potential new suppliers; look for synergies with the other group entities; organise RFPs with incumbent suppliers; invite new suppliers and manage the tenders,” explains Gavin.

Solution

From optimisation to full visibility

Galeries Lafayette had used a different e-sourcing tool in the past, but when itcame time to evaluate new options, Market Dojo stood out.

“Market Dojo seemed clearer [than other solutions] in how to manage sourcing eventsand easier to use to find data,” Gavin explains. “A competitive RFP was organised… andMarket Dojo was the easiest to use for the optimisation of our purchasing processes as well as the best option from a competitive point of view.”

One platform, one single source of truth

Market Dojo is now used across all indirect procurement tenders in France for the Galeries Lafayette Group, including small projects.

“We obviously use Market Dojo for RFQs and RFPs but it’s also great in terms of traceability, even for something like ergonomic tables for our warehouse… we go through Market Dojo to have a follow-up in one place,” says Gavin. “All the exchanges with suppliers and the business – it’s all there, not hidden in [people’s] email boxes.”

The platform also simplifies collaboration.

“We can have external partners, architect firms and design consultancies, that have access to the platform. Everyone can communicate in the same place… so there’s no room for doubt,” he explains. “The platform is our only point of contact between suppliers and the procurement team.”

Results

Transparency that works for everyone

In a group that is audited frequently, traceability isn’t just a benefit, it’s essential.

“With Market Dojo, all the information is accessible to everyone. The audit team can access it very easily. It’s completely transparent,” says Gavin. “We are audited almost every six months… during an audit, we just go to the platform. We show the file and it’s extremely fast.”

Transparency also helps demonstrate the procurement team’s impact. “The platform allows us to show that the procurement team has worked in complete transparency to optimise the company’s purchases.”

Time saved is value gained

Galeries Lafayette has seen measurable time savings.

“When a design firm [for example] needs to go and get the offers to study them, we tell them just to get on [the] Market Dojo [platform] where they can download all the information about the tender,” Gavin explains. “That saves a lot of time.”

This speed is key in a fast-moving environment. “In general, our RFPs are quite fast… the fact that we have everything in one place helps the procurement department and the design firms analyse offers more quickly.”

Supplier evaluation made simpler

The RFQ price grids and ranking features have helped the team sharpen supplier evaluations, both on price and performance. “Market Dojo automatically ranks suppliers according to performance gains on each lot,” says Gavin. “This helps us to identify where we have been able to perform and to measure progress. It’s very practical and saves time.”

“The platform helps us see which supplier has done what and, since everyone has access to the platform, others [stakeholders] see it too so everyone works in collaboration. We need to have suppliers who can do all the lots and rankings allow us to see where suppliers need to optimise.”

Gavin adds: “This allows us to have a more benevolent or adapted approach with suppliers… to say ‘you were good here, not so good there’. And in most cases, that helps us and the supplier find a final price that suits both sides.”

The Future

Expanding adoption

Internally, Market Dojo is gaining traction across the organisation. “Some business units are already very used to it… they go on [the platform] regularly to see how things are evolving,” says Gavin. “Others prefer the reports we create – that are easier to create thanks to the platform.”

Gavin says unequivocally. “I worked before in companies where we had filing cabinets for purchasing files for the previous 20 years, that uses up space, now we have everything in Market Dojo, it’s so much better!”

“The platform allows for faster organisation, optimises processing, and time required to analyse tenders… as well as enabling the buyer to better negotiate with suppliers.”

And lastly…

Would you recommend Market Dojo?

“I did recently! We had a supplier who struggled to provide the required quotes during our audit with them. I told them that having a platform like Market Dojo allows for a very high level of transparency. It’s a great platform,” concludes Gavin.