The Shop the MarketPlace First initiative was put in place in 2017 to help the university save money, improve efficiencies and increase transparency in spending by providing line item detail for items being purchased. Purchasing from the MarketPlace can save campus customers 6% or more on retail purchases, eliminates the need for paper invoicing and automates the purchase-to-pay process.
The Shop the MarketPlace First initiative V1.0 was launched in 2017 to reduce the number of supply voucher payments that were $250 or less. Since then, the initiative has gone through V2.0 and V3.0 revisions, increasing the supply voucher threshold from $250 to $2,500. We estimate that by the end of FY22, the number of supply voucher payments that are under $2,500 will have decreased by 97%.
| 2017 (Benchmark) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | Projected 2022 |
| 20,527 | 8,816 | 12,060 | 13,144 | 13,615 | 20,050 |
The chart above depicts the reduction in the number of supply vouchers under $2,500 from the start of the initiative in 2017 through the projected fiscal year end 2022.
In 2017 the costs for supply vouchers outside of the MarketPlace totaled over $7.2M. Shifting the spending to the MarketPlace has allowed Procurement & Business Services to produce cost savings in two ways:
| Direct Cost Savings | Indirect Cost Savings |
| Utilize negotiated pricingConsolidate ordersAvoid sales tax Eliminate shipping costs | Eliminate paper invoicesElectronic payments Streamline procurement processesAutomate reconciliation |
Moving supply voucher spending to the MarketPlace has generated over the past five years:
| Total voucher count | 55,000 | Indirect cost savings | $ 1,375,000 |
| Total voucher spend | $ 27,225,252 | Direct cost savings | $ 1,633,515 |
Implementing this initiative and incrementally increasing the threshold for supply vouchers has produced direct and indirect cost savings of $3,008,515. We anticipate an additional cost and process savings of around $35,000 for FY22.
Thank you for being a MarketPlace shopper and for participating in this initiative that helps generate savings and further supports the mission of the university.