Sap ariba means business in europe
Prague--(business wire)--the world’s largest digital marketplace for industrial goods and services just got bigger. on the heels of successful rollouts in north america, australia and latin america, sap ariba today announced that it has selected mercateo ag as its primary partner to launch sap ariba® spot buy in europe. the strategic alliance promises to transform ad-hoc purchasing for enterprises across the continent by matching buyer demand with seller supply in an efficient and trusted digital marketplace to drive a simple, more transparent process that delivers flexibility and savings to buyers as well as opportunities to sellers. a tough spot every purchasing process has its challenges. but spot buying is particularly tough. buyers generally lack the resources to qualify suppliers and manage bids for items that were needed yesterday and end up purchasing from the first vendor they find who can deliver what they need with extreme speed. that leaves significant savings on the table. and sellers miss out on opportunities to expand and win new business. “in joining forces with mercateo, we can help solve these problems, creating a unique, end-to-end experience through which buyers and sellers in europe can more efficiently engage around non-contracted spend and make procurement awesome,” says tony alvarez, general manager, sap ariba spot buy. “mercateo has robust functional capabilities for both buyers and sellers. this philosophy and commitment to creating a neutral platform for commerce fit very well with our strategy, and we are pleased to be leveraging mercateo unite as our primary infrastructure for onboarding trusted seller content into sap ariba spot buy.” a simple, powerful solution pairing sap ariba’s business network and cloud-based procurement applications, sap ariba spot buy delivers a consumer-like shopping experience driven by business controls through which even the most casual users can quickly find and immediately buy thousands of contracted and non-contracted items in accordance with their company’s procurement policies and procedures. “mercateo and sap ariba share a passion for connecting buyers and sellers and enabling them to collaborate in new and innovative ways that drive their business forward,” said dr. bernd schÖnwÄlder, cso/cmo of mercateo. “in sharing the passion for innovative technology and combining sap ariba’s procurement expertise with our supply side reach, we can help buyers get a handle on this hard to manage category of spend and control their costs while at the same time opening the door to new opportunities for sellers that fuel growth.” with sap ariba spot buy and the mercateo unite multi-supplier infrastructure, enterprise buyers can access the rapidly growing number of mercateo unite suppliers as well as millions of items from mercateo shop on demand. here’s how it works: find: if an item isn’t listed in a company’s catalog, users can search the sap ariba spot buy catalog to locate it. approve: through configurable business rules and spot buy-specific workflow, purchases are automatically aligned with corporate policies and routed for approval. buy: approved purchases trigger checkout, secure payment and shipment of goods. a win-win “ariba spot buy has been a life saver for us,” says shannon simmons, program manager, global sourcing & procurement services, aig, a buyer who is already using sap ariba spot buy. chris dunlap, global indirect spend, hp, inc. has been pleased with the service since rolling it out as well. “with sap ariba spot buy, we’re able to move more spend through no touch channels which is really important for us,” he says. “and it’s a pretty easy experience. people can find things that they couldn’t before, they are able to comparison shop and they are finding the prices are as good or better than what we have negotiated in our regular catalogs.” but sap ariba spot buy isn’t just for buyers. there are benefits for sellers too as they can easily reach out to a global network of buyers who spend billions on indirect goods and services every year and offer their goods when and where they are needed. with more than 2.8 million companies in 190 countries transacting over $1 trillion in commerce on an annual basis, the ariba network is the world’s largest, most global business-to-business trading platform. with ariba spot buy, sap ariba connects the demand of buyers on the network to the most expansive supply of global goods to create digital commerce. to learn more about ariba spot buy, and the value it can deliver to your organization, visit: www.ariba.com. suppliers interested in participating in ariba spot buy can also contact sap ariba at spotbuysupply@sap.com. about mercateo mercateo is the european expert in the field of non-contracted b2b spend. the company has been running europe’s largest b2b marketplace since 1999. in early 2017, mercateo launched mercateo unite – the b2b networking platform. through mercateo unite, buyers, suppliers, manufacturers and service providers can connect their systems directly with each other and digitally process transactions regardless of their current level of digitalization. mercateo unite serves as sap ariba’s infrastructure for the integration of a wide range of suppliers and assortments in sap ariba spot buy. with its headquarters located in germany, mercateo operates in 14 european countries and employs more than 450 people. mercateo increased its sales by 14% to eur 228 million in 2016. for more information, visit www.unite.eu. about sap ariba sap ariba is how companies connect to get business done. on the ariba network, buyers and suppliers from more than two million companies and 190 countries discover new opportunities, collaborate on transactions and grow their relationships. buyers can manage the entire purchasing process, while controlling spending, finding new sources of savings and building a healthy supply chain. and suppliers can connect with profitable customers and efficiently scale existing relationships – simplifying sales cycles and improving cash control along the way. the result is a dynamic, digital marketplace, where more than $1 trillion in commerce gets done every year. to learn more about sap ariba, visit www.ariba.com. about sap as market leader in enterprise application software, sap (nyse: sap) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. from back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – sap empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. sap applications and services enable approximately 350,000 customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. for more information, visit www.sap.com. any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the u.s. private securities litigation reform act of 1995. words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to sap are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. sap undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. all forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. the factors that could affect sap's future financial results are discussed more fully in sap's filings with the u.s. securities and exchange commission ("sec"), including sap's most recent annual report on form 20-f filed with the sec. readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates. © 2016 sap se. all rights reserved. sap and other sap products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered 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