The core challenge in lab supply purchasing
Scientists spend valuable time jumping between multiple supplier websites, procurement hunts for quotes, and orders are spread across numerous laboratory supplies companies. The consequence is lost time, fragmented data, and delays that directly impact research timelines and budgets.
If you are trying to streamline where your team buys lab supplies and how those purchases flow through procurement, this guide walks through the most common buying options, the challenges growing teams face, and how many labs are simplifying the process with a unified lab supply marketplace approach.
Where do R&D teams typically buy lab supplies today?
Most teams rely on a mix of different sources to get what they need, especially when experiments require niche reagents, consumables, or instruments. Here are the most common places scientists turn to:
What are the challenges of scaling R&D procurement?
As R&D labs scale, the number of suppliers, invoices, and order touchpoints increases significantly. This creates consistent pain points across R&D and procurement teams.
- Fragmented ordering: Scientists waste valuable hours jumping between multiple laboratory supplies companies to assemble a single order. Searching across general lab supplies sites, niche scientific equipment shops, and individual manufacturer stores adds unnecessary workload. This is a direct loss of scientific productivity.
- Inconsistent pricing and availability: Prices often vary across lab supply portals, and stockouts force teams to switch suppliers at the last minute. Without a centralized view, it is difficult to know whether better availability exists elsewhere.
- Limited visibility for procurement: Procurement teams need complete data to manage budgets, enforce policies, and maintain supplier relationships. When orders are scattered across dozens of channels, visibility drops, leading to reactive—rather than strategic—purchasing.
- Supply chain risk: Delivery timelines differ from supplier to supplier. Manually tracking multiple shipments through email threads increases the risk of delays and project setbacks.
Why are leading labs choosing lab supply marketplaces?
Marketplaces represent a shift from managing hundreds of fragmented supplier relationships to adopting a single, strategic supply management platform. This model simplifies how labs buy and manage lab supplies, delivering both scientific speed and operational control.
Key strategic advantages include:
- Comprehensive access to many laboratory supplies companies in one place: A life science marketplace brings together items from numerous scientific equipment shops, general lab supplies vendors, and specialty manufacturers. Teams no longer need to visit multiple sites to find the right fit.
- Unified search across lab equipment and supplies: Researchers can compare options, check real-time availability, and make informed choices across suppliers before adding items to a single, consolidated cart.
- More control for procurement teams: Procurement can maintain preferred vendor routing, standardize payment terms, and gain better visibility into spend patterns without restricting scientists’ access to the products they need.
- Faster ordering workflows: A single checkout process drastically reduces the need for separate POs and separate invoices, accelerating reconciliation and freeing up administrative time.
- Reduced delays and fewer surprises: Centralized data on pricing, availability, and delivery timelines minimizes the risk of stockouts and unforeseen delays. Improving efficiency is a recognized strategic goal: industry analysis on optimizing sourcing cycle time in complex supply chains shows reduced friction is a key metric for R&D success.
What should R&D look for in a modern lab supply purchasing experience?
If you are evaluating how your lab buys supplies today, these are the elements that make a meaningful difference and align with best practices for lab supply purchasing:
Learn how to select the best purchasing experience for your lab with our biotech procurement solution comparison
How a marketplace helps your team buy smarter without adding complexity
A marketplace model is not just about convenience. It creates a supply ecosystem where scientists have more choice, procurement has more control, and suppliers maintain strong visibility across customers. For teams experiencing rapid growth, it often becomes the most scalable and efficient approach to lab supply purchasing.
The next step to accelerate R&D
Buying lab supplies should not require scientists to chase inventory across the internet or procurement teams to manage endless reconciliations. By understanding where to buy lab supplies today and how a marketplace improves the workflow, R&D organizations can reduce bottlenecks, free up valuable scientific time, and keep projects moving toward discovery.
Ready to gain better control and visibility over your lab supply spend?
Request a demo to learn how the ZAGENO’s biotech marketplace can unify your lab supply purchasing.
