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 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.
Indirect procurement, direct impact
Indirect procurement may not deal in haute couture, but it is critical to keeping stores running smoothly.
“We buy everything that is not sold in stores. 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 as the core mission
“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 core challenge was succeeding in having suppliers who respond in the most optimal way possible, whether on a financial level or for the needs of the business. That requires significant research to build a supplier panel for each commodity, while also identifying synergies within the group, such as pooling categories of purchases between La Redoute and Galeries Lafayette.
Driving consistency across a diverse group
Gavin’s team faced the additional challenge of standardising procurement practices across different business units while encouraging internal stakeholders to involve procurement early in the process.
“The purchasing policy has changed recently… for larger purchases, the procurement team needs to be involved and manage a tender.”
It is a daily task: identifying projects where the team can help optimise expenditure, finding areas where no recent tenders have been run, spotting the same suppliers used for several years, identifying potential new suppliers, looking for synergies with other group entities, and managing the full RFP lifecycle.
Clarity where it matters most
We can have external partners that have access to the platform. Everyone can communicate in the same place, so there’s no room for doubt.
From optimisation to full visibility
Why Market Dojo?
Galeries Lafayette had used a different e-sourcing tool in the past, but when it came time to evaluate new options, Market Dojo stood out clearly.
“Market Dojo seemed clearer in how to manage sourcing events and easier to use to find data. A competitive RFP was organised… and Market 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. The platform is not just used for formal RFQs and RFPs—it serves as the central repository for every supplier interaction and procurement document.
“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. All the exchanges with suppliers and the business—it’s all there—not hidden in people’s email boxes.”
The platform also simplifies collaboration with external partners. Architect firms and design consultancies are given access to the platform, allowing everyone involved in a project to communicate in the same place with no room for doubt. As Gavin puts it: “The platform is our only point of contact between suppliers and the procurement team.”
Transparency, speed, and savings
Transparency that works for everyone
In a group that is audited frequently, traceability is not just a benefit—it is essential.
“With Market Dojo, all the information is accessible to everyone. The audit team can access it very easily. It’s completely transparent. 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 contribution. The platform allows Galeries Lafayette to show that the procurement team has worked in complete transparency to optimise the company’s purchases—an important internal credibility marker.
Time saved is value gained
Measurable time savings have been realised across the tendering process. When an external design firm needs to review offers, they are directed to the platform where all tender information is already available. Everything in one place means faster analysis and sharper negotiation.
“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 automatic ranking features have helped the team sharpen supplier evaluations on both price and performance.
“Market Dojo automatically ranks suppliers according to performance gains on each lot. This helps us to identify where we have been able to perform and to measure progress. It’s very practical and saves time.”
The visibility this creates also enables a more collaborative and constructive approach with suppliers. Rankings allow the team to have targeted, evidence-based conversations about where a supplier performed well and where there is room to improve, helping both parties arrive at a final price that works for everyone.
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.
Expanding adoption
Internally, Market Dojo is gaining further traction across the Galeries Lafayette organisation. Some business units already use the platform regularly and monitor how tenders are progressing, while others make use of the reports the procurement team generates through the platform.
“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!”
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.”