To Purchase anything we check on with the market and players. We search for the shops which sell those. We check with the quality, quantity and Price then we go for the product. Hence the same is the scenario with the companies. They do the same thing to purchase anything. Hence to acquire goods/services at a minimum cost and with good quality at a right place, right time is called as Procurement. But at the present scenario it has changed to e-procurement, Due to the development of technology such as internet.

Hence to do all the activities of procurement online is called as E-procurement. This may be B2B, B2C or B2G. The same activities are done online. The activities such as Suppliers search, contact with suppliers, Tenders, Price requests, supplies, works and services all are done on line. Even the websites offer buying and selling online. These websites allow only registered users for the buying and selling of products. E-procurement can be done through EDI and ERP too. Hence e-procurement can be classified into several categories such as .

1. ERP- where the common activities of procurement takes place such as Quotations, Purchase order, suppliers touch for receiving goods etc.
2. E- MRO- It works the same way as that of ERP but here the products are different which comes under the category is with maintenance, repair and overhaul.
3. E- Sourcing - Suppliers search for the required products and services. To identify the suppliers for the required products and services.
4. E-Tendering - Request of prices through online. These are mainly done in Government organizations. They call for Tenders to buy the product or service.
5. E- Information - Here the same purchase activities are done but by sharing information. The information can be from both the internal and external parties. By gathering the total information they go for the product/service to buy.
6. E- Auctioning - Here the purchase activities are done through auction but done on the Internet Technology. The Auctioning helps the companies to get the products at good price.

These are the few methods of e-procurement. The purchase activities are Searching suppliers, contacting suppliers, requesting information, Requesting for proposals and quotations, Background review, Negotiation and processing purchase order. All these activities are done even through Internet.

Here the advantage is to save the time and improving vendor management activities. Here the supply chain management moves to the next level. Hence these processes help the company to perform the procurement activities in a smoother way.

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Reference: Wikipedia