What is Maverick buying?

In most organisations, procurement contracts are negotiated with specific suppliers at agreed prices and terms. Maverick buying occurs when employees bypass this framework: finding a new supplier online, requesting a quote, and ordering directly without following the procurement process.

This behaviour has several root causes. Sometimes the procurement process is too slow or bureaucratic for urgent needs. Sometimes employees are unaware of contracted suppliers. And sometimes they deliberately choose a familiar contact or a specific product their contracted supplier does not offer.

The financial consequences are significant. First, you pay higher prices: volume discounts are negotiated on expected volumes, and maverick purchases do not count towards those volumes. Second, you lose visibility into total spend, which means procurement synergies go unrealised. Third, you create legal risks: purchases made outside contract may fall under different warranty terms, different liability regimes, and less favourable payment conditions.

For small and medium enterprises, maverick buying is most damaging in categories such as office supplies, IT hardware, marketing services, and temporary staffing. These are areas where employees tend to purchase independently because the transactions feel low-stakes.

The solution combines clear procurement rules, an accessible supplier directory, and processes that make it easier to buy from approved suppliers than to go around contracts.

Organisations that do not actively address maverick buying lose an estimated five to fifteen percent of procurement value through inflated prices and missed discounts. For a business with an annual procurement spend of 500,000 euros, that can represent 25,000 to 75,000 euros per year in avoidable costs.

Maverick buying also undermines supplier trust in your organisation as a reliable customer, weakening your negotiating position at contract renewals.