90 years of "Wer liefert was": How purchasing and procurement have changed

This year, Europages, which claims to be Europe's largest B2B procurement platform, and wlw (formerly "Wer liefert was"), a B2B platform that is well established in the DACH region, are celebrating their 40th and 90th anniversaries respectively. The two platforms are now owned by the umbrella company Visable, a publisher that has morphed into an agile international Internet company. The driving force behind this change is CEO Peter F. Schmid. But before there were any Internet platforms for purchasing and procurement, it all started with a clay tablet:

Once upon a time in Mesopotamia...

If we travel back to their beginnings in the time of purchasing and procurement, their history begins right here: In one of the most important cultural development centers of the Ancient Near East. Archaeological findings provide clear evidence that an urban society already lived in the region between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers between 4,000 and 3,000 BC. On the one hand, monumental buildings bear witness to this; on the other hand, finds such as scroll seals, clay tablets and the like indicate an established bureaucracy. A clay tablet from the period between 3,200 and 3,000 BC exhibited in the "British Museum" in London, for example, documents beer deliveries.

Such evidence of an early organization of procurement is also available from Egypt: Records show that procurement tasks were already systematically carried out in the country on the Nile around 3,000 BC. For example, during the construction of the pyramids of Giza (ca. 2,650 to 2,500 BC), individual occupational groups were already specifically tasked with recording the amount of work and materials on papyrus. In Europe, organized procurement took shape only later. To be precise, around 215 BC, in ancient Rome. For the first time, contracts were formally negotiated between the Roman government and suppliers to ensure the supply of materials to the widely scattered troops of the Roman Empire.

In Great Britain, the history of procurement goes back to William the Conqueror (1,028 to 1,087 AD), who sought a clear method of recording his tax revenues. With the rise of the British Empire and its colonial aspirations, procurement also evolved to include goods and services.

Purchasing and procurement in the 18th century

In 1832, the English mathematician and philosopher Charles Babbage discussed in his work "On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures" the need to employ a so-called "Materials Man" in mining. This "materials man" was to be responsible for selecting, purchasing and tracking all the goods needed for a project. Today we would say: Babbage proposed to hire a Chief Procurement Officer.

In 1886, the Pennsylvania Railroad established the world's first procurement department because the complex, widely ramified railroad system in the USA demanded new ways of procurement. Between 1914 and 1918, it was then the First World War that demanded a lot from purchasing and procurement: goods had to be transported around the entire globe. Many purchases were made ad hoc - orders were placed by radio or telegraph.

In 1932, the supplier directory appeared for the first time as a book edition

In 1932, the book fair took place in Leipzig, where the supplier directory "Wer liefert was" was published as a book edition for the first time. And for good reason: Purchasing and procurement had gained enormous momentum as a result of the First World War and the subsequent reconstruction. After the end of the First World War, the Deutsche Reichsbahn alone ordered around 7,000 new locomotives by 1925 in order to bring its fleet back up to pre-war levels. Many companies were looking for suppliers at this time, and many suppliers were looking for companies. With the supplier directory "Wer liefert was," companies finally had a printed work at their fingertips that they could use to search specifically for the partner companies they needed. From then on, the blue volumes could be found in many offices as important reference works. In the 1970s, the directory was recorded on microfiche, which was a pioneering achievement at the time.

Supply chains and tendering are gaining in importance

Then, in the 1950s, governments around the world drove procurement. Many companies became aware of the importance of reliable "supply chains" because they enabled them to grow with consistent quality. In the 1960s, purchasing and procurement became a matter for management: the tendering system was introduced. In the 1970s, the starting signal for "just in time" production was given when the car manufacturer Toyota introduced its new production system. At the same time, more and more companies were managing their procurement centrally. Then things started to happen in quick succession: the Internet and digitization gave purchasing and procurement an unprecedented boost: in 1982, Europages was founded in France (original name: Eurédit) and published the first printed business directory with suppliers from all over Europe. In 1986, the supplier directory "Wer liefert was" appeared on CD-ROM for the first time.

In the 1990s, more and more companies recognized the strategic importance of procurement - especially for public contracts and in heavy industry. Meanwhile, the world was becoming more and more networked. Wer liefert was" also adapted to this change and went online for the first time at www.wlw.de in 1995, two years before Google. By the 2000s, orders were already being triggered by computers and the first ERP systems were gaining ground. Europages was available in 26 languages by then - and its website of cracked the 2 million monthly visitors mark from 218 countries in 2006. The 2010s marked the dawn of the era of Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs): "materials men," as Charles Babbage once suggested for the mining industry, were appointed in many companies. Today, these CPOs still have just one job: they are responsible for purchasing and procuring goods and materials.

The future is digital

From the clay tablet to the digital app: purchasing and procurement have never been more networked than they are today. But the journey of purchasing is far from over. In many cases, procurement portfolios and operational purchasing processes have already been digitized to the greatest possible extent. Procurement professionals are already using innovative technologies such as artificial intelligence or Big Data to respond in real time. Augmented and virtual reality could also play an even more important role in the future in order to inspect products regardless of location and thus make the best purchasing decision. But there's one thing these technologies can't do: they can't replace personal relationships between buyers and sellers. Today, on both platforms - since 2019 under the joint umbrella brand Visable - around 4 million professional buyers from over 200 countries meet around 3 million suppliers of products and services every month.

To ensure that the platforms can continue to offer a high level of benefit in the future, they are constantly being supplemented with additional features. For example, the wlw app for professional buyers offers better mobile user-friendliness and greater efficiency in initiating business. Thanks to Europages' "Visitor Profiler" and wlw's profile visitor statistics, it is possible to find out at any time who has visited one's own company profile, including contact details. This provides sales (and marketing) with valuable information for lead generation. Communication between buyers and suppliers runs directly via a message center, and thanks to AI support, "matchmaking" between inquirers and suppliers is improved and accelerated. For example, it will be easier to quickly find regional providers as well - in the age of Disrupted global supply chains and economic crises this can be decisive under certain circumstances.

More information: www.wlw.ch / www.europages.com