We've spotlighted the Odoo Inventory app in a previous post, since it is an excellent way to keep track of all the products and equipment your company has in stock. While moving inventory out of your storage and to your customers is a good thing, that's only when there are still products available for you to sell. But what about when you are running out of inventory?
Procurement is the lifeblood of any product-based business. Whether you're a retailer managing seasonal inventory, a distributor coordinating with dozens of suppliers, or a manufacturer requiring consistent material flow, knowing when to buy, how much to order, and from whom can make or break your margins. Thankfully, the hard work of managing those processes can be made much easier through the use of the Odoo Purchase app!
What the Purchase App Does for You
The Purchase app is your solution to efficiently manage inventory restocking for your business and provide comprehensive reporting on your business's purchases, vendor costs, and more. It connects seamlessly with Inventory for automatic replenishment triggers, Accounting for vendor bill management and payment tracking, and Manufacturing for material requirements planning.
Why split up your procurement processes into different apps when they can all natively integrate?
Whether you're ordering raw materials, finished goods for resale, office supplies, or services, Odoo Purchase brings structure and control to every step: from identifying needs to requesting quotes, comparing vendors, placing orders, receiving goods, and reconciling invoices.
Smart Reordering: Never Run Out Again
To start with, the most important function of the Purchase app is the ability to purchase things. Of course, users can manually place orders through the app, but the real advantage it provides is through the implementation of reordering rules.
When a minimum stock level must be kept for a product, a reordering rule can be set that will automatically place an order for a set amount when stock falls below a minimum threshold. Think of these as your safety net; they work silently in the background, watching inventory levels and triggering replenishment before you face stockouts.
Here's how reordering rules work in practice:
- Set minimum and maximum quantities: Define the threshold that triggers the order and the target quantity to restock.
- Assign preferred vendors: Route orders automatically to the right supplier.
- Configure lead times: Account for supplier delivery schedules so orders arrive when you need them, not when it's too late.
- Handle multi-location scenarios: Different warehouses can have different rules for the same product.
- Multiple rules per product: You can set up several reordering rules for a single item to account for different reordering amounts, suppliers, or warehouse locations.
Imagine you sell batteries and you've set a reordering rule: when stock falls below 200 units, automatically create a purchase order for 500 units from your preferred supplier. You wake up Monday morning, and the system has already queued the order based on Friday's sales. No panic, no manual calculations, just smooth replenishment.
Flexible Procurement for Every Scenario
Not every business's scenario is the same, and automated reordering rules won't work for everyone. That's why the Purchase app offers further controls over orders to fit the way your business actually operates.
Requests for Quotation (RFQs)
Need to compare pricing or terms before committing? Create an RFQ and send it to one or multiple vendors. Track responses, compare offers side-by-side, and convert the best one into a purchase order with a single click. This is ideal for:
- High-value purchases where price negotiation matters.
- New products or suppliers you haven't sourced before.
- Seasonal buys where market prices fluctuate.
Calls for Tenders
When you need competitive bids from several suppliers, calls for tenders can be used to reach out to many different vendors to find the best rates. The Purchase app lets you:
- Publish tender specifications.
- Invite multiple vendors to submit proposals.
- Evaluate bids on price, delivery time, quality, and other criteria.
- Award the contract and generate a purchase order from the winning bid.
This structured approach ensures compliance, fairness, and transparency; especially important for government contractors, nonprofits, or large enterprises with procurement policies.
Blanket Orders (Purchase Agreements)
Sometimes you have an ongoing relationship with a vendor and want the flexibility to order on demand without renegotiating every time. Blanket orders can serve as more flexible reordering from specific vendors than standard reordering rules. They let you:
- Lock in negotiated pricing for a set period.
- Order quantities as needed without creating a full PO every time.
- Track total spending against the agreement cap.
- Set validity periods and renewal terms.
For example: You agree to purchase up to $50,000 worth of packaging materials from a supplier over six months at a fixed unit price. As production needs arise, you draw against that blanket order without the overhead of sourcing each time.
Bill Control Policies
Bill control policies can be utilized to manage when and how vendor bills are generated after a purchase order is placed. You can configure the system to:
- Create bills based on ordered quantities (useful for services or items billed before delivery)
- Create bills based on received quantities (the default for physical goods, ensuring you only pay for what actually arrived)
This flexibility helps you match accounting practices to real-world workflows and avoid paying for items still in transit or discrepancies between what was ordered and what was delivered.
End-to-End Purchase Workflow
Let's walk through a typical procurement cycle using Odoo Purchase:
- Demand Identification: A reordering rule triggers, or a user manually creates a purchase request. Manufacturing orders might also generate material needs.
- Vendor Selection: The system suggests preferred vendors based on product configuration, or you initiate an RFQ to compare options.
- Quotation & Approval: You receive quotes, compare pricing and terms, negotiate if needed, and approve the best offer.
- Purchase Order Creation: The RFQ converts to a confirmed purchase order and is sent to the vendor via email (with a PDF attachment) or printed.
- Receiving Goods: When the shipment arrives, your warehouse team processes the receipt in the Inventory app. Odoo links the receipt back to the PO and updates stock levels in real time.
- Vendor Bill Matching: Accounting receives the vendor's invoice and matches it to the PO and receipt. Odoo highlights any discrepancies (wrong quantities, pricing differences, unexpected charges) for review.
- Payment: Once approved, the bill flows to Accounting for payment scheduling and vendor reconciliation.
Every step is documented, traceable, and connected. No more hunting through email threads or reconciling spreadsheets.
Powerful Reporting and Analytics
Finally, the Purchase app's reporting capabilities can assist you with quickly building comprehensive reports of your purchasing data. Reports in the Purchase app come in three types:
1. Purchase Analysis Reports
Get details on what has been purchased: products, categories, quantities, and trends over time. Use this to:
- Identify your top-purchased items
- Spot seasonal purchasing patterns
- Forecast future needs based on historical data
- Analyze order frequency and optimize reorder points
2. Vendor Cost Reports
Get details on the vendors that have been purchased from: spending by supplier, price trends, delivery performance, and reliability metrics. This helps you:
- Evaluate vendor performance objectively
- Negotiate better terms with data in hand
- Consolidate spending with fewer, better suppliers
- Identify backup vendors for critical materials
3. Procurement Expenses Reports
Get details on how much has been spent: track total procurement costs by period, department, project, or product category. Perfect for:
- Budget tracking and variance analysis
- Cost allocation to projects or cost centers
- Identifying cost-saving opportunities
- Financial planning and forecasting
All reports are customizable with filters, groupings, and pivots. Export to Excel, schedule automated email delivery, or embed them in dashboards for executive visibility.
Integration with the Broader Odoo Ecosystem
Purchasing doesn't happen in a vacuum. The magic of Odoo Purchase is how it connects with the rest of your operations:
- Inventory: Reordering rules trigger based on real-time stock levels; receipts update inventory automatically.
- Manufacturing: Material requirements from manufacturing orders flow directly into purchase requests.
- Sales: Dropshipping workflows let you create purchase orders directly from sales orders, shipping from vendor to customer.
- Accounting: Vendor bills are matched to POs and receipts for three-way matching; payment terms and schedules sync seamlessly.
- Quality: Incoming quality checks can be triggered upon receipt to ensure vendor compliance.
- Projects: Purchase orders can be linked to specific projects for accurate job costing.
Your team runs on a single system, eliminating duplicate data entry, reducing errors, and gaining complete visibility from requisition to payment.
Who Gets the Most Value from Odoo Purchase?
- Retailers and wholesalers managing hundreds or thousands of SKUs with varied supplier relationships.
- Manufacturers needing just-in-time material delivery coordinated with production schedules.
- Distributors balancing inventory across multiple warehouses and fulfillment centers.
- Service businesses purchasing materials, equipment, or subcontracted services for client projects.
- Growing businesses ready to move beyond email-based purchasing and Excel trackers.
Core Features of Odoo Purchase:
- Automated Reordering Rules: Set minimums, maximums, and preferred vendors for hands-free replenishment.
- Requests for Quotation (RFQs): Compare vendor proposals and convert to purchase orders.
- Calls for Tenders: Structured competitive bidding for high-value or regulated procurement.
- Blanket Orders (Purchase Agreements): Negotiate terms once, order as needed over a set period.
- Bill Control Policies: Control when bills are created; on order or on receipt.
- Multi-Currency Support: Purchase from international vendors with automatic exchange rate handling.
- Vendor Pricelists: Maintain negotiated pricing, volume discounts, and tiered rates.
- Partial Receipts & Backorders: Handle split shipments and track what's still pending.
- Three-Way Matching: Automatically compare PO, receipt, and vendor bill for discrepancies.
- Drop-Shipping: Route vendor shipments directly to customers without touching your warehouse.
- Purchase Analysis Reports: Insights on products, trends, and order patterns.
- Vendor Cost Reports: Evaluate supplier performance and spending.
- Procurement Expenses Reports: Track total costs by period, category, or department.
- Email Integration: Send POs and RFQs directly from Odoo; receive confirmations via email.
- Approval Workflows: Configure multi-level approvals for large or sensitive purchases.
Ready to see it in action?
Having advanced tools that you can utilize for your business can do wonders for improving your workflow efficiency, and Odoo is a full suite of advanced business tools. The Odoo Purchase app is only one of these tools that you can take advantage of. Reach out to your local Odoo partner (like we are here at Lighthouse IT Solutions), and we can show you a hands-on demonstration of everything Odoo has to offer.
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