Last year, a Midlands-based wholesaler running three depots discovered they had been overcharged £8,400 on courier surcharges alone. Not because of fraud, but because nobody had checked.
The pattern we see:
When indirect spend is managed as a side task by a Financial Director already juggling cash flow, compliance, and board reporting, costs slip through quietly, month after month.
If you run a wholesale or cash & carry business turning over £20m to £150m, the chances are strong that five specific cost areas are leaking more money than you realise.
Parcels and Couriers
Parcel and courier costs are the single largest indirect expense most wholesalers face, yet they are also the least scrutinised. Every order you fulfil generates a delivery cost, and across thousands of shipments per month, small overcharges compound fast.
The most common issue is not the headline rate. It is surcharges.
Fuel adjustments, residential delivery premiums, dimensional weight penalties, and peak-season add-ons can inflate a courier invoice by 8% to 15% beyond the contracted rate.
Example: A wholesaler shipping 4,000 parcels per month at £4.50 average = £216,000 a year. If surcharges account for just 6%, the annual leakage is close to £13,000—for a single depot.
Packaging Costs Across Multiple Depots
Packaging is the second cost area that hides in plain sight. Boxes, pallet wrap, void fill, tape, and labels are ordered frequently, often locally, and rarely consolidated across sites.
42p
Per box at one depot
34p
Consolidated contract price
Multiply that 8p gap across 50,000 units per year = £4,000 saved—just on one SKU. No operational disruption. No change to your warehouse team's routine. Just a better rate on the same box.
3PL Contracts at Renewal
Third-party logistics costs tend to increase at renewal without much pushback. If you use overflow warehousing during peak seasons—such as Christmas, Ramadan, or back-to-school periods—you have probably accepted rate increases of 3% to 5% year on year without benchmarking.
Even a 4% reduction on a £180,000 annual 3PL spend delivers £7,200 back to your bottom line.
How much are you leaving on the table?
Try our free calculator to estimate your potential savings.
Try the Savings CalculatorIndirect Procurement Management Gaps
In most wholesale businesses between £20m and £150m turnover, indirect procurement is not managed by a dedicated team. It is handled part-time by the Financial Director, the operations manager, or sometimes the owner directly.
This creates a structural gap:
- Invoice validation done at summary level only
- Contract renewals signed without competitive review
- Missed rebates that expire without being claimed
Across a year and across multiple depots, these incremental losses add up to five or even six figures.
Unaudited Billing Errors
A structured review of your indirect spend typically surfaces three types of finding:
Billing errors
Incorrect rates applied, surcharges that do not match contractual terms, and duplicate charges. Straightforward recoveries.
Rate gaps
The difference between what you are paying and what the market rate is for the same service at your volume.
Structural inefficiencies
Contracts rolled over without review, suppliers no longer competitively priced, rebate income not claimed.
What a Spend Audit Actually Reveals
Procure Partners offers exactly this type of review—you pay nothing and there is no obligation to change a single supplier. We earn commission from suppliers when you switch, which means membership costs you nothing.
What you receive:
- ✓Line-by-line report showing where your money is going
- ✓Clear identification of gaps versus market benchmarks
- ✓You decide what to act on—no mandatory switch
- ✓NDA protection before any data is shared
We currently have a limited number of senior analyst review slots available this quarter. If you would like to see what your invoices reveal, get in touch to secure your place.
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