Headline numbers
The average mid-market company now runs 31% of indirect spend through tail vendors (up from 27% in 2024). Top-quartile teams hold tail spend below 18%; bottom-quartile teams are above 44%.
- 31% — average tail spend as % of indirect (up from 27% YoY)
- $2.4M — average annual leakage from off-policy purchases
- 11.4% — average savings rate among teams using a unified procurement platform
- 4.2% — average savings rate among teams still relying on email + spreadsheets
Tooling landscape
63% of respondents still use email and spreadsheets as their primary requisition channel. 22% have a P2P platform but report it's used for less than half of indirect spend. Only 15% report unified coverage across planning, sourcing, purchasing, and closure.
The 15% with unified coverage report 2.7x higher savings rates and 4.1x faster cycle times.
What top-quartile teams do differently
Three behaviors separate the top quartile from the rest: they consolidate vendors aggressively (median 38% reduction in active vendors over 18 months), they automate approvals below a clear threshold, and they reconcile negotiated savings monthly.
Notably, top-quartile teams are not larger — they are more disciplined.