Whereas retailers are some of the biggest buyers that have some of the highest percentages of external spend as a share of revenue, they are not typically included in strategic sourcing research. Strategic sourcing research originated with a focus on supplies for manufacturing. But the strategic sourcing of merchandise by retailers is not as commonly studied. Merchandise sourcing is often approached very differently from manufacturing sourcing and often different teams of buyers with different roles and responsibilities are involved. Leveraging author industry experience and interviews with strategic sourcing executives in manufacturing and merchandise sourcing this notes and debate paper compares strategic sourcing across these domains and identifies fruitful research opportunities for developing a more comprehensive supply chain approach to strategic sourcing research.

零售商是一些最大的购买者，其外部支出占收入的百分比最高，但通常不包括在战略采购研究中。战略采购研究始于对制造用品的关注。但是，零售商对商品的战略采购并不那么普遍。商品采购的方法通常与制造业采购的方法截然不同，并且通常涉及具有不同角色和职责的不同买方团队。