How Sinceri Senior Living leveraged optimized procurement spending and oversight

In the last few years, Sinceri Senior Living, a senior living management company based in Vancouver, Washington, experienced tremendous expansion, growing from 40 communities to over 70 locations in more than 20 states.

With this growth, the need for an optimized procurement strategy became clear.

As an example, communities unknowingly had more than one Amazon Prime membership and used their Community Credit Cards to cover the subscription and purchases. This was an eye-opener for Jaimie Steensen, Sinceri’s National Director of Procurement and Purchasing, as she reviewed the data.

“I knew we needed to make a change. I didn’t want to take Amazon away, but we needed to utilize it in a better way,” she said.

How Amazon Business supports a hybrid procurement approach

When Sinceri Senior Living began exploring partners to help streamline its procurement process in early 2024, Amazon Business stood out as a great option.

Amazon was already popular among Sinceri staff for its familiarity, convenience, and accessibility. For example, some Sinceri communities in rural areas were using Amazon to obtain supplies quicker than other suppliers.

Furthermore, Amazon supports Sinceri’s “hybrid procurement approach,” Steensen said.

While Sinceri contracts with vendors on certain supplies to be used across the company, individual communities can still buy products unique to them and the services they provide.

“Our communities are different enough from each other,” Steensen said. “While most needs can be met through our national group purchasing organization vendors, others are not, so the need for diverse and quick availability such as Amazon is relied on.”

Resident experience is one area where Amazon was already frequently used to buy materials for unique activities and events organized for the residents and employees. Instead of going to nearby stores to buy the supplies, Resident Experience Directors saved time by purchasing through Amazon. Along with convenience, Amazon offers more selection than traditional retail stores.

Given these purchasing behaviors and related benefits, the Sinceri leadership team wanted to allow staff to continue purchasing from Amazon – but through a standardized, transparent process. Amazon Business made that a reality.

Smooth implementation experience

Since collaborating with Amazon Business, Sinceri has deployed a phased approach to onboard and train staff.

Training was conducted in small, dedicated groups, with Amazon Business representatives in attendance to explain processes and address questions and concerns. Executive Directors — who are at the helm of Sinceri’s communities — and Business Office Managers of each community were trained first, with the latter taking on ordering and the former in charge of approvals. Resident Experience Directors were trained next.

The experience with Amazon Business has been exceptional, Steensen said. Not only are Amazon Business representatives responsive, but they are also flexible, accommodating Sinceri’s timeline and pace.

“The rollout and whole implementation have been very smooth,” Steensen said. “This has been the best rollout with a vendor that I have had in my over 10 years of working with vendors – it’s been so straightforward.”

Realizing savings through Amazon Business

All Sinceri communities are now on one Amazon Business account, enabling a streamlined approval process for all orders. Now, when a staff member at a community wants to make an Amazon Business purchase, the Executive Director of the individual community is notified to provide authorization. When approved, an invoice is created through Amazon Business and sent to Sinceri’s corporate accounting office for further review. Another added benefit of invoicing is it helps Sinceri easily track budgets across all communities.

The approval process gives the Sinceri corporate team greater control over procurement spending across the organization and, in turn, allows them to be more strategic. For example, if a request comes through to purchase a product from Amazon Business that Sinceri already contracts with another vendor for, the corporate team can let the individual community know about the alternative option. Taking that a step further, collaborating with Amazon Business allows Sinceri to compare prices from different vendors. If Amazon Business provides a high-quality product for a cheaper price than the contracted vendor, Sinceri can identify this discrepancy, re-evaluate that contract, and potentially discover new savings.

Steensen plans to dive deeper into the data analytics Amazon Business provides, including information about purchasing trends, as it could expose areas to partner with new vendors. For example, the analytics can uncover supply categories and products Sinceri is missing in current contract formularies.

With the data from Amazon Business, “we'll be able to dissect down and understand what our departments really need,” Steensen added.

Overall, Amazon Business is helping to improve teamwork across Sinceri because it’s creating opportunities for staff to discuss procurement opportunities and challenges together. “Everyone is less siloed and we’re working as a team,” Steensen said.

Sinceri is already seeing cost savings through its collaboration with Amazon Business. Amazon Prime memberships across communities have now been consolidated and the established approval process allows for informed purchasing decisions, including purchase denials.

“We're seeing savings across the board for those membership fees that all those communities were previously purchasing,” Steensen said. “There will also be great savings from the approval process because some orders do get denied that previously weren’t.”

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