The current Buyer Salary Report 2025 (Kloefpel by EPSA) shows a well-known yet insightful picture. Anyone who purchases materials directly earns more on average. Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs) with responsibility for direct materials in particular lead the pay scale. Industry, region and function significantly influence income and yet it is worth taking a closer look at the details of the report. Because between the figures there is a key insight for the future of purchasing.

First of all, the wide spread according to functions is noticeable. While operational buyers are around 55,000 euros, salaries in strategic purchasing are rising significantly. Purchasing managers and CPOs achieve top scores, especially when they measurably manage savings, supply security and delivery performance. It is interesting that buyers with combined responsibility for direct and indirect procurement earn an average of around ten percent more than the overall average. Indirect procurement is therefore no longer just a side issue. It pays off when it is professionally managed.

Performance is rewarded but not measured everywhere

The report also makes it clear that salary is not only linked to volume or material value, but increasingly to performance evaluation and ability to manage. Where performance is systematically measured, incomes are significantly higher. Although savings, on-time delivery and supply security remain among the most important criteria, another aspect is particularly exciting. Although topics such as risk management, digitization and sustainability are rarely included in the assessment, they are associated with above-average income, particularly at management and CPO level.

This is precisely where the structural weakness of many purchasing organizations is evident. While direct material purchasing is often clearly managed, measured and prioritized, indirect procurement often remains fragmented, opaque and operationally overloaded. One-off requirements, special purchases and decentralized processes cause a great deal of effort, tie up resources and yet barely provide reliable key figures. As a result, a relevant part of purchasing eludes precisely those performance dimensions that, according to the salary report, are increasingly deciding on appreciation and compensation.

Indirect procurement as a career and value lever

For buyers, this means that anyone who continues to treat indirect procurement as an administrative accessory is wasting potential both for the company and for their own role. This is because indirect procurement is predestined to highlight precisely those topics that correlate with higher incomes in the report, including transparency, risk reduction, process stability and digitalization.

This is where Pedlar comes in. With a structured 1-Creditor Model, Pedlar bundles one-time requirements and special purchases via a central, audited structure. This not only reduces operational costs in purchasing, but also creates reliable data, clear responsibilities and measurable effects on compliance, delivery reliability and process efficiency for the first time. Indirect procurement becomes controllable and therefore assessable.

For purchasing managers and CPOs, this is crucial. Because the salary report clearly shows that income rises where performance is visible. Anyone who reduces risks, standardizes processes and consistently implements them not only increases efficiency, but also the strategic relevance of purchasing. Indirect procurement offers enormous leverage potential for this, which has often been underestimated so far.

The 2025 salary report is therefore more than a collection of figures. It is a signal. Purchasing is moving away from pure cost responsibility towards measurable value contribution. Companies that structure their indirect procurement create the conditions for this. And buyers who actively shape this area are positioning themselves exactly where the purchasing of the future will be rewarded.

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