As of 13 August 2026, AI can only partly find cheaper supplies for your business.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open your current supplier quote, invoice or price list and record the exact product specification, pack size, quantity, VAT treatment, delivery charge and delivery time.
   2. Gather the supplier product pages, catalogues and alternative quotes you are willing to consider, and copy their links or relevant text into one document.
   3. Paste the business context, requirements, current price and supplier information into the prompt, replacing every bracketed slot and removing anything that does not apply.
   4. Paste the completed prompt into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask it to produce the comparison using only verifiable information.
   5. Open each cited supplier page or quote and compare the drafted table against the current unit price, pack size, VAT, delivery, minimum order, stock status and terms, correcting any unsupported entry.
   6. Contact the cheapest apparently suitable supplier to confirm the final price, availability, delivery and product equivalence, then save the confirmation before placing the order.

   Prompt

   Act as a procurement comparison assistant for a UK business. Find cheaper options for the supplies described below, but do not recommend an option unless it is genuinely comparable.
   
   Business context: [business type and location]
   Supply needed: [plain description]
   Required specification, brand or acceptable equivalents: [specification]
   Quantity and buying frequency: [quantity and frequency]
   Current supplier and price: [supplier, unit price, VAT status and date of quote]
   Maximum acceptable delivery time: [delivery requirement]
   Delivery location: [UK postcode or region]
   Quality, compliance, ethical or sustainability requirements: [requirements]
   Suppliers, product pages, catalogues or quotes to compare: [paste links or text]
   
   Use only the information supplied here and information you can verify from the linked supplier pages. Do not invent prices, stock, discounts, delivery charges, VAT treatment, product specifications or supplier terms. If a figure or fact cannot be verified, label it as unknown. Normalise the comparison to the same unit and show whether each figure includes VAT, delivery and any minimum order. Separate exact matches from substitutes, and explain every material difference. Account for minimum order quantities, delivery time, returns, payment terms and likely ongoing availability.
   
   Return:
   1. A comparison table with supplier, product, specification match, unit cost, VAT, delivery, minimum order, total comparable cost, delivery time and source link.
   2. The cheapest verified like-for-like option.
   3. Up to three cheaper substitutes, clearly labelled where they differ from the requirement.
   4. A list of facts I must confirm with each supplier before ordering.
   5. A short recommendation that does not treat an unverified option as a saving.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.