About 30% Experience Troubles or Failures When Ordering from External Vendors. Top Causes Include 'Insufficient Contract Details', 'Lack of Vendor Skills', and 'Sincerity Issues'

■ Have you ever experienced 'failure' or 'trouble' when ordering from an external vendor?

Opportunities to order from external vendors for work are something many business professionals have, regardless of their industry or job type.

Delivery time, quality, and communication—if everything goes well, it becomes a great asset to the business. However, once things get complicated, the impact spreads more than expected.

But in reality, have you ever run into a trouble that made you feel, 'This isn't how it was supposed to be'?

Therefore, this time, in collaboration with the business matching and vendor comparison site 'Comperu', we conducted a survey on 'failures and troubles experienced when ordering from vendors'. The survey targeted 153 men and women nationwide who answered in a preliminary screening that they 'have experience ordering from external vendors or services for work'.

* When quoting the contents of this press release, please observe the following guidelines:

- State that the source is a 'Survey by NEXER Inc. and Comperu'

- Place a link to Comperu (https://comperu.jp/)

Survey Overview: 'Questionnaire on Failures and Troubles Experienced When Ordering from Vendors'

Survey Method: Internet questionnaire

Survey Period: May 26, 2026 - June 2, 2026

Target Respondents: Men and women nationwide who answered 'have experience ordering from external vendors or services for work' in the preliminary screening

Valid Responses: 153 samples

Survey Questions:

Question 1: When you ordered from an external vendor for work, have you ever experienced a 'failure' or 'trouble'?

Question 2: What kind of trouble or failure did you experience? Please tell us the episode.

Question 3: What do you think was the cause of that trouble or failure? (Multiple selections allowed)

Question 4: To prevent failures and troubles, what kind of information or support do you think would be good to have before ordering? (Multiple selections allowed)

Question 5: Please tell us about the troubles and failures you experienced when ordering from vendors, and the lessons you learned from them.

* As a general rule, percentages are rounded to the first decimal place, so the total may not equal exactly 100%.

■ 30.1% Answered They 'Have Experienced Failure/Trouble' in Ordering from Vendors

First, we asked those who have experience ordering from external vendors for work whether they have ever experienced a 'failure' or 'trouble'.

Those who answered 'Yes' accounted for 30.1%, revealing that about 1 in 3 people have experienced some kind of trouble or failure when ordering. On the other hand, while the majority (69.9%) answered 'No', it is evident that a non-negligible percentage of people have had bitter experiences.

Next, we asked those who answered 'Yes' for specific episodes, and here are a few:

What kind of trouble or failure did you experience?

- Mistake in order quantity. (Male, 30s)

- I asked them to create a flyer, but the size was slightly off. (Female, 30s)

- Correct information was not delivered to the other party. (Male, 40s)

- Because they were a sloppy vendor who was all talk. (Female, 40s)

- Insincere response. (Male, 50s)

- There are many troubles where they cannot meet the delivery deadline. I panicked when I was told they wouldn't make it right before the deadline. (Male, 50s)

Looking at the submitted episodes, the types of trouble are diverse, including 'mistakes in order quantity', 'differences in deliverable size', 'gaps in information transmission', 'dissatisfaction with vendor responses', and 'delivery delays'.

Among them, there were multiple episodes regarding delivery times. The voice saying 'I panicked when I was told they wouldn't make it right as the deadline approached' reflects the earnest feelings of the ordering side.

Precisely because external ordering is an essential means for improving operational efficiency and securing expertise, it becomes clear that such troubles can have widespread impacts.

■ 34.8% Answered the Cause of Trouble Was 'Contract Contents and Specifications Were Not Thoroughly Ironed Out'

Next, we asked those who experienced trouble or failure about the cause.

The most common answer was 'Contract contents and specifications were not thoroughly ironed out' at 34.8%.

This was followed by 'Lack of skills and resources on the vendor's side' at 28.3%, and 'Problems with the vendor's sincerity and responsiveness' at 26.1%.

Other results included 'Did not sufficiently check the vendor's track record and reputation before ordering' at 17.4%, both 'Vendor selection criteria were ambiguous' and 'Prioritized cheap prices too much' at 15.2%, 'Did not compare and consider multiple vendors' at 13.0%, and 'Other' at 15.2%.

The most common cause, 'insufficient details in contracts and specifications', indicates from a different perspective that there is room for improvement on the ordering side as well. Gaps in understanding between both parties can often be prevented by carefully aligning expectations in advance.

On the other hand, a lack of skills or sincerity on the vendor's side are problems that can only be addressed during the information-gathering and vendor selection stages before ordering.