Readers of one of Frost & Sullivan’s media partners were invited to participate in an online survey from October to November 2022 examining their laboratories’ product purchasing process in 2022 and expectations for 2023. Frost & Sullivan has conducted similar studies among the same targeted respondents since 2012.

The study presents year-over-year data to illustrate yearly laboratory budget trend developments where applicable. Survey participants should play a role in their laboratory’s purchasing process, be familiar with the laboratory’s product budgets, and represent a laboratory that uses or plans to use products in one or more of the 7 laboratory product categories: Instruments, Equipment, Chemicals, Reagents and Kits, General Lab Supplies, Plasticware, and Glassware. A total of 103 decision-makers participated in the survey, answering questions on purchases, budgets, top companies, and purchasing preferences.

Respondents were segmented by laboratory type—Academic/Government, Biopharmaceutical, Industrial, and Hospital/Clinical. This end-user survey polled researchers about their preferences to understand the laboratory product purchasing process and how that differs among various organization types. Data collected for budgets were quantitative and qualitative for end-user trends, such as budget expectations, brand selection preferences, purchasing process steps, evaluation and sourcing of lab products, recent and expected instrument and equipment purchases, frequency of price comparisons, funding trends, unmet needs, product purchasing preferences, the impact of inflation and supply chain issues on laboratories, the impact of COVID-19 on vendor relationships, and conference attendance expectations.

The survey provides companies with actionable and trending information from laboratory professionals to help drive business strategies and develop growth expectations. Respondents identifying as manufacturing, environmental testing, chemical or petrochemical, and food, beverage,
or agricultural are classed as industrial laboratories for this analysis. Biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and contract research organizations are
categorized as biopharmaceutical laboratories. State government and federal government laboratories are grouped as government laboratories. Hospital laboratories and clinical reference laboratories fall under the hospital/clinical segment. Respondents encompassed various job titles: researcher, scientist, investigator, director, manager, and technician.

Author: Christi Bird