Local council spent almost 11 times trade price on SD memory cards

Report finds that average margins paid on IT products was 17.6 per cent in 2015

A local council paid a 1,095 per cent mark-up on SD memory cards last year, according to an annual report from IT benchmarking company KnowledgeBus.

The study listed the purchase as the highest single margin in 2015, but it also revealed that an organisation in the telecoms sector paid a 989 per cent margin on a printer product. The NHS was found to have paid a 962 per cent margin on a peripheral IT product.

The average margins paid in 2015 were 17.6 per cent, according KnowledgeBus. This is a decrease from 2014, when the report found the average margins were 19.7 per cent.

The study found that most of the high mark-ups were on low-volume purchases, including memory sticks, power adapters and cables.

The report stated: "When organisations undergo a major IT project, such as kitting out a new office or a server refresh, budgets are managed carefully. But when organisations need to make a distress purchase, such as replacing a power adapter, the same level of scrutiny does not take place."