What happens when your supplier forgets that you are the customer?

July 24th, 2020

Sometimes, maybe more often than not some vendors forget who the customer is.

 

Today’s is from our archives at  SafeSourcing.

After contract negotiation, sometimes a vendor will forget who the customer is. This can be detrimental if it occurs in the quality of their perishable products.

When it comes to the quality of perishable products sold, it is important to have a quality check in place.  This is important when it pertains to perishable foods that don’t meet minimum standards and agreed upon expiration dates.  Without a quality check in place, there will be an opportunity with spoilage which will result in additional shrink then originally budgeted.

Two of the most effected categories in retail grocery are produce and dairy.  Fresh produce is a minimum requirement or your customer.  Typically produce is one of the first products you see when you enter a retail grocery store.  It has to look great.  The relationship you have with your vendor is important.  Sometime vendors try to implement a standard reduction for spoilage credits which is the same across all stores regardless of their actual spoilage.  This standard helps some stores and hurts others.  In the world of retail grocery, every penny counts and it is important that all credits are accounted for properly by store location. With dairy, you are only getting 7 days to sell your products due to sell dates; therefore, you set yourself up for spoilage.  Vendors should be held to giving you at least 14 days to sell the product before spoilage.

It is important to not allow your suppliers dictate to your company’s product expiration dates.  Regardless of the price set during negotiation and contract time, there was an agreement with the supplier that they would supply you quality products.  They need to be held to that agreement.

SafeSourcing does the due diligence to ensure all proper terms and specifications are included in the documents to set minimum standards and expectations.   These documents serve to remind suppliers of the quality and service expectation agreed upon at negotiation and contract time.

For more information on how SafeSourcing can help you with insuring fresh perishable products, please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Service representative.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments!

 

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