Archive for February, 2011

It?s crazy blog Friday! Tell me again why our price on plastic bags is going up.

Friday, February 4th, 2011

Because the price increases relating to plastic bags is based on a Non-Renewable Resource which is oil.

Some plastics are produced from oil feedstocks.? And some resins use natural gas feed stocks.? So if what you make the product from goes up in price the finished product must go up in price.

For those of you that remember Professor Irwin Corey I offer the following explanation of what a non renewable resource like oil is or in fact is not if in fact it actually is renewable.

So according to a variety of sources such as Wikipedia and the SafeSourcing Wiki, a non-renewable resource is a natural resource that cannot be renewed through production on an effective scale. However with that said there is the theory of a biogenic fuel which hypothesizes that petroleum was formed from deep carbon deposits, perhaps dating to the formation of the Earth. In the case of the former the resources are either consumed too quickly to be naturally replenished or only exist in a fixed amount. In the case of the later, the biogenic hypothesis suggests that a great deal more petroleum exists on our planet and maybe others like Pluto or Uranus than commonly thought.

So, is what I think I said what you thought you heard? We?ll leave that up to the good professor.

Enjoy your weekend.

What are you doing with your overstock?

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

A good way to help control and reduce retail shrinkage is to offer overstock items in the form of a forward auction.

Why is it that we never hear of retailers running forward auctions? There are dozens of sources waiting to buy your overstock which all retailers know will reduce shrink and improve bottom line profitability.

If you go to any internet search engine and type in the term overstock, the data returned is in the millions of pages. Many of these links are locations? for Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C) companies that will gladly agree to participate in e-negotiation events in the form of a forward auction to purchase your overstock or liquidated products for resale through their on line offerings.

Online forward auctions are an ideal way to get the best price for capital equipment, materials, overstock and services you may want to sell, such as when you need to liquidate excess inventory. There are two basic types of forward auctions. The first is a liquidation auction where sellers are reducing inventory from overstock or liquidation and buyers are seeking to obtain the lowest price for items they have an interest in for resale and other purposes. The second type is more of a marketing auction where sellers are trying to sell unique items and buyers wish to obtain unique items. This is typical of an eBay type of offering.
Much of retail shrink happens in the back room or receiving area of retail stores. It just so happens that this is also the location of much of the overstock in the retail community. Much of this product sits there month after month resulting in significant margin hits to quarterly and annual earnings and as such to a company?s stock price.

Ask your e-negotiation solution provider how they can help reduce your overstock and shrink with forward auction tools, and who they would invite as buyers. You company stakeholders will applaud your efforts.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.
.

When is the right time to renegotiate products and services contracts?

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

For most buyers and category managers, cycles are important. That is that the normal flow of business dictates how and why they buy their products and services. Some financial related examples of this are End of Year, End of Period, contract expiration and capital need. Other examples may be seasonal needs, change in demand either up or down or growth through acquisition.

However there are other clues that should also be analyzed on a regular basis that play an important role in predicting cost increases even if you are only mid contract that might make you want to reconsider a contract that is already in place. One of those is unusual spikes in the commodity markets.

An example of the above is the forecast for oil prices. We are hearing a lot lately about oil hitting $100 per barrel with some forecasts as high as $105 be year end. That?s a clue to take a look at contracts that are impacted by oil such as resin markets and fuel prices that affect transportation costs such as diesel prices. Judging how realistic these forecasts are can also be tricky but here are also clues for that such as instability in areas like Egypt because they control daily transit through the Suez Canal of oil.

As a buyer you have to be aware of more than just the need to renegotiate a contract because it is expiring. If you need help doing that your e-procurement provider should be able to offer the category expertise to help you.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.