If you are, what on earth are you waiting for.
Today’s repost is still relevant from Ron Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.
So many companies in so many industries are struggling with their supply chain today. Most of the blame is on the Pandemic, supposed government assistance and other calamities such as weather and wildfires. All of these have had an impact that has resulted in poor labor pools and shrinking commodity availability. This has resulted in a historic increase in the Consumer Price Index that looks like it will not slow anytime soon.
The Consumer Price Index CPI in the United States is expected to be 273.16 points by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts’ expectations. In the long-term, the United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) is projected to trend around 281.24 points in 2022 and 286.59 points in 2023, according to our econometric models. That’s a further 5% increase from where we sit today. So, guess what, your prices for products and services are not going down any time soon. To believe that they are is folly. Waiting for them to or for the markets to stabilize is just not a sound procurement strategy.
However, that is just what many companies are doing. There is a hunker down philosophy until we get this figured out. To me, that is a cop out strategy that supports doing less with less. Less employees, so let’s source less stuff. Let’s stick with current vendors even though they are raising prices almost daily and based on the above numbers will continue to into the foreseeable future.
What’s the answer? It’s pretty simple actually. Augment your staff with companies that have the tools and the knowledge to mitigate your workload and improve your costs and service. Companies like SafeSourcing. Just today I watched a company use our resources to source sanitary wipes. Eleven (11) suppliers participated in the bid. The low supplier offered a cost reduction of 21% on all items. More surprisingly the total of all low quotes would reduce costs by a staggering 36% offering some additional negotiation prior to award. This is in an up market. We see these types of results regularly. Because of our SafeSourceIt™ Supplier Database, we know where the suppliers are that can offer you the best pricing and best service levels that support your needs. Because we run categories dozens of times in a year, we may well understand current issues in the marketplace better than you do.
So, if you want to keep paying higher and higher prices and charging your customers more and maybe losing some, keep doing things the same way. If you really would like to lower your costs in a historically up market, contact SafeSourcing because we can help.
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