Archive for the ‘E-procurement Solutions’ Category

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Twenty-one reasons why all retailers should use E-Procurement tools.

Monday, November 15th, 2010

?These are certainly not all of the benefits that retailers can drive from the use of e-procurement tools, but it is a good starting point.

Our list is not ranked in order of importance although many might argue that not much is more important than improved earnings.

1.?Guaranteed to improve net earnings
2.?Guaranteed to improve safety
3.?Guaranteed to improve Corporate Social Responsibility.
4.?Guaranteed new sources of supply
5.?Retail has less spend assigned than any other industry
6.?Streamlines the? procurement process
7.?Holds suppliers accountable to your standards.
8.?Improves quality
9.?Cost avoidance in a volatile market
10.?Creates a competitive environment
11.?Drives reliable market pricing
12.?Maintains a reliable history for future comparison
13.?Educates suppliers as to how retailers wish to procure products
14.?Supplier training eliminates questions
15.?Improved and consistent product specifications
16.?Improved negotiation.
17.?Improve carbon footprint
18.?Simple award of business process
19.?Frees up time for other tasks
20.?Works for procurement of all product categories
21.?Provides a detailed audit trail.

This author is not sure why a derivative of this list could not become the mission statement for any procurement department.

We appreciate and look for ward to your comments.

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When should Retailers use a Request for Information or RFI?

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

As we have discussed in a prior posts, a Request for Information or “RFI” is in its most simple form a document distributed to new sources of supply prior to inviting them to participate in a Request for Quote or RFQ. The process assists you in your decision as to whether or not you wish to invite new suppliers to participate.The document lets potential suppliers know the information you require in order for them to be considered for participation. This is also a great way to update the information for your incumbent suppliers. This is particularly important in light of our recent economic woes.
Some of the information contained in an RFI can include but certainly is not limited to the following.

1.?General education relative to your procurement process.
2.?Certification requirements such as safety or environmental.
3.?Rules of engagement
4.?Supplier general information.
5.?Sourcing tree information.
6.?Country of Origin Information.
7.?Near Shore or Off Shore Practices
8.?Financial Information?
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A Request for Information is a great tool that when used properly enables retailers to evaluate potential new sources of supply while also holding their incumbent suppliers accountable to the same standards they would of new suppliers. Although most often used in complex sourcing events, RFI?s are very helpful in almost all e-negotiation events.

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Sourcing prescription drugs gets a little simpler all of the time.

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

This was the case years ago, but with the advent of many of the internet based prescription drug sites such as RXlist, Drugs.com and many retailers sites, it is easy to find lists, formulations, directions, dictionaries and generic equivalents. What more could a Pharma buyer ask for. Now all you need to do is use your e-procurement solutions provider to drive your costs down.

According to RXlist, the top twenty prescription drugs in the U.S. are as follows.

1.?Lipitor
2.?Hydrocodone / Acetaminophen??
3.?Hydrocodone / Acetaminophen??
4.?Levothyroxine sodium??
5.?Amoxicillin??
6.?Lisinopril??
7.?Nexium??
8.?Synthroid??
9.?Lexapro
10.?Singulair
11.?Plavix
12.?Simvastatin
13.?Hydrochlorothiazide
14.?Amlodipine besylate
15.?Azithromycin
16.?Warfarin sodium
17.?Furosemide
18.?Azithromycin
19.?Levothyroxine sodium
20.?Advair Diskus

Let’s hope this? information helps you to?drive down your costs.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

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Scottsdale Arizona’s SafeSourcing Inc. releases outstanding Q3 2010 results.

Monday, November 8th, 2010

Despite the continuing economic condition SafeSourcing Inc. reported significant 3rd quarter 2010 revenue growth of 42.45% versus the same period of 2009.Safesourcing has also continued to significantly grow its customer base with wins across all retail verticals as well as other new industries. SafeSourcing also recorded significant net income for the same period.

According to Ron Southard SafeSourcing CEO, We continue to honor the commitment we made to the retail market when we launched this company of being able to address all spends regardless of size. During 2010 we have sourced products for companies with 1000’s of stores and for companies with only a single location. SafeSourcing has run hundreds of millions of dollars through our system this year for all RFX types and provided new sources of supply, a focus on companies CSR inititives and significant savings across all categories. Southard continued by saying that they could not be more pleased with the faith that their customers have placed in SafeSourcing during a very challenging economic climate.

To learn more about SafeSourcing please visit our website www.safesourcing.com.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Scottsdale Arizona?s SafeSourcing Inc. releases outstanding Q3 2010 results.

Monday, November 8th, 2010

Despite the continuing economic condition SafeSourcing Inc. reported significant 3rd quarter 2010 revenue growth of 42.45% versus the same period of 2009.Safesourcing has also continued to significantly grow its customer base with wins across all retail verticals as well as other new industries. SafeSourcing also recorded significant net income for the same period.

According to Ron Southard SafeSourcing CEO, We continue to honor the commitment we made to the retail market when we launched this company of being able to address all spends regardless of size. During 2010 we have sourced products for companies with 1000?s of stores and for companies with only a single location. SafeSourcing has run hundreds of millions of dollars through our system this year for all RFX types and provided new sources of supply, a focus on companies CSR inititives and significant savings across all categories. Southard continued by saying that they could not be more pleased with the faith that their customers have placed in SafeSourcing during a very challenging economic climate.

To learn more about SafeSourcing please visit our website www.safesourcing.com.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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For retailers it’s really pretty simple; just look at your gross profit.

Friday, November 5th, 2010

How many times do we hear all of the reasons for a retail company’s performance being off? It’s the cost of doing business over seas, the economy, the cost of fuel, heath care costs etc. How often do we hear, that we are doing better than the same period a year ago or we are exceeding plan. All of that is nice stuff, but the bottom line is your bottom line. If you top line sales are up and your net profit is up it does not necessarily mean that you have all of your procurement issues under control.

Let’s start with some numbers you might wan to look at. Don’t just assume that profit is a good thing because profit could be caused by an imbalance in your category margins.

Here are a few good questions to ask yourself.
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1. How do your cost of goods compare to the rest of the industry for a chain of your size?
2. How do your operating expenses compare to other chains of your size?
3. How do your gross margins compare to other chains your size?

All of the above can be good indicators of overall company health and certainly procurement health. If your cost of goods is higher than industry averages for a chain of your size, why is that? Is there a specific category that is causing the issue? Do you know how to isolate the problem and then eliminate it?

If you don’t have or know this information, you should ask your e-procurement provider if they have it.

As an example, here is a look at U.S. based convenience store chains targets for non fuel.
1. Cost of Goods Sold should run somewhere around 71% or 72%
2. Gross Profit should run around 28% to 30%
3. Operating Expenses should run around 26% to 29%
4. Net Operating Income around 2%

If you are way out of balance with these numbers and want to understand how to rebalance them, call SafeSourcing.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

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Are you anti Social Networks? Be careful how you define yourself.

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

For those of you that do not think that social networks have a place in the business world or in procurement in general, just remember that they are the tool of choice of the younger generations. That would be those that are coming after those of us with a few with more than a few years of experience. By the way, that includes the use of these tools in their work lives.

The blogosphere is crowed with any number of opinions on any number of subjects. As a medium it has evolved from on line dictionaries in the early to mid 1990?s. Blogs are a form of Social Media just as Wiki?s are. Forums have been around for thousands of years, it is only natural that as technology evolved to include more people that offerings such as Facebook would evolve to include many of these tool types. It is only a matter of time before the evolve to help us solve complex problems in all areas of life and that include procurement.

If you visit the SafeSourcing Sourcebook? and become a member you can host forums on anything you wish to learn about in the procurement space and post that forum to thousands of other members. It may be something as simple as a question like this. Can anyone tell me how they are presently planning to source paper products based on the rumors of an up pulp market? How might you plan on mitigating price increases?

Job specific social communities are not the way of the future, they are here today. Visit Sourcebook? and create your forum.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

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Sourcebook™ will go viral in January of 2011

Monday, October 25th, 2010

Sourcebook™ was launched during May of 2008 and is the procurement industries first professional social network. Like other social communities you can enter your profile, choose an avatar, upload pictures and videos and participate or lead threaded conversations with your peers.

Those that don’t think these types of tools will catch on in specific work places or industries probably would not have been the first to by a car when it was invented either.

Don’t wait to join, January is coming soon. Follow this link and be part of the Sourcebook™  excitement.

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Where does the retail spend data you need for procurement reside?

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

The problem today is that there is so much retail?data available that?buyers and category managers?could easily suffer business paralysis by data analysis.

Below is just a partial list of systems and places where data resides that is meaningful if not critical to sourcing professionals. Most of you can probably add to this list pretty easily. The unfortunate issue that confronts? retail procurement professionals daily is that most of this data is not integrated in any way and even at very large companies,? to much critical data is sitting on local employee desktops or even worse in their heads. And that is not what we mean by a neural network.

1.?ERP systems
2.?Enterprise Data Warehouse systems
3.?Replenishment systems
4.?Financial reporting systems
5.?Demand Planning systems
6.?Purchase Order management systems
7.?Distribution and Logistics systems
8.?Merchandise management systems
9.?Retail Planning systems
10.?Local employee desktops
11.?Contract management systems

Number two from above the enterprise data warehouse is probably the most logical place to bring all of these data sources or elements together within one logical data model that drives the master data source integrated with a s business reporting and? busyness intelligence front end. Small companies may never make it to this level, but if they can find a business partner that offers these solutions in a SaaS format it will be much better than the current; Hey? Joe, how many of these did we order last year?

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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Here are Eight (8) good reasons why Super Market Company’s should be doing more with e-procurement tools or getting new ones.

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Let’s not event talk about the economy which should automatically make companies look at their procurement practices. Let’s not talk about adjustments or explanations as to final industry numbers like the food at home inflation rates. If you are a new CEO or for that matter if you still have your job, you should be looking at 2 things aggressively. The first is cost of goods and services and the 2nd is expenses.

Here are eight good reasons why.

1. Fiscal Year 2000/2001        Net Profit Percentage    1.25
2. Fiscal Year 2001/2002        Net Profit Percentage    1.36
3. Fiscal Year 2002/2003       Net Profit Percentage       .95   
4. Fiscal Year 2003/2004       Net Profit Percentage       .88
5. Fiscal Year 2004/2005       Net Profit Percentage     1.16
6. Fiscal Year 2005/2006       Net Profit Percentage     1.46
7. Fiscal Year 2006/2007      Net Profit Percentage     1.91
8. Fiscal Year 2007/2008      Net Profit Percentage     1.84

SafeSourcing can help you fix this problem in the present quarter. Click here for the SafeSourcing Risk Free Trial.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

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