It seems like the summer has just begun, but buyers need to be thinking about back to school supplies. The actual supplies required differ from preschool to college aged students and teachers.

Unfortunately if you don’t have what the person (normally mom) shopping for all students is looking for; you may lose all of the affiliated sales and ultimately your customer.

How many times have shoppers come to your store looking for something simple and then leaving without buying anything? It probably happens more often than you think. On the other hand, if you have a well stocked department you might be surprised by the number of additional items customers buy when they find the primary item they were looking for.

Relative to school supplies, you should probably consider the following list of categories if you want to cover all of your consumers needs.
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A. Academic Calendars & Planners
B. Arts & Crafts Materials
C. Accessories
D. Backpacks
E. Binders
F. Calculators
G. Chalk, Erasers & Cleaners
H. Computer Media
I. Crayons & Markers
J. Dies Punches & Accessories
K. Drafting Supplies
L. Educational Software
M. First Aid & Personal Care and Anti Bacterial Supplies
N. Glue, Tape & Self-Stick Notes
O. Index Cards,
P. Report Covers & Portfolios
Q. Locker Accessories
R. Maps & Globes
S. Paints
T. Paper & Notebooks
U. Pens, Pencils & Markers
V. Reference Books
W. Rulers & Compasses
X. Scissors
Y. Staplers
Z. Teaching Aids

Each of the above categories obviously has a number of products associated with it. At times any one of these products could support a reverse auction by itself based on the size of the retailer and the volume associated with the category. Ask your e-procurement supplier if they have specifications and a list of suppliers available that would allow you to develop a reverse auction like this in the short term .

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

The economy is improving and according to The National Retail Federation (NRF) Americans plan to spend more beginning with Independence Day.

According to NRF, consumers plan to come out of hiding for the 4th of July. ?Americans are ready to kick-start summer and celebrate Independence Day,? said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. ?Retailers will be stocked with supplies for every celebration, from large family cookouts to trips to the beach.?

In our neighborhood, gas prices have gone down two weeks in a row, the streets are a little emptier and I?m sure that there are a lot of cook outs and barbeques planned for the upcoming three day 4th of July weekend.

SafeSourcing is pleased to have been able to assist retailers in procuring better quality, less expensive and safer products that also support the a reduced carbon footprint. For this we are truly grateful.

Happy 4th of July. Please enjoy your weekend safely and remember to recycle.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Sometimes inspiration can come from the most unlikely places. Using this urban jargon, are today’s procurement professionals “Balling til they Fall” or is it just business as usual?

During an interview early in my career the interviewer who was a scary regional vice president asked me why he should hire me from the large list of candidates he had interviewed.

My answer restated from above was simply that “I will do whatever it takes to get the job done”. I was told later by the same manager that my answer is what got me the job.

Last year I was clicking through the TV late at night and came across Snoop Doggs reality show called Fatherhood. In the show Snoop was talking about his wife’s business endeavors when he said, she will “Ball til you fall” and went on to explain that “Ball til you Fall” is when in life, do what you need to do to get your dough or money.

Too many of today’s procurement professionals are not taking the opportunity to express themselves to the industry in newer and easier ways. Too often we hear objections like the following.

1. That’s interesting but we just don’t have time to do new things.
2. This is the way we have always done things.
3. We don’t want to disrupt our present suppliers.
4. This is not a priority for us right now.
5. It’s not in our budget.

If we use Snoop Doggs analogy, are companies doing all that they can to get their money? It would seem that beyond all of the buzz words and technical jargon that the ultimate job of procurement in no particular order is to accomplish the following.

1. Improve your companies for resale and not for resale product and services quality.
2. Find new or alternative sources of supply for your products and services.
3. Insure product safety
4. Support environmental best practices.
5. Reduce current pricing.
6. Reduce the amount of time it takes to get the job done.
7. Mitigate corporate and consumer risk factors.

If new tools can accomplish all of the above why would any of the five objections ever apply?

“Ball til you Fall”.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

Sometimes inspiration can come from the most unlikely places. Using this urban jargon, are today?s procurement professionals ?Balling til they Fall? or is it just business as usual?

During an interview early in my career the interviewer who was a scary regional vice president asked me why he should hire me from the large list of candidates he had interviewed.

My answer restated from above was simply that ?I will do whatever it takes to get the job done?. I was told later by the same manager that my answer is what got me the job.

Last year I was clicking through the TV late at night and came across Snoop Doggs reality show called Fatherhood. In the show Snoop was talking about his wife?s business endeavors when he said, she will ?Ball til you fall? and went on to explain that ?Ball til you Fall? is when in life, do what you need to do to get your dough or money.

Too many of today?s procurement professionals are not taking the opportunity to express themselves to the industry in newer and easier ways. Too often we hear objections like the following.

1. That?s interesting but we just don?t have time to do new things.
2. This is the way we have always done things.
3. We don?t want to disrupt our present suppliers.
4. This is not a priority for us right now.
5. It?s not in our budget.

If we use Snoop Doggs analogy, are companies doing all that they can to get their money? It would seem that beyond all of the buzz words and technical jargon that the ultimate job of procurement in no particular order is to accomplish the following.

1. Improve your companies for resale and not for resale product and services quality.
2. Find new or alternative sources of supply for your products and services.
3. Insure product safety
4. Support environmental best practices.
5. Reduce current pricing.
6. Reduce the amount of time it takes to get the job done.
7. Mitigate corporate and consumer risk factors.

If new tools can accomplish all of the above why would any of the five objections ever apply?

“Ball til you Fall”.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

The economy still sucks. Unemployment continues to trend higher and small businesses are closing all over the world as a result of large companies like Chrysler, General Motors and others closing plants, delaying store openings and reducing or canceling orders.

Chrysler indicated last week that they would begin to ramp up production. This is potentially great news for all of the small and medium suppliers with which Chrysler has done business in the past. The same holds true for other small suppliers as retailers begin to open new stores requiring construction sourcing and larger product volumes. This also creates a huge catch twenty two.

According to Wikipedia, catch twenty two refers to more than the book title. In our case, it refers to the no win situation or double bind of potentially good news.

In our Chrysler example, the news is good that Chrysler will be opening up closed production lines requiring more supplies. The catch in this case is that the companies from which they have traditionally sourced may no longer be in business or may have cut staffing in such a way as to require money for ramping up their own labor or for purchasing raw materials. I’m sure you can apply this model to other industries or organizations that you may be familiar with. Many of these small suppliers may be facing liquidation or bankruptcies of their own. So, we have good news; but is it too late and how might companies and suppliers react?

This certainly creates an opportunity for collaboration beyond traditional trading partners. The question this begs; is where do you find them? One source may be your present procurement provider. The tough question is if they had suppliers in the past that might have been willing to bid on your business, why you were not exposed to them. A tougher question is why didn’t you ask?

The logical approach is to come up with a list of questions for your solutions provider. Here is a couple for you to consider?

1. Do you have a large non industry specific supplier database?
2. Does it include suppliers of all sizes?
3. Are suppliers interested in collaborating with other suppliers for smaller shares of a larger opportunity?
4. Do you have an RFI on file for all suppliers?
5. How quickly can you provide us with category specific lists of suppliers?
6. What other information can you provide relative to these suppliers?

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

The economy still sucks. Unemployment continues to trend higher and small businesses are closing all over the world as a result of large companies like Chrysler, General Motors and others closing plants, delaying store openings and reducing or canceling orders.

Chrysler indicated last week that they would begin to ramp up production. This is potentially great news for all of the small and medium suppliers with which Chrysler has done business in the past. The same holds true for other small suppliers as retailers begin to open new stores requiring construction sourcing and larger product volumes. This also creates a huge catch twenty two.

According to Wikipedia, catch twenty two refers to more than the book title. In our case, it refers to the no win situation or double bind of potentially good news.

In our Chrysler example, the news is good that Chrysler will be opening up closed production lines requiring more supplies. The catch in this case is that the companies from which they have traditionally sourced may no longer be in business or may have cut staffing in such a way as to require money for ramping up their own labor or for purchasing raw materials. I?m sure you can apply this model to other industries or organizations that you may be familiar with. Many of these small suppliers may be facing liquidation or bankruptcies of their own. So, we have good news; but is it too late and how might companies and suppliers react?

This certainly creates an opportunity for collaboration beyond traditional trading partners. The question this begs; is where do you find them? One source may be your present procurement provider. The tough question is if they had suppliers in the past that might have been willing to bid on your business, why you were not exposed to them. A tougher question is why didn?t you ask?

The logical approach is to come up with a list of questions for your solutions provider. Here is a couple for you to consider?

1. Do you have a large non industry specific supplier database?
2. Does it include suppliers of all sizes?
3. Are suppliers interested in collaborating with other suppliers for smaller shares of a larger opportunity?
4. Do you have an RFI on file for all suppliers?
5. How quickly can you provide us with category specific lists of suppliers?
6. What other information can you provide relative to these suppliers?

We look forward to and appreciate your comments

During a lunch meeting last week a retailer asked us what they should consider in terms of structuring their procurement professionals to fully embrace e-negotiation tools.

Our answer is certainly not a complete one, but the following points are areas that should be considered for any supply chain re-structuring including what is needed to drive success while trying to fully embrace SaaS e-negotiation technology. These steps will get you headed in the right direction towards achieving the greatest possible return on investment.

1. Gaining executive (CEO) level and other stakeholder (Board) support
2. Get your supply chain organization structured for success
3. Plan a detailed review of all contracts.
4. Plan a detailed review of all suppliers
5. Develop better relationships with existing suppliers
6. Improve the performance of suppliers.
7. Gain access to additional sources of supply
8. Improve your view of all spend categories.
9. Develop a detailed off shore and near shore strategies.
10. Review all sourcing methods used today.
11. Review all Environmental strategies
12. Review all Product Safety strategies
13. Create a product specification library
14. conduct detailed category discovery
15. Align all of the above with your SaaS providers recommended strategy
16. Streamline, streamline, streamline.

As you use the above list and grow it, it is important to remember that the job of a procurement management leader is to think outside of the box and educate while looking for innovative ways to do things better, faster and at a lower cost. And to hopefully create an environment that will inspire co-workers while doing that.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

According to Wikipedia the chicken or the egg causality dilemma is commonly stated as “which came first, the chicken or the egg?? To ancient philosophers, the question about the first chicken or egg also evoked the questions of how life and the universe in general began. One might add today that it evokes how we might protect and preserve it .

I received a call from a retailer today with a question relative to today?s post, ?Do you have humane procurement procedures in place for your meat and poultry purchases??

The question really did not speak to the title of this post, but asked if I could give them a few suggestions or areas where they might look in order to begin to understand and develop humane sourcing procedures.

We discussed the subject in some length. Actually in more detail than I will cover in this post, but I suggested for starters that they visit www.americanhumane.org. American Humane Certified protects farm animals by working with producers through the groundbreaking American Humane Certified? farm animal program (formerly known as the Free Farmed program). American Humane Certified guarantees consumers that the products they select are from animals that were raised and treated humanely.

This site goes well beyond the humane treatment of just farm animals and is a great educational resource for procurement professionals and other associates as well that are interested in humane treatment in general.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

At the turn of the 20th century, chickens were primarily consumed for holiday meals. Today they are a staple food product around the world with a variety of procurement oriented names such as fryers, layers, broilers, WOGS etc.

Consumers are becoming increasingly concerned with the treatment of all farm animals during their life cycle from birth to the dinner table.

In the case of chickens, there has even been legislature passed recently by the State of California for the humane treatment of laying hens. One might say who cares. For one, this author does and so should all of you that are reading this and procuring poultry products.

Chickens have actually been kept as pets for years, and many say they have a relatively high degree of intelligence. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the oldest living chicken lived to be sixteen years old. I?m not sure how long laying hens continue to produce eggs, but I am aware that the average cage size for a laying hen is only 81/2? by 11?. Yes, I said inches. That?s the size of a standard piece of copy paper. Can you even imagine having a level of intelligence and being confined to a space where you can not even extend your wings, stand up or turn around? If one was to compare the same amount of space for the average 5?10? adult male, the resulting space it would be 3 feet 4 inches by 4 feet 4 inches. That is smaller than the cells in which we confine inmates in our over crowded prison system.

The question one might ask is how might procurement professionals help during the procurement process? It is really quite simple. Ask the right questions or have your procurement solution provider ask them for you. Here are four examples of the type questions we ask suppliers at SafeSourcing.

1. What certifications do you support relative to the humane treatment of farm animals? An example might be ?Humane Raised Hand Led?
2. From where do you source your poultry? What specific farms?
3. Are chickens confined to wire cages? If so, what?s the cage capacity?
4. Are the chickens you buy cage free during any of their life cycle.

This type of procurement practice is a great thing to brag about in advertising campaigns as consumers become more and more aware of how our farm animals are treated and react to that treatment by shopping with humanely oriented companies.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.

This author has posted before on Greenwashing and what retail companies can do to make sure that the products they are buying meet their marketing claims.

Many companies that claim they are eco-friendly are actually practicing eco- fraud. At Safesourcing we have a 7 step process to assist companies in the procurement of products they buy for resale or reuse in meeting the eco guidelines that they should.

The organization with the primary responsibility for monitoring that companies are not just greenwashing with their eco friendly marketing claims is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC published the GUIDES FOR THE USE OF ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETING CLAIMS in 1992.

Recently the FTC took legal action against three companies for violating these guidelines. Two of these claims have been settled and the other is proceeding to litigation.

Another company that offers to assist companies with their Green Marketing in order to help avoid these false claims and also has a website called greenwashing index www.greenwashingindex.com that assists consumers and companies in evaluating and rating companies eco friendly claims is Enviromedia www.enviromedia.com.

Consumers should not have to worry about greenwash investigation. The simple truth is that companies should be responsible enough to ensure that their claims are honorable, honest, accurate and meet the appropriate guidelines. Ask your solutions provider how they can assist you in this process.

We look forward to and appreciate your comments.