Purchasing - the foundation of any business selling products!
Buying products or services may seem as a simple task at first, but in order to master it, you need to be aware of the different aspects that will affect your business.
1. Be sure to make a plan for your business;
- What products/categories should you focus on?
- Who is the customer buying them?
- What markets and ways of distribution should you aim for? - are there different trends in the different markets?
- What suppliers do you have / want to have?
- and stick to your plan!
2. When you´re all set on step 1, its time for excecution:
- contact the suppliers you aim for, and negotiate!
- prices
- payment terms
- marketing-coop
- annual bonuses based on turnover
- return-terms
- service levels / warranties
- freight costs
Do not give in if the supplier says the terms above are not negotiable, ask for the levels where you can begin new negotiations, example:
-If I sell for 100K the first year, can we negotiate new terms for next year then?
