1. 17. The purchasing function in trade and retail companies
Practice
17. The purchasing function in trade and retail companies 1
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

2. Program
Definitions
Role and importance of purchasing in trade and retail companies
Structure and organization of the purchasing process
Developments in trade and retail companies
Sourcing and supply chain strategy trends
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

3. Definitions Trade and retail companies:
Characterized by the absence of a production process
Value added is low compared to manufacturing companies
Existence is primarily based on the exchange of values
Time between the purchase and sale is very short
Because of short time between purchase and sale, buying and selling are sometimes integrated into one function. This is referred to as category management
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

4. Definitions Inbound logistics Outbound logistics Merchandising/
commodity
management
Facilities buying
Human resources management
Technology
Infrastructure
The value chain in trade companies (Adapted from Porter, 1985)
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

5. Definitions Trade companies can be divided into two levels:
Wholesale level (B2B)
Retail level (B2C)
Companies that operate on wholesale level deliver their products to other companies. Customers are retail, industrial and service companies. Wholesale companies devote less effort to promotion, shop layout and selection of location. Further wholesalers make large transactions with a limited number of companies.
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

6. Definitions Manufacturer Wholesaler Retailer Consumer
Wholesale and trade in the business chain
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

7. Role and importance of purchasing in trade and retail companies
Trade companies fulfill the intermediary between
producer and end user. Their added value lies in
the following activities:
Sales and promotion
Purchasing and building up a product assortment
Bulk breaking
Storage
Transportation
Carrying the risk
Market information
Management and marketing services
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

8. Role and importance of purchasing in trade and retail companies
Regarding the retail trade, various types of stores can be
distinguished in the area of consumer products:
Specialty store
Department store
Supermarket
Convenience store
Combination store, superstore and hypermarket
Service business
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

9. Role and importance of purchasing in trade and retail companies
Main differences with industrial companies:
Bottom line thinking: Primary reason for buying in trade companies is to sell.
Broad assortment: Trade companies generally have a very broad product assortment for which management information systems are necessary.
Buying against supplier specifications: Trade companies frequently buy what the market offers and are usually able to change suppliers more easily.
Short feedback loop: Moments of buying and selling are closer together in a trade company.
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

10. Structure and organization of the purchasing process
Stages in the buying-selling cycle:
Estimating demand
Determining product assortment and distribution strategy
Selection of most suitable supplier
Contractual agreements
Ordering
Automatic replenishment
Expediting and evaluation
Retail buyers need to give more attention to marketing and sales aspects than industrial buyers. The function of retail buyer evolves from straight buying to commodity or category management
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

11. Structure and organization of the purchasing process
Cross-functional structure
Teams are responsible for all aspects of a category in order to generate a maximum return for the retail company
Buying, styling, visual merchandising and distribution functions operate in one organizational entity. (‘category management’)
Functional purchasing structure
Purchasing is important and reports directly to top management
Ordering and purchasing often separate activities.
Purchasing and Category Management are conducted central and ordering is carried out decentral as much as possible.
Planning is more and more delegated to the suppliers (i.e. VMI)
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

12. his product assortment to ever more specific and often smaller groups.
Developments in trade and retail companies
Changing consumer behavior:
Ageing population, ongoing individualism, more men shopping
Increasing income gap between population groups
Growing number of earning couples
Increased exposure to other cultures and integration of ethnic minorities
Increased concern for the environment
Increased attention to healthier living
This means that the commodity manager/ retail-buyer must constantly tailor
his product assortment to ever more specific and often smaller groups.
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

13. Developments in trade and retail companies
Other developments….
Concentration: Globalization of competition and concentration through mergers and acquisitions.
International co-operation: Due to the concentration of power on the suppliers’ side, trade companies are searching for internationalization as an option to counterbalance this development.
Private labels: Private labels support retailer identity and image. Finding suitable suppliers for private label products will become increasingly difficult.
Space management: based on detailed cost information retailers decide on the most profitable display lay out.
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

14. Developments in trade and retail companies
‘Green’ issues: ecological considerations are growing in importance (e.g. natural ingredients, biodegradable packaging)
Information: Some developments in information technology have an immediate impact on consumers. Others are less visible to the consumer. For example:
- Electronic banking
- Bar coding
- Tele shopping
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

15. Sourcing and supply chain strategy trends
Modern supply chain management retail is based on the following concepts:
Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)
Efficient Consumer Response (ECR)
Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR)
Electronic marketplaces
Radio frequency Identification Detection (RFID)
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

16. Sourcing and supply chain strategy trends
Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)
VMI is a continuous replenishment program in which the retailer provides the supplier with detailed information to allow the supplier to manage and replenish product at the store or warehouse level
Typically the activities of forecasting, scheduling, requisitioning and ordering are performed by the supplier.
The retailer does the invoice matching and handles payment
EDI is an integral part of the VMI process
Benefits of VMI
Eliminating repetitive purchasing activities
Lowered costs of processing claims
Reduced inventory
Increased inventory turns
Solidified customer-vendor relationships
VMI has its drawbacks when not implemented properly. Be aware of EDI problems, employee acceptance, and trust among the supply chain partners.
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

17. Sourcing and supply chain strategy trends
Efficient Consumer Response (ECR)
ECR is a grocery industry supply chain management strategy aimed at eliminating inefficiencies, and excessive or non-value-added costs within the supply chain, thus delivering better value to the end customers
It is designed to re-engineer the grocery supply chain from a “push” system into a “pull” system by using e-commerce information technology
ECR attempts to eliminate inefficiencies by introducing strategic initiatives in four areas:
Efficient store assortment
Efficient product information
Efficient promotion
Efficient product replenishment
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

18. Sourcing and supply chain strategy trends
Efficient Consumer Response (ECR)
Programs that companies need to have in place are:
Category management (i.e. managing a group of products as strategic business units within each store)
Continuous replenishment program (CRP)
Further support is needed by some critical technologies and concepts
Barcodes / Scanners
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)
Computer aided ordering (CAO)
Cross docking / direct store delivery
Activity based costing
The main obstacle is not technical but managerial, with manager reluctant to transform their adversarial trading relationships into open partnerships
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

19. Sourcing and supply chain strategy trends
Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR)
This concept allows cooperation across the supply chain, using a set of processes and technology models.
The goal is to provide dynamic information sharing that is integrating both demand and supply side processes, and effectively planning, forecasting and replenishing customer needs through the total supply chain.
Advantages of CPFR:
Increased responsiveness
Product availability assurance
Optimized inventory and associated costs
Increased revenues and earnings
Improved relationships with trading partners
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

20. Sourcing and supply chain strategy trends
Electronic marketplaces
A distinction can be made between Open exchanges (accessible for everyone) and Private exchanges (only for members)
An e-marketplace can provide a platform for:
Core commerce transactions which can automate and streamline the entire requisition-to-payment online
A collaborative network for production design, supply chain planning, optimization and fulfillment process
Industry wide product information that is aggregated into a common classification and catalogue structure
An environment in which sourcing, negotiations and auctions can take place in real-time
An online community for publishing and exchanging industry news, information and events
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

21. Sourcing and supply chain strategy trends
Radio frequency Identification Detection (RFID)
RDID is a term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify individual term.
Auto-ID Center is developing an open global network (a layer on top of internet) that can identify anything, anywhere, automatically.
This network will give companies near perfect supply chain visibility
Also, if widely adopted the network could:
eliminate human error from data collection
reduce inventories
keep product in stock
reduce loss and waste
free up staff to perform more value added functions
improve safety and security
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )

22. Sourcing and supply chain strategy trends
The four major developments show how the landscape of the traditional retail buyer has changed
Advanced systems will allow them to optimize their supply chain operations
Future competition in retail will no longer be between individual companies, rather it will be among clusters of companies
As research shows the development towards this kind of collaboration can be troublesome
Trust between the partners, a long term commitment and a balanced sharing of risks and rewards is required to be successful
© Cengage Learning – Purchasing & Supply Chain Management 4 ed ( )