Today we spent a good portion of the day trying to get our heads around the procurement process for Walmart International. One would think it would be something straight forward, but the truth it is far from simple. I am not a whizz kid on computers so it takes time to learn the processes needed.
What happened to the good old days when it was something straight forward and a negotiation? The last one I did it was far simpler and knew immediately what to do ,but this one is full of legal jargon and sub headings that go on forever. Lets put it this way as I am not a fan of this type of business and possibly why they are in such a predicament. Something has gone wrong somewhere and this is no way how to fix things.
From looking outside in they have handed over certain buying operations to a platform making more jobs disappear. I understand it is the fine tuning of finding out who and what from suppliers, but the overall experience is lost. As a buyer you will know immediately if a supplier is the right fit or not as you have a set of criteria to fulfill.
When I registered with their platform I was not expecting to see upgrades and asking for payment on page 1 as what do they honestly expect? A company of that size partnering with another company doing this for them won't be cheap and it kind of looks like someone is cutting corners to save some dollars somewhere else.
The reverse auction I was involved with in January of this year I could guess the suppler I was battling with for the business. You know your competitors and where there breaking points are and the reason why I stopped where I did. We knew we were the cheapest and the price beating us by 1c was the computer program and not another supplier. We had got rid of the other company 25 cents ago already and having low overheads no one can match us unless they are crooked.
In a small market place everyone has a good idea of what others are paying for their products and knowing where you have to be price wise is not rocket science. The savings we had created were large by what they had been previously paying but the order still never materialised. Covid hit in March and they decided to stay with what they already knew and had.
This for me was a let down as they as a company has just thrown millions away yet again. We are coming up to the same time again and I have already chatted with the buyer and see him in a different light these days. These guys are pen pushers who don't understand the product they are buying and why it is so easy to rip them off and this is what is happening. They are not alone as this is happening everywhere and is kind of sickening to see.
The larger the company the bigger this problem becomes and why it will never be fixed. My solution is to see where the problems are and to solve them with people who understand the product as that is where you will find the savings. Screwing companies bleeding them dry will only make the problem worse as what will they eventually be supplying you? The Chinese are masters at this and why you never have a long contract with them as they make profit by downing the spec over time making profit by stealing on the product itself and not the price. This is what happens in my field of pallet wrap and stretch film as many just add weight to the cardboard core giving you less plastic material and no one seems to check.
Last year we had one customer lined up who was receiving 30 percent less than they should. Only know with the economic hardships expected have they started to listen and if they allow that to happen under their watch what else are they missing?
