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Reverse Auctions Sharpens Competition

Reverse Internet auctions put clothing manufacturers in competition with one another to offer buyers low prices. By teaming up with textile mills and trim suppliers, manufacturers can bid prices that won’t wipe out their profit margins.

In a move to cut buying costs, some big clothing retailers now require their suppliers to participate in reverse Internet auctions. They use these auctions mainly for sourcing large volumes of supplies and for standard products with easily defined specifications, where there are a minimum number of suppliers for the products, who can bid against one another. Read more Reverse Auctions Sharpen Competition

Suppliers under the hammer

In the old days, it was easy. Suppliers told retailers what they could sell and retailers told customers what they could buy. There was no ‘range proliferation’, ‘choice’ or ‘Far-East sourcing’; it was a world where retail buyers bought – not ‘procured’ – and suppliers ‘sold’ – not ‘account managed’. Where the brands went, everybody else followed. Easy.

Fast-forward 25 years and the world is a very different place. The pattern is now based on where the customers go, suppliers and retailers have to follow – and quickly. The advent of internet and mobile ..Read more Suppliers under the hammer

Reverse Auction e-Procurement: A Supplier Viewpoint

Procurement has been the latest process to get the “e” treatment. It is also the process of choice now for organisations seeking increased efficiencies and reduced bottom lines. E-procurement is one of the shining lights in the evolving e-business story and this paper will look at a case study of an online reverse auction where a major Australian manufacturer sources logistics services for most of its commodities. The paper presents the case of the reverse auction from the viewpoint of one supplier and looks to present the insight of a losing bidder. Small and large businesses, global organisations, ..Read more Reverse Auction

How to compete in a Reverse Auction

A growing number of large companies are forcing suppliers to bid through reverse auctions. Here’s how to survive one with your margins intact:

Gartner turns his employee lounge into a war room. An arsenal of laptops and phones and reams of data are brought in for employees to use. Shouting matches among workers are common. So is heavy perspiration. If Gartner’s team wins the deal, there’s a lot of whooping and the boss hands out tequila shots. These back-breaking dealmaking sessions can last for eight hours or more. For Gartner, a company that supplies stationery and related products….Read more How to compete in a Reverse Auction

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