Market research: crucial preparation for buyers and suppliers

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iStock_000003892069Small

Finding out what the market can provide is essential to the role of a procurer. Indeed, the term ‘reverse marketing’ has been used to capture the role of procurers in proactively identifying who can offer them what in the marketplace.

Equally, for suppliers a key task is determining how the needs of prospective clients can be serviced. An oft heard criticism from purchasing professionals is that suppliers fail to adequately inform themselves of the distinct needs of organisations they are targeting.

In spite of its importance in the procurement process, all too often marketplace engagement ranks low on the list of priorities for both procurers and suppliers.

For suppliers, research on prospective clients and their buying habits usually takes second place to tasks such as completing tender forms and related documentation as well as searching for contract opportunities.

For buyers, conducting research on markets and suppliers often takes the back seat to creating tender forms and related documentation, or deciding on tender qualification and weighting criteria.

If procurers are not fully informed of what suppliers can provide and suppliers are less than knowledgeable about potential buyers in their marketplace, then commercial supply opportunities will be missed and the deployment of procurement as a value-adding function will be limited.

Learn more about contemporary procurement and supply management practice by downloading our white paper, Insights into Procurement Practice.

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