The Role of Procurement Consulting Companies in Ecommerce

Procurement is one of the key aspects of ecommerce business which business owners must get right to ensure smooth running and hassle-free operations. For startups, setting up a network of reliable suppliers can be a complex task, fraught with numerous challenges.

Procurement can have a direct bearing on profitability – the key objective of any enterprise. Procurement in ecommerce helps improve operational efficiency and also impacts inventory management positively. It helps ecommerce entrepreneurs manage their operating working capital better.

In the early ecommerce days, procurement managers were focused on building a coherent and planned sourcing process. However, procurement process has undergone a sea-change in later years as managers were exposed to sophisticated strategies that allowed them to work across functions, and deliver greater value to the organization. In the past few years, the ecommerce industry has tested and incorporated various procurement models and frameworks with an aim to improve the functionality in this area of business but with varying degrees of success.READ MORE

Read More

China Sourcing In Today’s Global Business Environment

With companies from all over the world looking to extend their supply chain to newer and more profitable markets, it becomes imperative for many of them to source from rapidly developing countries. At the very top of such fast developing countries is China. It has been clearly established in the past few years that the rewards of China sourcing are huge and manifold. The benefits include vastly improved cost structures, innovative and high value products made using innovative processes made possible by an increasingly modernized and diversified supply base.

China is high on the sourcing list of many countries because they have the unique advantage of low cost, but highly skilled labor pool. They are trained for supporting production and also in research and development. China has becoming the hub of sourcing for manufacturers and traders from all over the globe because of their:

Low-cost plant and equipments
Liberal national policies and local government incentives
Rapidly growing domestic market that can help suppliers based here achieve critical mass quickly
Highly developed group of complementary suppliers
Overcoming Challenges – And There Are Many

The challenges involved in the process are many but the key ones are overcoming the differences in cultural and business norms and methods and the lack of transparency in the country’s supply market. Hiring established and successful consultancy firms can help companies overcome these initial challenges and be prepared for the ones they will keep running into at every stage of their progress.
The pressing challenges that companies face in the later stages include the protection of intellectual property rights. Most businesses come unprepared to deal with this issue which can severely limit the potential range of products they can include in their China sourcing endeavor. With competition becoming intense in this domain, companies not explicitly addressing intellectual property issues face the risk of losing out to those who come prepared to deal with it.
This once again highlights the advantages of involving an experienced consultancy firm in your China sourcing plan. They can make the roadmap ahead crystal clear for you and prepare you for dealing with such unforeseen challenges well in advance.Readmore

Read More

Sourcing Consultants - Way to Move on

Today the competition between business enterprises is not any longer restricted to inside a nation or a selected world territory however additional widespread with a worldwide scenery. Free movement of things of production like raw materials, technology and trained human resource have enabled business homes and makers to acquire and utilize the simplest quality resource at economic rates. world sourcing is aimed toward gaining competitive advantage for sellers and producers.

There is no limitation to the varied factors that a manufacturer may procure from completely different markets across the globe. economic {process} is actually a process wherever each consumers and sellers area unit able to move on a far in depth or world scale for achieving their various objectives. For sellers this objective is to deal with unknown markets, whereas for consumers it's a chance for procuring the simplest materials at most cost-effective rates. it's attention-grabbing to notice that one entity can be a purchaser and marketer at an equivalent time. as an example, once associate businessman is searching for raw materials or mean workforce, he's in essence a purchaser searching for highest quality materials at reasonable and cheap rates. once this businessman appearance for marketing his plant output to shoppers he becomes a marketer.

Consultant and supporter

Though awareness among makers has redoubled by many times within the last 10 years, there area unit still areas that need the intervention of pros. These professionals sometimes operate through offices set in prime destinations across the continents. A trans-world presence forms the fundamental criterion for a worldwide sourcing supporter. This supporter not solely functions as a purchase agent however conjointly as a adviser. during this age of specialization it's essential to avail the services of a dependable and economical world acquisition company.

Significance of worldwide sourcing

For any business to sustain and grow during this intensely competitive surroundings, it's essential to control on skinny margins of profitableness and high levels of competition. the sole thanks to win} this is often to supply superior quality goods and repair at a owed worth. For this it's imperative to find resource area unitas that are swarming in any of the factors; materials, technology, and mean workforce. although all of those could be obtained once the complete world could be a level taking part in field, it's necessary to spot these specific areas of abundance. The responsibility falls on the producer of a product or service to spot these areas.

At an equivalent time it's equally vital to find markets for marketing these product or services. Care must be taken that end-user costs area unit close thereby permitting bigger market coverage. Here it's to be noted that procuring quite one issue must be thought of, whereas for marketing solely client preference and worth area unit the issues. during a market driven economy wherever worth is decided by the interaction of demand and provide, it's troublesome to manipulate with it. However, prices can be brought down by effective world sourcing processes involving trained professionals.

Traditional focus areas for a Company, while considering cost reduction have been Marketing, Finance and Production for the Top management. But now in the changed scenario companies have shifted their focus towards purchasing. It is worth quoting that spends in procurement vary from 40% to 70% depending on the industry.

In such situations, services like Strategic Sourcing, assumes greater importance in giving organizations competitive advantage. Strategic Sourcing focuses on the following:

•     Developing in-depth understanding for knowledge based buying.
•     Developing systems and procedures for building World-Class purchasing organization
•     Building sustained value creating relationships with suppliers

Rajeev Verma is the author of this article on sourcing consultants in India. He is associated with GainEdge Consulting which is one of the leading Procurement Consultants In India

Source: http://www.sooperarticles.com/automotive-articles/sourcing-consultants-way-move-1404452.html

Read More

Strategic Procurement

In Global organizations there is mounting pressure on managers to cut costs because of which most of these companies have started re-evaluating their procurement processes so as to redesign them in order to be more viable. In a bid to align themselves to this objective many companies are resorting to outsourcing, which in turn makes procurement decisions increasingly critical.

There are several valuable implications of putting in place an effective procurement strategy:
• Immediate control on maverick spends
• Improved operations.
• Building stronger relationships with suppliers.
• leveraging relationship with suppliers to bargain more.

Today many companies have made significant changes to their bottom line margins by focusing on their procurement function. If there is a robust procurement process in place, it is bound to positively impact the purchasing decisions of the company along with increasing bargaining power with suppliers, and generating more value for the investor. Below are some of the industry wide approved best practices that should be followed in order to maximize procurement gains

1.    Identifying the organizations requirements in terms of procurement. The most important part of the procurement process is the requirement planning documentation. It is quite obvious that a plan may have changes even in the final stage, thus it is essential to ensure thorough version adherence and procurement document management. In order to anticipate the risks it is advised to simulate the supply chain scenario in-house. Once you have gathered probable risk data, it must be analysed.

2. Aligning the procurement goal.
The alignment of the procurement objectives with the corporate goals is highly desirable. A costs – benefits analysis is a must have.

3. Supplier selection. The selection of suppliers can be initiated by choosing amongst the pool of tried and tested ones with whom the company did some business before or by simply floating a request for proposal. After a thorough analysis of the responses to RFPs, the selection of suppliers can be finalized.

4. Checking supplier performance. There should be high priority on monitoring supplier performance. This ensures that the supplier contract is fully conformed to and any non compliance is brought to notice. The supplier performance report needs to be generated at regular intervals during the entire span of the project and if it shows any such obligations which are not catered to, then appropriate feedback to the supplier needs to be communicated.

5. Procurement closure. While concluding the procurement process, it is important to review that all contracts are completed. A critical assessment of the achievement of procurement objective is to be done. If there is any scope for any qualitative improvements then the same needs to be documented for future process.

Summing the above we can say that a strong procurement strategy along with a deep understanding of the broader corporate objective behind the procurement is indispensible for the organizations competitiveness.

GainEdge Consulting is one of the leading sourcing consultants in india. GainEdge consulting is the one-stop-solution for all your outsourcing needs. Tailormade solutions to meet your requirements (Procurement Consultant) & goals.

Read More

Procurement Consulting-GainEdge Consulting

Procurement consulting has established as an important discipline due to the emergence of the services sector and its recognition and also because of notable shift in working models of organizations wherein there is more dependence on third party relationships.

Procurement consultants are acting as extended arms of organizations in helping them with Tendering, Contracts and vendor management.
There are various types of procurement consulting services which an organization can avail depending upon its priority area.

Some of these procurement consulting services are listed below:

Contract negotiation and revalidation – help in signing contracts with suppliers, due-diligence and renegotiations as per the project’s requirement from time to time.

Inventory optimisation – design, and implement optimised inventory planning and procedures.

Procurement outsourcing – provide inputs on the best outsourcing solutions available.

Spend analysis – analyse acquisition connected expenditures to spot, qualify and implement reductions
Vendor management and monitoring – maintaining good relations with vendors and getting them to be compliant with the organisation’s requirements.

Tender support – providing research and analysis support required for tendering activities.

Most procurement consultants in India are integrated service providers and apart from above mentioned services also provide services related to supply chain & logistics, warehousing, etc.

Source: http://gainedgeconsulting.weebly.com/blog/procurement-consulting

Read More

SOURCING FOR MRO PURCHASE

•    Rapid globalization is very alluring however it creates enormous pressures on the various constituents of the supply chain. The activities that are fuelling this pressure build up may be summarized as, increasing business complexity, cost cutting and rising quality standards. This is having a major impact on how direct materials are purchased and their suppliers managed. Business pressures and supply chain management are causing firms to focus and evaluate the procurement cycle of their indirect materials and particularly M RO (maintenance, repair and operations).  This underlines the need of sourcing for MRO purchases. As is understood, the MRO supply chain is there to support plant operations.

Controlling total cost of ownership for MRO items requires that the following three supply chain dimensions to be addressed:
1. Strategic Sourcing/Procurement 
2. Physical Supply Chain 
3. Technology Tools and Integrations.

Strategic sourcing/procurement –
 
A rigorous strategic sourcing process is the essential first step in MRO integrated supply management. This process involves the following steps:

•    To begin with all data must be compiled to determine where M RO purchasing dollars are being spent. From this analysis, commodity groupings and classifications are to be made.
•    Involve key stakeholders in the process, who are a functional team of subject-matter experts focused on one or more commodity groups.
•    Understand total cost of ownership for the MRO item/family.
•    Map the business requirements for the item/family
•    Evaluate supplier/strategy options for the commodity
•    Implement the sourcing decision
•    Manage relations with suppliers using a supplier performance management process. This collaborative approach builds a foundation and future total cost reductions can be realized through customer - supplier integration.

Physical Supply Chain –

The physical supply chain is the lifeline of the MRO plant support effort. The MRO supply chain is quite complex and in order to bring about improvement first an analysis of the inbound distribution system is to be made including the key origin points, intermediate points and final destinations. Then follow a defined strategy for the inbound supply chain.

Technology Tools and Integrations  –

After putting in place a strategic sourcing and M RO operating strategy the managers in the organization should focus attention to the selection, deployment and utilization of the right technology tools. The primary objective is to use technology to support and enhance business operations. After the right technology tool has been put to use, pilot projects are a good way to make improvements in a relatively short time. 

Read More

Outsourcing Product Development

Product firms around the world are on the forefront when we talk of outsourcing, development and maintenance work to competent partners regardless of time, domain and geographic barriers. If we think about trans-national firms or native OEMs in any country, most of them have contributed to outsourcing in some way or the other. Seldom is development done in-house utterly and usually an outsourcing model – either offshore, near shore or onshore, ends up being utilized. The magnitude of outsourcing might vary depending on the sort of labor or nature of the product or lifecycle stage/generation of the product itself.
Some of the key reasons for outsourcing are found to be the following:

•    lack of capability and select talent
•    Cost economics
•    Increase focus on core competency
•    Risk transfer and flexibility

In this era of fast globalization, many manufacturing companies from the developed world have outsourced product development in India, owing to availability of pool of resources and specific technology (both low end and high end) at lower cost.

Read More