Aspects to be taken into account by the purchasing manager of a DIY center
There are two basic and perfectly differentiated concepts that serve to define the aspects precisely that the purchasing manager of a DIY center must take into account in order to be the best that the company could wish for, we will say it again, two concepts: inside and outside.
Does it look simple? Does it look like Sesame Street?
You’ll change your mind in a few seconds.
Shall we start?
The concept “to be in” means to be part of, to be an integral part of a project, whatever it is: a business, a department, a weekend plan, anything.
We are going to focus on the one that best fits the reality of a purchasing manager in a DIY center. For whom “to be in” is synonymous with being part of the company. And that is because a company, literally, cannot survive without the correct, accurate and measured entry flow of new products, the right ones, at the right time and with the highest quality contrasted with a sustainability certification, as recognized as consolidated.
Without the good management of the purchasing manager there is no business growth and the organism gets stuck, atrophies and, probably, ends up suffocating.
What does a purchasing manager need to ensure that such a situation never occurs, even in his or her worst nightmares?
This is where the second concept comes in: outside. The purchasing manager needs to look and move outside the DIY store, like a fish in water, so that his company offers what customers are looking for, and does so in an absolutely irresistible way.
What tools does the purchasing manager have at his or her disposal to make the DIY center a leader in quality, novelties, stock and, of course, sales?
One of the most important answers when asked this type of question is: commercial instinct.
We will not deny that the answer has power, but the thing is that instinct is not acquired by magic or by divine inspiration. Instinct is acquired by training and hard work.
We will not deny that it is better, of course, to have some intuition, a certain intuitive sense, but that sense has to be trained in order to bring success. To make it even clearer, let’s take the classic example of the supplier’s contact list.
The purchasing manager with a sharp instinct but without training and not many hours of work, usually needs a supplier contact list that makes you laugh at the old yellow pages. And he needs it because he has a lot of insecurity.
He believes that if he does not accumulate suppliers he may miss out on something vital. He believes that if he doesn’t do this, he will probably miss the opportunity to get a hold of a new product, or a fashionable supplier or the latest trend and, instead of filtering, he incorporates them all, without being aware that it is not enough to have them, they also have to be managed and, to do so, they have to be filtered, there is no other way.
How to filter and manage the agenda in a simple, agile and, above all, efficient way?
By following three fundamental guidelines when adding suppliers. Only those that meet delivery deadlines with an impeccable logistics service will become part of a truly valuable agenda; those that offer the necessary range and depth and, without a doubt, the one that is becoming the undisputed star: a supplier of what we call “”five stars”” must offer sustainable, socially responsible products, with proven accreditation.
Because the market has changed, information is circulating at a devilish speed and consumers are becoming more demanding by the day. And rightly so.
A purchasing manager of a DIY center cannot lose sight of either efficient suppliers nor the demanding clients. It is a binomial with which, if necessary, has to dream, awake and asleep, to find the balance. Because the demanding client, the one that many are uncomfortable with, is the one that will make a DIY center reach the highest category and only “five star” suppliers scrupulously selected by a purchasing manager, prepared and with intuition, will be able to leave them satisfied.
The demand increases because there are those who can satisfy it.
Write it down, it’s a dogma.
As a purchasing manager, don’t forget to follow it to the letter because if you don’t, that demanding customer, so informed about quality, design, depth of range of products, sustainability and product availability, will just have to turn around, leave the way he came and look for another DIY store that does live up to his expectations and knows how to meet his needs.
Sounds a bit primitive, doesn’t it?
Think about it calmly and you will see that, in the end, there is nothing primal about it. Customers with primary behaviors are an endangered species. Customers now know what they want and are not willing to waste their precious time or accept substitutes.
