Our latest position paper is all about product sourcing. It focusses on buying the goods that you then go on to sell online and topics related to that vital process for any retail operation.
It’s one of those subjects that often Tamebay doesn’t frequently address. Not because we don’t understand how important it is is but rather because there’s often not a ready stream of stories related to it. And we know too that it’s almost taboo to talk about your company’s approach to product sourcing. What is absolutely true is that sourcing your stock is your chance to outwit the competition as a marketplace merchant.
There are several critical issues at the moment that will have a meaningful impact on product sourcing in the short and medium term that form part of the position paper.
One is obviously the terms of the Brexit deal and what arrangements are made with he EU with specific reference to import fees and administration. That also includes the payment of VAT. It seems very likely that if you do any of your product sourcing from the European Union, it will become more expensive and cumbersome. It could well also become slower, if the tales of delays at the border as everything is checked come to pass.
Secondly, the relative weakness of sterling over the past few years (and this is also related to Brexit) has want that if you’e buying goods from overseas (as many merchants do) then they have become more expensive and that has meant cost inflation that has required merchant to reassess their operations.
Position papers are an opportunity to write longer pieces that look at critical issues related to marketplaces in greater detail than a short news piece. You can peruse the full selection under the topics tab in the Tamebay nav bar. We’ve addressed a wide range of topics over the past few months including everything from warehouse management to virtual assistants. What other topics would you like us to address?
One Response
You should also be checking if the distributor or wholesale company is selling direct on marketplaces. Many of them cannot make ends meet by selling direct to the trade anyway so do this.
This is fine, but one we use for example when we negotiate a deal sometimes we “want a a deal” that suits us as well as them…i.e give us all that line and do not compete with us direct, you will need to build the relationship for that.
Some distributors we many deal with only once as they want the best of both worlds. Have multiple supply routes also, nothing stay the same for long.