Sultanas Market Procurement Intelligence Report

The market for Food and Beverages and its sub-segments such as Sultanas are at an interesting intersection. Many companies are looking to engage Sultanas supplies in a long-term partnership to derive the highest ROI possible and creating an environment of trust and collaboration that allows for new optimization strategies.

A balanced approach to procurement of Sultanas has emerged, where buyers with multiple locations first outsource at individual locations and gradually move to standardize and consolidate the services across facilities.

With advancement in technology, service providers are employing diverse tools in their operations to identify opportunities for optimization and greater collaboration with the customers.

Trends like these and many others discussed in this report are necessitating a relook at the way Sultanas is procured and the procurement cost saving opportunities that exist.

It has become imperative for category managers to remain as agile as possible in terms of their procurement practices. However, it is not always easy to quickly spot and implement alternative practices in a category like Sultanas. To help quick decision making, this report advises on several procurement best practices that have worked well for category managers.

For example, Investing in benchmarking studies that help category managers enhance their knowledge on pricing or billing rates of suppliers allows them to not only save costs, but also negotiate better with suppliers. For example, while negotiating for bundled services, they can save significantly on a single service by cross-verifying rates quoted by suppliers against industry benchmarks.

Buyers should evaluate the true costs of each product and service within the scope of work for supplier, and also understand the hidden costs associated. This can help them to set accurate targets for cost reduction for their suppliers, and effectively monitor and evaluate their performance against industry benchmarks.

Buyers must ensure the participation and collaboration of all related cross-functional teams (procurement, electrical, engineering, and housekeeping) in category management and planning activities. This is crucial, as these teams will be the primary end-users of the services offered by suppliers, and this step will ensure consistency in services.

Sultanas procurement managers also need to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks that can arise in the supply chain or contracts for Sultanas procurement. Some examples include: