Hard Coal | Intelligence Report | Procurement.Spendedge

Strategic Sourcing Guide to Hard Coal Procurement

Overview

The market for Fuel and its sub-segments such as Hard Coal are at an interesting intersection. Hard Coal suppliers are continuously innovating to improve dwindling profitability. A key trend is to provide higher margin value-added services, sometimes as part of a package to improve margins and enhance ticket sizes.

New developments in global geo-politics and China's shifting policies are altering supply and investment avenues within Hard Coal category.

The operating environment keep getting complicated with enhanced regulatory scrutiny and compliance requirements for buyers of Hard Coal category.

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

Hard Coal Procurement Best Practices

Sometimes, procurement functions are unable to timely alter their practices while responding to market conditions. Industry experts acknowledge that periodically reviewing procurement best practices and adopting learnings from across procurement categories can help procurement teams respond to market needs in a more agile way. This report combines our experience of other categories with Hard Coal procurement insights and hand picks best practices that can work for category managers delving in this market.

For example, Buyers need to employ robust should-cost models and total cost of ownership models to aid Hard Coal supplier selection and pricing negotiations.

Competitive bidding as a cost optimization tool is extremely potent but should be carefully deployed only when there is no significant differentiation among Hard Coal suppliers.

Cost saving opportunities may reduce exponentially in relation to the time left for current contract to expire. Therefore sufficient interval should exist between initation of new procurement and expiration of existing contract for Hard Coal.

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Risks in Hard Coal procurement

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

When requirements of the buyers are not absolutely clear or usage patterns are not stable or predictable, suppliers often build in \"cost buffers\" for unforeseen risks due to a lack of complete understanding on buyer's requirements. This increases the risk of overspending on Hard Coal
Suppliers depend on various third parties, including raw material suppliers, distributors and storage providers. Any failure on their part can lead to inconsistency in the supply of essential inputs
Low product differentiation is making it difficult for suppliers to acquire new clients. Hence, there is intense competition among top players based on pricing. They are also adopting strategic initiatives such as reduction in prices of their products to gain market share. This is resulting in a reduction in their profit margins

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Who should read this report

The report is intended to serve as a one-stop reference guide for Hard Coal procurement strategy and offers a perfect blend of category basics with deep-dive category data and insights. Therefore, it is ideal for category beginners looking for “Hard Coal: Procurement Report 101” as well as for category experts actively tracking the global Hard Coal procurement market.

You may have just initiated your research to design a winning Hard Coal procurement strategy, or you may be a category expert looking for strategic insights and updated data.Either ways, the report has your requirements covered.

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Key questions on Hard Coal procurement answered by this report

Procurement decisions can prove to be costly in the absence of careful deliberation and evaluation of every available option. In fact, more than 90% of the decision makers we work with acknowledge that timely availability of up-to-date category intelligence can help them make better purchasing decisions. More than 80% of them believe that in-house category intelligence needs to be updated periodically to achieve full benefits. If you have read so far, we are quite sure you agree!!

The Hard Coal procurement report helps take more informed decisions by placing all the critical information and advice at the fingertips of a decision maker. It also specifically answers some of the key questions that we have been routinely asked during our industry outreach initiatives:

What is the spend potential in the Hard Coal market?
What is the correct price to pay for Hard Coal? What are the key trends and factors that influence current and future pricing?
Which selection criteria are the most important for Hard Coal Suppliers Market?
Who are the top Hard Coal suppliers? What are their cost structures?
Which negotiation levers can reduce Hard Coal procurement cost ?
What are supplier margins in Hard Coal market?
What are the best practices for Hard Coal procurement and what are the potential risks?

SpendEdge Insights has helped procurement professionals and sourcing teams manage multiple spend areas and achieve more than $2 billion in savings. Activate your free account today!

Hard Coal Category Insights: What is inside

The Hard Coal market report offers a complete picture of the supply market and analyzes the category from the perspective of both buyers and suppliers. Analysis of the category trends, procurement best practices, negotiation levers and overall category management strategy advisory are interspersed with in-depth data and commentary on spend outlook, pricing ecosystem and supplier landscape drilled down to a region-level coverage.

Data

A key highlight of this report is the in-depth outlook created on Hard Coal procurement spend and pricing trends. The report further delves deep into the aspects of cost structure, total cost of ownership and supplier margins for Hard Coal. A dedicated section to supplier profiles and evaluation helps decision makers cast a wider procurement net and identify gaps in existing relationships.

Insights

Along with specific category and supplier intelligence, the publication also includes curated insights on Hard Coal market trends, price influencers and inherent risks. These insights help the decision makers prepare for market shaping trends in advance and create alternative strategies for changes in the market conditions.

Advisory

Additionally, the report also advises on the best practices and strategies to manage the Hard Coal category efficiently. Negotiation levers and opportunities are explained in detail along with quantification of their potential. Benchmark KPIs for supplier and buyer performance management are also aggregated to better organize the category objectives. Other themes of advisory include ideal procurement organization structure, enablers to achieve KPIs or category objectives and ideal SLAs to have with suppliers.

Category Ecosystem

Buyer and supplier ecosystem
Competitiveness index
Buyer and supplier power
Threat of new entrants and substitutes

Global and Regional Sourcing Insights

Category spend
Spend growth
Dynamics
Opportunities

Pricing and Cost Analysis

Pricing outlook and data
Drivers of pricing
Cost structure and inputs cost
Total cost of ownership
Pricing models and margins

Cost Saving Opportunities & Negotiation Strategies

Buyer and supplier side levers
Quantified cost saving opportunities
Negotiation strategies and quantified outcome

Procurement Best Practices, Strategy and Enablers

Procurement excellence
Sustainability and innovation
KPIs and category enablers
Risk management and outsourcing

Vendor Analysis

RFx essentials and selection criteria
SLAs
Supplier evaluation metrics
Detailed supplier profiles

Our research is complex, but our reports are easy to digest. Quantitative analysis and exhaustive commentary is placed in an easy to read format that gives you an in-depth knowledge on the category without spending hours to figure out “what does it mean for my company?”

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Category Research Framework

SpendEdge presents a detailed picture of Hard Coal procurement solutions by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. The analysts have presented the various facets of the market with a particular focus on identifying the key category influencers. The data thus presented is comprehensive, reliable, and the result of extensive research, both primary and secondary.