Catering and janitorial supplies advice

[hikiwari]

Hello. We spend close to £100,00pa on non-food catering supplies and cleaning and janitorial supplies with one supplier. (Think Bidfood for example although it's not them). We pay the website prices and get a %age rebate annually.

With stationery suppliers you usually get a 30-40% discount off catalogue prices and then a further discount on high use products.
Is this how things work in catering supplies too but we are missing out?

I'd really appreciate some help or specific advice. Please PM me if you'd prefer to keep it private. Thanks.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Did you check that the net price of the items was better than other suppliers?

Why choose a company where you are overpaying to then get a rebate? You are losing the value of that money and they are gaining!

 

[BubbaWY]

Did you check that the net price of the items was better than other suppliers?

Why choose a company where you are overpaying to then get a rebate? You are losing the value of that money and they are gaining!

Yeah, Im not keen on rebates. You think they are doing you a favour, but they sneak the rebate value onto what they are selling you.

For that level of annual spend, are you shopping around and getting quotes from multiple suppliers? If not, then you need to be doing.

 

[hikiwari]

Did you check that the net price of the items was better than other suppliers?

Why choose a company where you are overpaying to then get a rebate? You are losing the value of that money and they are gaining!

I've inherited this. Internet prices comparisons are kind of similar but with a £100,000pa spend I'm looking for better than internet pricing.

Yeah, Im not keen on rebates. You think they are doing you a favour, but they sneak the rebate value onto what they are selling you.

For that level of annual spend, are you shopping around and getting quotes from multiple suppliers? If not, then you need to be doing.

Rather than simply sending off price-redacted invoices to be benchmarked I'd like to understand the usual discount structure for this supply industry. As I said, I'd like to know from someone in-the-know if it works on a similar model to stationery.

 

[Mark T Jones]

You are probably familiar with Nisbetts?

Whist I wouldn't rave a about them, they will be pretty good for setting price and product benchmarks.

 

[BubbaWY]

Rather than simply sending off price-redacted invoices to be benchmarked I'd like to understand the usual discount structure for this supply industry.

Im not suggesting that. Im saying that when you have a large order to place, send it to various places for quoting. Ignore rebates...you just want the best price overall, and then negotiate further before placing an order.

 

[hikiwari]

Im not suggesting that. Im saying that when you have a large order to place, send it to various places for quoting. Ignore rebates...you just want the best price overall, and then negotiate further before placing an order.

Thanks @BubbaWY . Understood, but you're repeating what I just said - redact pricing on an invoice and get anyone to quote. (yes, ignoring rebates)

But to negotiate successfully I need to know the competitive pricing structure that these catering and janitorial supply companies work to.

For example:
Stationery. No-one pays retail catalogue pricing. Most stationery companies discount retail price by say 30% on the internet but the way you get best pricing with stationery suppliers is to get better than 30% discount pricing on your regularly ordered products which may account for 50% of your annual spend.

I would like to hear from anyone who actually knows (in a private DM if preferred) if this kind of pricing model works with catering and janitorial supplies.

Thanks.

 

[Picture Bute]

You are probably familiar with Nisbetts?

Whist I wouldn't rave a about them, they will be pretty good for setting price and product benchmarks.

Would be 10% cheaper at Uropa (The Nisbetts wholesale arm).

 

[hikiwari]

@Picture Bute How could we purchase from Uropa if we are an end user and not a distributor/trade outlet?

 

[Picture Bute]

@Picture Bute How could we purchase from Uropa if we are an end user and not a distributor/trade outlet?

Apply for an account ??

 

[hikiwari]

??
OK. I just assumed that they wouldn't allow that because that's what distributers are for.
I'll give it a go.

 

[hikiwari]

??
OK. I just assumed that they wouldn't allow that because that's what distributers are for.
I'll give it a go.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

You might be surprised to find out that retailers can offer better value on most products, especially discounters.

 

[hikiwari]

Thanks for everyone's input on this but I'm sorry, and with respect, you're all answering a different question.

I'm not asking if retailers discount. They do. I'm asking how they discount. I gave a stationery purchasing example above:

Does anyone have any actual experience purchasing catering and janitorial supplies from the likes of Bunzl, IPA, Nisbett, Bidfood, Zenith etc?

Thanks.

 

[Picture Bute]

Thanks for everyone's input on this but I'm sorry, and with respect, you're all answering a different question.

I'm not asking if retailers discount. They do. I'm asking how they discount. I gave a stationery purchasing example above:

Does anyone have any actual experience purchasing catering and janitorial supplies from the likes of Bunzl, IPA, Nisbett, Bidfood, Zenith etc?

Thanks.

I had an accounts with Brakes and 3663 years ago. Is one of them not now Bidfood ?

When I opened the account, they gave me the usual catalogue, then the account manager contacted me to talk about whet my regular products would be and gave me prices for them. They called them 'contract prices) and they were generally about 40% of catalogue ('of' not 'off'). If I wanted to oreder anything that I didn't have contract pricing for, I had to either speak to account manager, or buy at catalogue price and get credited later once acct mgr had set the contract price for that item.

 

[hikiwari]

This is exactly the information I'm after!
Thank you very much @Picture Bute

 

[kordun]

many years ago I worked for company and we were spending around 250k a year on stationary alone, tons of papers and tons of cartridges and many other bits. Big office suppliers back then like Liryco were giving us 30-40% discount on their catalog prices but even with that discount i was finding online retailers with better prices and was ordering from them. Of course lyrico salesrep wasn’t happy