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Margin compression is very real for most dealerships. As companies continue to consolidate, competition can be reduced, prices go up and a take it or leave it attitude can prevail with some suppliers - giving dealerships even more headaches to contend with.
Expense categories where supplier consolidations have occurred:
Business leaders face many challenges and many opportunities every day. If leading your organization to reduced costs and improved profitability is a course you have chosen, developing an aggressive objective and an executable plan are essential next steps.
There is no question that dealerships are focused on cutting costs. We see it in our business, we heard it at NADA and we talked with suppliers at NADA who were honing in on that message as well. Cut costs and track the reductions…a great objective for any business or non-profit.
Most business organizations find themselves involved in cost reduction initiatives from time to time. To sustain an organization over the long term, cost reduction efforts need to become deeply ingrained in the business structure itself and that is usually accomplished through a Spend Management or Purchasing Department. Purchasing is typically charged with sourcing, quoting, negotiation, implementation and supply base management responsibilities including compliance audits.
Is improved profitability really a priority for most organizations?
The implementation of a Spend Management Vision – a dedicated function within an organization is very common in most large organizations. While most organizations that have a Spend Management Vision and Department realize the benefits and efficiencies, organizations that do not have those functions resident in their organizations probably do not realize the costs of being highly decentralized.
COVID was a 2 x 4 to the head in terms of getting our attention and showing us how quickly a business can go from something amazing to pure survival mode. During early COVID times management teams were scrambling to gather information and executing strategies to cut costs quickly, not knowing when business would come back, if at all.
Many organizations have engaged in some form of cost reduction at one point or another. Most cost control actions are short term….designed to quickly reduce costs in some proportion to the corresponding decrease in revenues. But once they’re no longer needed, they’re retired and spending returns to normal. So what now? What do businesses do to keep and maintain a reduced bottom line and enhance profitability? What can organizations do differently to improve results, increase efficiency and improve effectiveness going forward?
All organizations have a purchasing function within their operations. Some organizations centralize their purchasing activities with one group to leverage spend, reduce costs and drive economies of scale. Other organizations decentralize their purchasing responsibilities and spread that responsibility to management closest to their operational responsibilities to maximize the category expertise.
Managing your supplier expenses is critical to your profitability. People can tend to focus their efforts on the “visible” part of an iceberg and neglect to see the dangers of the “invisible”, in this case the size of the iceberg under the water line. What does the “iceberg principal” have to do with the management of supplier expenses?
