Shoppers have come to expect a variety of options before settling on their purchases. Options are everywhere, from hotel stays where you can get rooms in various sizes and views, to restaurants with different menus. Department stores offer clothes in a plethora of sizes and styles, and you can also buy a crockpot with that tie.
Manufacturers offer choices too. The famed CEO of General Motors, Alfred P. Sloan, coined the phrase “A car for every purse and purpose” when referring to the selection of unique cars sold by GM. Choice is a keystone of American business. Manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors all want to make sure that when a customer arrives, they have something that fits their “purse and purpose”.
Commercial Buyers have also come to expect suppliers to have a variety of options when they step in the door. It is much easier for a department store buyer to buy multiple SKUs from one supplier as opposed to calling multiple suppliers. Having a large selection helps both the supplier and the buyer. Buyers can take advantage of large quantity discounts and suppliers get larger sales from one customer, thus lowering advertising and overhead costs.
There are other factors that can affect prices besides buying larger quantities, and those are payment terms. Do not let anyone fool you; cash is king, even in an online shopping world. Typical terms between commercial buyers and sellers are 30, 45, or 60 days, and some go even longer than that. Suppliers offering terms to buyers costs the suppliers money and eats into margins or hampers growth by tying up capital in accounts receivables. Another point of real concern is the supplier not getting paid due to credit default.
To combat this risk and tying up capital in A/R, many sellers have gravitated to accepting credit cards, even though they must give up a percentage of sales to credit card companies. This is most common in business-to-consumer sales (B2C). Buyers have come to love and expect choice; however, they have been slow to offer choices to their suppliers.
Buyers love negotiating prices, mixing and matching goods, and asking for longer payment terms. Buyers will rarely ask for discounts for shorter terms. There are two possible reasons for this. One is they feel they have already driven the price as far as it can go. The other is they want to sell the goods first before having to pay for them, the classic “other people’s money” clause. Remember, suppliers are not in the business of losing money and the terms are calculated in the price. The question is who will get the monetary cost of financing, the bank or the buyer?
You have choices whether you are a buyer or a seller. Choices to buy, choices of styles, choices of payment. “Early Pay” programs now are all about offering buyers and sellers more options. Buyers can request a discount to pay early, and suppliers have a choice to accept the offer. The importance of choice is it allows the buyer and seller to base the sale on the present financial situation of both parties. Does the buyer need the cash today? Or does the buyer have extra cash to take advantage of a supplier discount? Early pay options like AeroPay Express allow buyers and sellers to make these decisions easier. AeroPay Express gives buyers and sellers a customized program that fits the needs of both. Having AeroPay Express handle the early pay payment terms allows both buyer and seller to solve their present situations.
So the next time you buy goods, why not allow AeroPay Express to give your supplier a choice? If this sounds good to you, take a minute, and give AeroPay Express a call.