Monday, 22 April 2013

What if consumers demanded supplier trading-terms from retailers?

An article on retailers' treatment of suppliers in today's Independent* introduces an idea that may hold the key to achieving fair-share treatment in supplier-retailer relationships.

Suppose consumers began to modify their shopping behaviour as follows:
  • Telling the shop staff they are happy with the price, but need a 5% settlement discount to pay at point-of-purchase...
  • Demanding a retro-rebate on goods purchased from the store six months previously...
  • Requesting an advertising allowance to carry the store's shopping bag home...
  • Applying a deductions' allowance for unbudgeted delays at the checkout, low on-shelf availability, 'cold' bread at the bakery, unhelpful staff...
  • Expecting a contract allowance for buying a jar of own-label coffee every week for a year...
  • Offering to buy a product's all five variants in exchange for a full range bonus..
  • Seeking a quarterly/yearly bonus for shopping regularly...
  • Requesting a listing-allowance to add the store's own label product to their shopping list...
  • Demanding a de-listing allowance to cover the inconvenience of removing same when tastes change...
  • Making a promo-allowance a condition of 'telling-a-friend'....
  • Requiring a 'customer representative allowance' to encourage family members to tell their friends..
  • Demanding a merchandising allowance for displaying product on the rear window-ledge of the car...
  • Offering to fill the car-boot and all available seats in exchange for a full-load bonus...
  • Requesting a collection-allowance to cover the cost of selecting goods from shelves and transporting to the checkout...
  • Demanding a compensation allowance because the new jumbo-pack does not fit home-storage shelving...
[NAMs are invited to add personal experiences to the above 'shopping list'.....]

Unlikely that consumers would take a pro-active stance against business practices they deem unfair?  So thought a well-known high street coffee chain when their customers discovered their off-shore arrangements to minimise UK corporation tax payments...

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