coles n woolies on 4 corners tonight, page-26

I've tried to deal with Aldi - they do not have email access so that gives you a clue about their mindset.

I had a three piece item that I could land from the Chinese manufacturer for $11.00 a set - it was a $35 retail item in any other store. Aldi wanted to SELL it for $15 a set - it had to be prepacked for sale directly off a pallet. They wanted to move it all out in 2 weeks max.

My margin was 7.5% - much much smaller than my standard. The order was worth $75,000 but I just had to walk away - I couldn't get anywhere near their requirement - they would have had to buy it for around $8. Not unpleasant to deal with, just impossible (for me)

I've dealt with Target and Myer and eventually walked away. I currently deal with other chains (not Woollies) and the 4 corners show applies to most of them. Why do I do it? Simple:

If I have a $200 item and a retailer likes it I get a $200 sale - if I show it to a chain of 150 stores and they like it it can be $200 x 150 - and they pay on time.

Last time I "negotiated" my trading terms with one chain I drew up a list of all the discounts they were seeking - 20 of them - and a list of the penalties I could incur - 10 of them and showed them to the buyer and said "of course I can't give you all of these" and she just pushed it aside as if it didn't exist.

Discounts can be settlement, new store opening, store revamps, new line oening discount, head office order discount, inclusion in catalogue, store special days, advertising etc. Penalties can be late delivery, early delivery, too big a box, too heavy, incorrect paperwork, overstock etc.

Biggest issue for me is buyer turnover - they burn out. They are usually 30 year old females - fortunately you don't have to teach them anything - they know everything. it can be difficult to maintain relationships with the turnover. They can of course cut a line with no notice.

Latest trend is automatic store ordering based on unit sales - no reps required, no over stocks or back ups. Makes it extremely hard to look after stock in the stores (tidy racks etc). Previous trend was for then to cut out wholesalers by buying direct with buyers based in asia - it's yesterday's busines model trying to make a living out of these guys imho - but if you don't like the games they play then don't play with them.