The consumers of today value, much more that in the past decade, the price that have to satisfy by products and services

In the actuality, still do not know if we find us going out of a crisis or in front of a change of economic model. The companies find with some consumers that value, much more that in the past decade, the price that have to satisfy by products and services. In front of the dilemma of a greater level of quality, understood like satisfaction by the product or service, in front of a higher price, value much more that before this last concept whenever the quality was above a limit that consider reasonable.

This has to , as they indicate the experts, to that during the crisis, the consumers have not wanted to renounce to the state of the welfare and have demanded products and similar services to which before enjoyed to a lower price, to what the market has corresponded offering products and services cheaper, with a level of quality sufficiently high to satisfy the demand of the consumers, in some cases by means of alternative products, as for example by means of the called “white marks”, or going down directly going down the price like the market of automotive sector. Today the purchasing power of the consumers in general does not differentiate a lot of the existent in the crisis, and as it is logical, all “want to more by less”, from here that the price keep on being a key factor of the sale in the actuality.

These consumers find at the end of all the chains of supply by what this problem does not affect only to the companies that sell to the final market but to all the companies so much if they elaborate products or components as if they loan services.

In consequence the basic strategy of the company has to tackle in the actuality is to effect a competition of prices that can be, by means of the offer of products and services that satisfy the minimum level of quality that demand the consumers, competing only in price, or by means of the supply of products and services with a level of quality (satisfaction) higher to a differential of price that the consumers are had to accept, knowingly that this differential has to be very inferior to the of the past decade.

Of a form or another the key of the business competition is today, in front of the general market, in the price.

As of course the company wants to as minimum conserve margins and profitability and grow in the figure of sales the problematic that it has to attack is the one to reduce his costs and increase the quality of his products or services.

Partly the companies can achieve it by means of R&D that they can create new products, rediseñarlos to a lower cost or date them of characteristics that cause a greater level of satisfaction in the consumers and that allow to sell to a higher price, but fundamentally the pressesure to reduce costs recae in the companies in the Supply Chain Manager.

The problem does not have easy solution because the same coyuntura current has entered characteristic in the problem that hamper it even more and that we can try sintetizar of the following form

• Do not have planning. The available forecasts, based in historical, no longer are valid in the current moment and the best forecasts, with a considerable margin of error, obtain in his majority of general tendencies of social and economic factors
• can not neither have to have stocks. The aim of business profitability and the imprecision ce ours forecasts force us to work with terms of reaction very fast, applying technical read.
• Diminishing notably the quantity by request. Due to the fact that our customers neither want to have stocks and can not lose sales by fault of supplies by what tend to effect deliveries increasingly frequent.
• In a demanding market. Due to the fact that so many final consumers like customers in intermediate positions of the chain of supply demand hygiene of supply in conditions increasingly adjusted and the customers of services can analyse during long if they want to or not purchasing our services but when they decide that if they are used to it want ‘for already same' with the consequences of capacity and of level of occupation that this supposes.

By all this, in the current moment, the function Supply Chain, that can designate Operations, Logistics etc., that engloba the processes of Shopping, Production and Physical distribution, is purchasing in the company a paper that exceeds the strategic level because the 'to be or not to be' of the company will depend in a lot of cases of his good management.

Obviously is necessary to speak of the new solutions that apply to achieve the aims of reduction of costs in the field of the Supply Chain, but this would extend a lot this article by what prefer to leave it for the next number.

For consolation of impatient allow me quote an ancient proverb “When you identify a problem already have more than half of the solution”.