Purchasing as a retailer

I was purchaser for a major French retailer company, Intermarche. I purchased finished products, ready to be sold, to be put on shelves and bulk energy for internal private labels factories, such as gas and lubricants.

Intermarche is a price driven company. It does not really differ from other retailers whatever they may say against that. Philosophy and culture are similar. You have to keep in mind Supermarkets are nothing else than big warehouses with light, full of shelves. The retailer sees his job as the food -and non food- provider for its country. That means it perceives his added value in extending his product range to offer always more to please families. Triggers to get clients in are choice and price. Always cheaper. Always more. Quite simple vusiness model, isn't it?

Purchasing at Intermarche means buying the cheapest product for a given market. Negotiation is based on purchasing conditions (Prices, payment conditions, logistics). Nobody does really worry about production conditions, suppliers long term relationships, partnerships. This is what I would call the hard negotiation. One main rule: Never give too much information to the supplier, consider him as an enemy willing to bullshit you.

To come back to my personal experience, I had to deal with very diverse companies, very small or giant multinationals. Of course people you have in front of you vary considerably. You can have a top-level young negotiator, from top business schools, who got promoted at national level because he proved to be an excellent negotiator for his company. You can as well have the founder of a medium size company who takes care himself of his major clients. This is the kind of people I love talking to. Negotiation with them was not a game. It was their lives, they negotiate their whole life with bankers, clients, trade unions… I learned a lot from them. I did not learn about negotiation techniques or tips because most of the time they are not good in that. They negotiate with their heart and that is what I definitely prefer because for them one euro more or less did not only mean more money at the end of the year on their bonus. It meant one more or less employee maybe, one more or less investment… Very pragmatic, they had a global overview that always impressed me. They were as well able of the worst. Too much emotive, too much involved in their companies, they sometimes forget considering what is really important or not. But all decisions were based on a mutual trust with a total respect from each other. This is this trust, which made me like purchasing.