The price held for three years. The specification didn’t.

Supplier price stability is the easiest number in procurement to hold, and the easiest place to hide a cost increase you never agreed to.

By Steve 5 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for The price held for three years. The specification didn’t.

A procurement report showing flat unit prices across three years of cost inflation should provoke curiosity rather than satisfaction. Suppliers do not absorb input cost increases out of loyalty. If the price on the invoice hasn’t moved, something else in the arrangement has, and whatever moved is usually less visible, harder to measure, and sitting on your side of the balance sheet. Price is the only term both sides watch In most buyer–supplier relationships, unit price is the single term subjected to explicit annual scrutiny. It appears on the scorecard,…

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