Do Cold Storage, NTUC FairPrice buy products through ONE main importer ?

[wikiphile]

Is the quality reasonable compared to established brands taking price into consideration.

I think the quality is comparable since it comes from the same supplier. I have heard of how house brand works.

Let's say A has olive oil in NTUC shelves and once NTUC notices how well olive oil made by A is sellling, they figured why not sell olive oil by ourselves? So NTUC renego with A or the main supplier that they will allow A to sell more olive oil and to sweeten the deal they will buy more oil than ever from A. However, the branding will now be NTUC and not A's. A still can sell their olive oil but will now have to compete with NTUC's cheaper olive oil which was likely to be bought from A in the first place.

That is what i heard, what do you know of this?

p.s. darn i've posted in this damn folder twice, will not make the same mistake again!

 

[red amoeba]

house brand - because of the obligation to sell lower than 90% of the competitive brands tend to be of different quality. NTUC has to sell like 5% lower than the next competing brand, obviously, they will squeeze more from the suppliers - who in turn will have to work with whatever size of cloth left for them.

So, it is not entirely true to say the quality is the same. Of course, for food items, they have to meet the basic requirements for food safety.

Suppliers are generally willing to produce house brands for NTUC (or other supermarkets) because they keep the machines occupied and at least provide confirmed turnover (not necessary profit) - maybe sufficient to cover costs or make marginal profits. Or to keep the production line going.

===

NTUC will represent a big purchaser - with dedicated purchasing department and perhaps buyers to look after each category of goods. You can imagine the amount of paper work each buyer have to go through if they deal with individual importers / manufacturers. Purchase orders, delivery notes, bills, invoices, etc has to be transmitted, checked for each transaction. Even with technology to help in e-paper them, it is still hard and tedious work. Hence, many like to deal with one or few wholesalers who on their ends deal with many / more importers or sellers. In doing, they congregate their purchasing amount (and bargaining power).

Also, sometimes, they aggregate their purchases and consolidate shipping to save costs for example, a couple of containers per day from China / Malaysia - aggregated by their wholesaler.

But of course, certain items due to contractual obligations or nature of product, they have to deal directly with the manufacturer for example, I reckon they will buy tiger beer directly from APB and not through intermediaries.

 

[Ramseth]

Is the quality reasonable compared to established brands taking price into consideration.

Wikiphile is generally correct. The quality is the same but the price is cheaper. The supermarkets don't run manufacturing factories to produce house brand products. Their house brands are all contracted out to professional factories that are established and reputable enough to be trusted on QC and at discounts that are mutually profitable. It's like buying a Microsoft Windows for your computer or a computer with OEM Windows. The price for the OS is significantly lowered. Why would Mircrosoft do that? It's to leverage on their established brandname and force computer manufacturers into a must-sell-Windows agreement. The factories behind supermarket house brands can even be displaying the same products with their own brandname packaging side by side with their own products with their own brandname packaging. The house brands would be cheaper, but it's the same thing. There'd be still people willing to pay more for familiarity the branding. Whichever the customers choose to buy, both the supermarket and the supplier achieve their common objective - sell as many as possible.

I think the quality is comparable since it comes from the same supplier. I have heard of how house brand works.

Let's say A has olive oil in NTUC shelves and once NTUC notices how well olive oil made by A is sellling, they figured why not sell olive oil by ourselves? So NTUC renego with A or the main supplier that they will allow A to sell more olive oil and to sweeten the deal they will buy more oil than ever from A. However, the branding will now be NTUC and not A's. A still can sell their olive oil but will now have to compete with NTUC's cheaper olive oil which was likely to be bought from A in the first place.

That is what i heard, what do you know of this?

p.s. darn i've posted in this damn folder twice, will not make the same mistake again!

There's nothing wrong with posting in this or whichever folder, or whichever other forum. It's like going to a place where there's a law that theft is a crime or a place where there's no such law. It wouldn't matter to you as you don't commit theft anyway. It wouldn't matter to the thieves who would commit theft anywhere with or without such law. We look after ourselves wherever we go so that even without law, we're safe and free to go wherever we want.

 

[kukubird58]

NTUC Model is based on random number generation that is tagged to 12 importers. 8 are local, 3 are international and the last is a local company that went international.

The random number generation is carried out on the first thursday of every month at their headquarters where all importers are present. Under the scheme, there is a guaranteed minimum order placement for each importer each year.

Guys, I am pulling your legs including the NTUC part.

hahaha.....BS get caught then say pulling legs.......
warning to all forummers .......watch out for your legs.....you may fall down and hit your nose without knowing what happened.

 

[GoldenDragon]

For supermarkets like NTUC or Cold Storage etc., you don't sell your products to them for retail. You "rent" shelf-space from them to retail your products. That's the business model. They won't and don't need to pay you in advance. You need their shelf-space more than they need your products. Their main cost and profit centers are both hinging on land- and shelf-space. You have to convince them to give you the shelf-space. If given a lot of shelf-space by the likes of NTUC or CS, your products suddenly become well-known recognizable brandnames. Elevating to household names takes more time and effort. But generally, that's how it works.

Your $$$ assistance is also needed when they advertised in the newspapers. Not easy to get in coz those established have strong ties with the many purchasers there. If CPIB is effective, we would read of more arrests in this industry.

 

[daniellee]

hi,

funny .all the people are not really answering your querry.

I have deal with cold storage but not with ntuc before.
The following are my personal experience.
you have to call to check with the purchaser,then arrange a meeting with him/her.
during the meeting,the purchaser will check whether the goods and suggest to you whether they will purchase or consign from you directly.

bear in mind.
you have to open an account with them that cost around S$3000
each product item will need to input into their system that cost around S$400 each.
every store you put your goods there will cost S$100 per store.
the above is a one time payment.

do note after that.cold storage will request around 18% of the sales as promotion and advertising charges.
hope the above helps

 

[Received_by_Kings]

Guys, I am pulling your legs including the NTUC part.

There is no such thing as a single importer. All retailers will occasionally give you the excuse that they only deal with one importer so that you go away if they do not want your product.

All retailers except for mum and pop stores have someone handling wholesalers and suppliers. In small stores, its the boss, bigger stores have buyers who specialise in various categories - food, cutlery, lines, electronics. Major stores have procurement department who controls all buyers within the company.

Returning products to the supplier or selling on consignment is part and parcel of a suppliers work.

When supplying to major stores, persistence is the answer. Be patient, be nice, have brochures, do regular visits to say high even if they do not buy anything.

There is no such thing as single importer as it does not make sense. You always have a number to protect your business. The only exception is when it is franchisee who has not option but to buy from the franchisor.

I knew you were bullshitting through your ass mouth when I first read it.

What do you know about supermarket supplies anyway when you are simply led by the nose all your life?

 

[dingla01]

Do anyone have idea or information of purchase department of NTUC fairprice and Cold Storage?
I would like to supply fresh vegetable items to these supermarkets.

 

[TianMen1]

hi,

funny .all the people are not really answering your querry.

I have deal with cold storage but not with ntuc before.
The following are my personal experience.
you have to call to check with the purchaser,then arrange a meeting with him/her.
during the meeting,the purchaser will check whether the goods and suggest to you whether they will purchase or consign from you directly.

bear in mind.
you have to open an account with them that cost around S$3000
each product item will need to input into their system that cost around S$400 each.
every store you put your goods there will cost S$100 per store.
the above is a one time payment.

do note after that.cold storage will request around 18% of the sales as promotion and advertising charges.
hope the above helps

Finally...

 

[chucky]

The conglomerates are ganging up to screw consumers for sure just like the energy and pharmaceutical companies