Buyers can operate a more efficient supply chain if they mix fixed-price contracts with buying on the spot according to researchers at Stanford’s Graduate Business School.
By strategically using both fixed-price contracts and open market trading, supply chain participants can create greater efficiencies.

Claritum’s Contract Pricing capability enables print buyers to enforce pre-negotiated prices from approved suppliers for a wide range of print specifications. Once set up, a manager can enter a print specification, Claritum will calculate the best price and will auto-generate the pricing range, from multiple approved suppliers’ contract rates. This ensures the agreed pricing is maintained for the life of the contract and will not be flexed up at the supplier’s discretion.
Print Suppliers are more likely to achieve contracted turnover, as well as a volume commitment from the buyer, over set period of time. This will allow the supplier to plan their time and resources and improve efficiencies and profitability. Price compliance provides complete visibility to both buyers and suppliers.

Claritum’s Print Procurement software also has the capability for users to “spot buy” a broad range of printed materials, through both instant estimating and Fastrack RFQ platform.

Instant Estimating interrogates thousands of options at hundreds of suppliers to deliver optimum prices within seconds. Suppliers can flex their prices up or down to reflect changes to capacity on an hour by hour basis, if required.

For more complex specifications, Claritum’s Fastrack RFQ profiles supplier capabilities against the production requirements to ensure only appropriately profiled suppliers are sent a request-for-quote. Spot prices can often be lower than contracted prices, comparing both will give the buyer the best price possible.

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The Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the leading business schools in the world, Stanford has been in the business of management education for over 75 years.