SAB NewsCongratulations to our latest winners!Posted 3/18/2004 Congratulations to our winners from our latest study, "Purchasing Life Science Products." This study focused on your organizational purchasing structure, the types of consumable and specialty products you purchase and the various ways in which you are able to obtain these products. We posed the following question to our participants “What incentive purchasing plan(s) do you believe life science companies should offer to their customers? For instance, for every $5,000 a lab spends with a supplier it would receive a 12-month subscription to a journal of its choice. Another example is that when a scientist has ordered the same item 100 times, he or she receives a $50 voucher, which could be applied to a conference fee of his or her choice.” We received some very unique opinions and the following three were chosen from almost 1500 responses to receive a $20 gift certificate from American Express: A supplier benefits from publications and authors benefit from exposure, so having up-to-date information on a supplier web site regarding publications that have used their products would be of mutual benefit. Linking an additional benefit to a publication e.g., discounts might introduce a conflict of interest, especially if it is simply a "methods" paper extolling the virtues of a particular piece of equipment, so it is debatable whether suppliers should consider "rewards" linked to manuscripts. One tried and tested formula for mutual benefit and "loyalty" is that a supplier provides necessary equipment...e.g., a free fridge or freezer for storage of reagents and an inventory service. It would be of interest to see whether this may ever be extended to "an incubator to grow cells in our tissue culture plastic and medium" or "a free power pack to run our precast gels" or schemes whereby such equipment is rented at favorable rates. Nonetheless, one of the best "incentives" for purchasing from any supplier is simply quality of product and service.... goods should be in stock, be sent expeditiously, arrive on time in appropriate packaging and be competitively priced.... traditional ideas perhaps, but no glossy web page or ordering perk will replace this bottom line. Jorge, Principal Investigator, Europe There should be no reason for an incentive. If the company has earned the customers trust then that should be enough. Earning a customer's trust means offering the lowest prices with the best possible quality and offering good explanations when this is not the case. Ryan, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America Provide a discount for purchasing online. Also, suppliers could institute a point system based on the amount of the order which could be "cashed" in for fun items; a prizes should be redeemed from very few points and get better with increasing points (just like The Science Advisory Board!). Joanna, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America To read the rest of your peer's thoughts on this topic, please click here . Be sure to check out the Study Snapshot for a complete review of this study. Congratulations again to our winners and thank you to all for your participation. |
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