Johannesburg, 14 Nov 2006
For the average South African, buying technology is far from easy, especially when it comes to the purchasing of printer consumables. Almost monthly the array of choices is expanded, with the product mix becoming more complex.
As tough as it is for the consumer, the supply chain that makes these products available faces its fair share of challenges.
"Once the consumer has made that buying decision, it's up to the parties involved in the supply chain to ensure their customers have the right consumables at their disposal," explains Anton Herbst, managing director of ACT.
"To carry this out successfully, it's clear that the supply chain needs to understand demand at an end-user level. It's the difference between selling what you manufacture (or stock for that matter) and manufacturing what sells," he says.
"Dell is a clear example of a company that has become an expert at this, with its demand-driven supply chain," Herbst adds.
He says the problem with implementing this scenario in South Africa is that it's virtually impossible to conduct accurate demand forecasting through the supply chain in place today.
"At the moment, all demand forecasting done is a case of clever guesswork. That's one of the reasons the South African channel is so prone to stock bubbles (a glut of stock) and stock outages," he says.
"Add to this the fact that the analysis that is available in the market is mostly dated.
"Generally, the buying decision market, such as the distributors, get sales figures on a monthly basis, but those figures date back three months. Add to this the speed at which the printer market is moving, with products being introduced and retired at a rapid pace, then its obvious that these figures don't translate into a usable set of predictions," Herbst continues.
He says that right now, the only way to solve the issues in the local consumables supply chain is for a new level of trust and collaboration to come into play.
"Up until now, this hasn't been possible though. Retailers and resellers alike are hesitant to share their sales volume information, since they believe it will betray confidentiality. Yet, this is the only way for distributors to order what sells and not attempt to sell what they've ordered," Herbst says.
"The solution can only be reached if the channel comes together for the greater good of all those involved. With collaboration between resellers, distributors and vendors present in the market and the reassurance that confidentiality will be maintained, the South African consumables supply chain can become a finely tuned machine," he opines.
"That's the reason ACT is putting a great deal of effort into building the right partnerships in the market," Herbst adds.
"We understand that the only way the market can reach a stage of stability and look forward to sustainability is by taking this route. We urge all related parties to get on board - it is after all for the good of the whole channel," he concludes.
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