46 - Purchasing Power – Our Path To Change

Welcome back to Blended!

Today, we’re talking about purchasing, and about the power we have – as professionals and consumers – to help drive change.

Over the last decade, purchasing has evolved. Ecommerce, technology, globalization, social media, geopolitical disruption – purchasing has, arguably, changed forever. And of the biggest changes has been the mindset shift with which many people, and organizations, are purchasing.

As consumers, we no longer blindly buy from the top few biggest brands, without holding them to account. We want to understand their ethics and goals. We seek out small businesses, or actively look to support those operated by groups we feel an affinity with.

Equally, businesses are changing too, adapting to meet the needs of consumers, whilst also understanding that it makes good business sense for them too.

Our purchasing power has the potential to drive incredible change across the world. But how do we use our purchasing power the right way? What are the challenges and opportunities? And what can organizations and individuals do to drive intentional change?

Our panel of guests are going to be diving into all of these questions, and more, today.

IN THIS EPISODE:

[01.28] Introductions to our Blended panellists.  

·       Anwin – Founder of Wealthfluency  

·       Hillary – CEO and Co-Founder at Liminal Network

·       Dave – Founder of Whirlwind

·       Jennifer – Global Director, Impact Entrepreneurship and Social Procurement, Corporate Social Responsibility at SAP

[04.46] The group discuss what purchasing power means for brands and procurement teams; whether organizations and departments are actually set up to support internal teams’ ability to drive change through purchasing; the challenges and opportunities; and how organizations can embrace more intentional purchasing.

“SAP’s Business Network helps to trade $5.3 trillion in annual commerce transactions. If we could help our customers shift a percentage of that to businesses that are re-investing their profit back into environmental and social opportunities and creating economic equity, we could create a transformation in sustainable economic development in a way that would never be possible through corporate philanthropy alone.” Jennifer

·       Understanding value propositions

·       Communication

·       Making connections

·       Investing in ecosystems

·       Building a diverse vendor portfolio

·       How does the data support initiatives?

·       Organizations should be looking inwards, as well as outwards

·       Organizations should provide better support for suppliers/trading partners

·       Payment terms, policies, procedures and contracts

·       Understanding suppliers and their needs

·       Asking the right questions

·       Resources/mentorship/advice

·       Assume everything is negotiable!

·       Outdated systems

·       Lack of training

·       Leadership commitment

·       Making a public commitment

·       Domino effect of decisions

·       Understanding true cost  

·       Measuring correct metrics

·       Simplify qualifying metrics

·       ROI in areas other than finance, eg. Marketing and PR

·       Sharing suppliers

·       Greenwashing and pinkwashing

·       Separating fact from fiction

·       Certifications

“I love the synergies you can find across doing the right thing, and helping your business, and helping your customers – all at the same time.” Hillary

“With the pandemic, a lot became visible that hadn’t been before. And one thing that became even clearer to me is partnerships with suppliers.” Hillary 

“Most organizations have the data, but it’s not clean – so they can’t even use it. There’s a lot of junk in, junk out.” Anwin

“At what level do you get leadership commitment to support those more impactful businesses?… There has to be an understanding to support products that may be slightly more expensive.” Dave  

“We’re seeing a huge opportunity to connect the data better… We’re making great strides in things like carbon calculators and emissions, but we’re not there from a social perspective. We know that there’s benefit but we can’t always track the data and benefit back for our business cases – yet!” Jennifer

“Data is dispersed… it’s not unified to tell the story. And finance leads a lot of decisions, so we focus more on the leading metrics, rather than the lagging metrics.” Anwin

[46.34] The group explore consumer spending: how consumers are ‘voting with their feet’ and feeling more empowered with their purchasing choices; how we know if we’re making the right decisions; and the impact we can make by getting informed and showing intent with our purchases.

“People save somewhere south of 5%, so we’re consuming with 95% of our income, or more. So that’s an incredible amount of money… To me, purchasing power means voting for the world you want to see every time you make a purchase.” Dave

·       Money is power

·       Making conscious choices

·       Keeping money within communities

·       Making an impact by shopping local

·       Affordability

·       Supporting through ways other than dollars:

o   Sharing on social media – vote with your clicks!

o   Writing reviews

·       Intention and awareness

·       Avoid analysis paralysis!

·       There are no rights and wrongs – everyone is on a different journey  

·       Don’t wait! Take small steps

·       Focus on what matters to you

“When you’re purchasing from under-represented business owners, you’re changing the power dynamic in that community.” Dave

[01.06.22] The panel sum-up their thoughts from today’s discussion. 

“The best way you can make your purchasing decisions is to decide if there is something you care most about, and prioritize, focus on that.” Dave

RESOURCES AND LINKS MENTIONED:

You can connect with Anwin, Hillary, Dave and Jennifer over on LinkedIn.