Relationships under the hammer
13 September 2012
In the last of three articles on online auctions, Liam O’Brien looks at their impact on relations between buyers and suppliers and discovers that stressing price to the detriment of other factors has its costs
The prospect of purchasing through an Internet-based auction is not the sort of thing a buyer casually drops into a conversation with a supplier. It’s quite likely to get a cool reaction.
After all, the supplier will probably have spent considerable time cultivating the client and meeting their business needs. It will not be best pleased at the prospect of new...