Question

You are the buyer for the linens department of a major department store. A sales rep for a major rug company calls you to say that one of your competitors has just cancelled a large order for rugs. The rep wants to make you a great deal. You look at your Open-to-Buy numbers and realize that you are maxed out on what you can purchase this month. But the price the rep is quoting is tremendous. You know you can run a special rug promotion and really do well with these items. What do you do?

Answer 1

I will accept this offer since it is a tremendous price. Though I have enough stock for my sales during the month, I can accept this offer because of the following reasons:

1. Since the price is really attaractive, I can offer some complementory offers. For eg: 1 free for every 2-3 purchase by the customer based on the purchase price for which I got the material.

2. Since my competitor cancelled the order, that means this will be available at my end only. Whoever used to purchase from my competitor will come to me since the material is not available with my competitor.