GNFR can typically represent over 25% of a retailer’s operating cost. That’s a significant investment with no direct income generated from this outlay. Whilst Goods For Resale (GFR) undergoes intense scrutiny to ensure the best possible returns, cost optimisation for GNFR, in the most part, is rarely approached in the same manner. What does this mean? A huge opportunity for retailers!
Making the most of your GNFR strategy is not just a case of simply clamping down on costs and slashing budgets – it actually requires an entirely different approach. Embracing a holistic attitude is key to its success as this needs to be championed across the business. Harnessing the power of optimising GNFR and adopting best practice can deliver real savings.
What is GNFR?
There is a misconception that GNFR purely consists of simple products such as carrier bags or cleaning items – it is actually more far reaching than that. A typical retailers GNFR shopping list could look something like this: packaging, first aid equipment, safety clothing, kitchen and bathroom essentials, anti-theft devices, stationery, POS/check out systems, branded consumables, signage, labelling, shop fittings and merchandise display solutions.
The scope to save on valuable resources such as time and money are considerable. The reality is that a retailer could be working with a huge number of suppliers to achieve this ‘shopping list’, having to negotiate costs and terms, organising product research, purchase orders, deliveries, invoicing, returns a multiple of times – when time is money, is this really the best approach?
Creating Order out of Chaos
Consolidating the whole procurement process can dramatically free up internal resource as well as driving down hard and soft costs. All product expenditure can be ratified and sourced through one preferred supplier. The associated hidden ‘soft costs’ (administration and procurement process time) can be virtually eliminated. The price paid for products ‘hard costs’ can also be reduced as well as delivery expenditure. Receiving products with one delivery with one invoice from one supplier can save thousands of pounds a year.
Finding a supplier with a vast portfolio that can cater for a complete range of products and essentials is rare – but they do exist! Do your homework to find out if they supply products relevant to your business and continue to innovate to add real value for you. And of course, do your due diligence on making sure the time you are saving isn’t lost on high pricing – it needs to work for you.
