Vistex Inc articles

Now that the new year is upon us, I’m looking ahead and trying to imagine what new opportunities and challenges we’ll face in Life Sciences. At times like this, when there are so many unknowns, it can seem like the “perfect storm,” but I think this situation will act as an innovative pricing incubator, and I’d like to share with you some potential life science industry trends for 2021 and beyond.

It seems like such a logical approach - in a global economy, concentrate the production of low-cost items in low-cost countries, simplify supply chains, and employ lean manufacturing techniques to keep inventories low. And it all works great - until a global pandemic breaks out.

The COVID-19 experience has exposed multiple weaknesses in the life sciences supply chain. The biggest takeaway is that we are dangerously dependent on Asia for critical components and end products in the heal

Face Masked Crusaders

Has the pandemic transformed Paris, London, Milan and New York’s most coveted event—Fashion Week—into Face Mask Week? (One moment—filing the copyright on that phrase.) When athletic wear and yoga pants become the remote workforce’s uniforms du jour, high fashion in 2020 might be mistaken to define branded cannabis hoodies. The utilitarian face ma

Hey manufacturers, what happens when you change your prices? Do your end customers benefit from price cuts, or does that cut get gobbled up by the supply chain? What did you intend to happen? When you raise prices, do distributors and retailers pass that increase along to the end consumer or just absorb it? Are you concerned about effects on consumer demand more than channel cooperation? Knowing the answer to these questions helps you understand just how much pricing power you have.

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How important is it to get pricing right? According to McKinsey, a 1% price increase, on average, yields an 8.7% jump in operating profits - assuming no change in volume. But as many as 30% of pricing decisions made by companies every year are not achieving the best price. The result? A lot of money is left on the table…a lot of lost profit opportunities.

Price optimization, which I discussed in my last blog: 

Overcome Pandemic Supply Chain Drain

The 2020 pandemic has transformed the way America shops. Fear has turned minimalists into hoarders. It’s as if consumers collectively believed that the pandemic was about to create some dystopian, Walking Dead-like society experiencing all manner of supply chain shortages. In particular? Toilet paper, bleach wipes and…aluminum?!? And no, it’s not from a preponderance of tinfoil hat wear

For manufacturers, revenue generation means earning the highest possible margins while running a sustainable business (i.e., maintaining minimum production volumes and a satisfactory customer retention rate, plus achieving your new customer target goals). Pricing clearly plays a role in this.

But one factor can make a key difference between meeting and exceeding your revenue and profit goals—setting the RIGHT price. The art of setting the right price involves

“We’re looking at a new AI-powered analytics solution.” That’s what manufacturers are telling us when we ask about their pricing strategy.

Though it’s still the early days of the fourth industrial revolution, implementation of AI is ready for takeoff. Market intelligence firm IDC forecasts that global spending on AI will more than double over the next four years, growing from $50.1 billion in 2020 to more than $110 billion in 2024.

If you’re a wholesale distributor scratching your head, trying to find your place in the world since the pandemic has skewed the way that everyone is shopping, you’re not alone. But Amazon is not the only game in town. The good news is, there’s plenty of good news.

Let’s explore the many advantages that you still have over a behemoth retail enterprise:

1. Creative Contract Agility. Every wholesaler wants to create a win-win partne

Are your channel rebate programs motivating the right partners in the right ways? With 80 percent of the typical high-tech company’s revenue coming from the indirect channel, rebate programs are a powerful tool for gaining market share, boosting sales and recouping revenue. But if your programs are like most, they are difficult to manage–especially those with complex criteria.

High-tech manufacturers spend billions of dollars annually on channel partner