Who we’ve helped
When I first heard about The Buying Group, I was dubious about whether they could make a difference to our business. Our Kaituna Sawmill is a big operation plus we have a fairly sizeable expansion program over the next few years, so I didn’t want to waste my time with a company that didn’t understand our industry nor have any clout with suppliers.
I have been impressed with what The Buying Group has been able to achieve for us over the years. They have delivered sizeable reductions in our safety equipment/clothing, packaging and engineering expenses [and more recently for stationery]. When we have raised pricing and service issues with them, they have resolved them quickly and effectively, freeing up my staff’s time. Malcolm and Glynne are very good at what they do and I have seen first-hand the improvements they have made to our supply contracts.
I think the sawmilling industry has long been in need of a buying group to deliver more benefits to sawmillers and wood processors and from what I have seen so far from Malcolm and Glynne, they are capable of doing exactly that.
When I was approached by Glynne and Malcolm, we were already dealing with a small number of suppliers, plus we were already a member of another large buying group. To be honest, I didn’t think a relatively small business like The Buying Group could do better than what we had negotiated.
I have to say I was genuinely surprised by the results. By adding our expenditure to The Buying Group’s, we benefited from pricing that was better than what we could get on our own. And better than what we were getting with another larger buying group. Their unique pricing methodology definitely works better than the one-price-for-all approach that other groups tend to use.
We went ahead with four categories with The Buying Group – engineering, packaging, safety and stationery/office products. They also managed the implementation with all our key staff, facilitating the transition meetings and making sure nothing slipped through the cracks.
We’re very happy with the service we’re receiving and I believe we are getting good value for money.
We have been using The Buying Group for 5 years to facilitate our purchases of packaging, safety equipment and general engineering consumables. When they originally approached our Company we were concerned about limiting our purchases to one supplier for packaging supplies, the first category they offered. Their review of our expenditure at that time identified significant cost savings and after obtaining assurances in their service and delivery levels we changed to The Buying Group’s supplier.
Since 2005 we have taken advantage of their safety equipment, stationery and engineering consumables categories as well as utilising their fuel card solution. They have continued to monitor their suppliers’ pricing versus the market while improving our cost savings through their group buying power. We have found The Buying Group’s management willing to understand our business and support Westco Lagan in dealing with supplier issues. Their experience in the procurement sector has benefited our business in terms of reduced costs and improved service.
We would recommend The Buying Group as the providers of an excellent service to our industry.
House of Travel Holdings Ltd is a travel management company with a financial interest in the House of Travel group of companies. The company has a small management team to oversee a variety of projects. We undertake to review the suppliers and contracts on a regular basis to ensure the group has appropriate pricing and service delivery for various key suppliers to the group. Running tenders is not a core task and can require a specialist to obtain the best outcome, and as the management team has limited time for the process we engaged The Buying Group Limited to run the projects.
The tenders require a detailed approach to analyse our requirements, select the tender candidates, prepare the tender document, liaise with the suppliers, evaluate responses to the tender documents, preparation of the short listing of suppliers and the interviewing of the shortlisted candidates. In essence The Buying Group look after the detailed work and allow the management team to make the key decisions.
We have over the past 6 years engaged The Buying Group to assist in the running of tenders for printing suppliers, stationery, telecommunications, LCD’s, printers, eftpos terminals and insurance brokers.
On each occasion The Buying Group have been able to provide an objective 3rd party approach to the process considering the clients requirements, timeframes and desired outcomes. The approach to the tenders has been professional, using a consultative process and focused around delivering the desired outcomes within agreed timeframes. The outcome to our group has resulted in overall saving in costs and ensuring the suppliers selected best suit the group’s needs and requirements. We would be happy to endorse The Buying Group as a professional organisation to assist with cost reduction projects and tender processes.
I have had a business arrangement with The Buying Group operated by Glynne since December 2008. I entrusted a significant sum of money into Glynne’s control as a deposit against fuel purchases. His administration of my fuel account and my funds was exemplary. I have found The Buying Group a very honest and pleasant firm to deal with. I can recommend them as a business partner.
When I first heard about The Buying Group’s fuelcard solution, I have to say I was reluctant to change as what I had was working well. However, after doing the price comparison, I found that in many cases, but not all, their pricing was cheaper.
What helped me decide was the flexibility, I could have any oil company brand I like ( BP/Caltex/Mobil/Shell) and still get a similar discount across all of them. By signing up with oil companies individually, the discount would not have been as good as I would have been spreading my business too thinly. By using The Buying Group’s Fuelcard solution, I get the best of both worlds – very good pricing and the flexibility of being able to choose which oil company to use.
Glynne and his team provide a very high level of service, they are great to deal with, and best of all, they are real people on the end of the phone, not some stranger in a distant land. I can highly recommend them to anyone seeking a great deal on their fuel along with a high level of personal service.
On first impressions I thought that there was little to be gained on prices but after speaking with Glynne, I found that I could save 8 cents a litre by changing to The Buying Group. This amounts to a considerable amount when using 40,000 litres a year.
The Buying Group was very easy to join and the paperwork is kept to a minimum. And with plenty of help available with regards to pricing of different oil companies, it made it easy to see which worked best for each person.
We were first introduced to Glynne and the concept of joining his buying group in 2007 and have now been clients for more than two and a half years. In every aspect the service and follow up has been excellent and the benefits obtained equally so. I unreservedly recommend the service and the people, they have been proactive in providing savings to us and have been professional in every interaction.
So when The Buying Group approached me, I was concerned that what they were offering might require a trade-off between pricing versus service.
What I found was a significant reduction in our pricing, but without a reduction in product quality or service. The reduction in our costs was over 17%, which on the amount we spend is a sizeable number.
During the implementation phase to the new supplier, The Buying Group oversaw the transition and managed any issues directly with my key staff. There were some times when we raised supply concerns and The Buying Group responded immediately. They are very well connected to their supplier’s key operational staff, middle and senior management, and by contacting the right people were able to get the issues resolved to my satisfaction. They are a very useful resource.
TNL do not have a dedicated purchasing department, so The Buying Group is filling a key role for us. They are professional to deal with and operate with a high level of integrity.
I have been really pleased with what The Buying Group have been able to achieve for us, and I recommend them highly.
Flying Kiwi has been a client of The Buying Group for the past several years, over this time with their assistance we have been able to save tens of thousands of dollars in our operation through the ability to access volume discounts. Glynne and the team have provided a fantastic level of service and support to us.
We use three fuel companies, dealing with The Buying Group has meant that monthly invoices are consolidated into one account, reducing the work and enabling easy comparisons of prices. This has also enabled us to have one point of contact for fuel card management saving a lot of work for us.
We have utilised The Buying Group’s services for 4 years to assist with the development and maintenance of mutually beneficial relationships with both existing and with new suppliers in a number of key areas.
The relationship with The Buying Group has generated cost benefits primarily by obtaining economies of scale by rationalising suppliers who have been identified as being able to best deliver the appropriate products and/or services to our operations throughout the country.
One of the challenges in implementing this approach is that there are often slightly different requirements in the operations at the 12 major ports in New Zealand. The Buying Group has had to attain a level of proficiency in understanding not only Southern Cross Stevedores’ requirements but also with the suppliers’ products and/or services.
Additionally, customer/supplier communication channels often needed to be developed and maintained. During and after implementation of new arrangements, problems needed to be promptly identified and resolved.
We have been impressed with the manner in which The Buying Group personnel have undertaken their role as facilitators in these processes and have been satisfied that significant benefits continue to accrue from the relationship.
Queenstown Flooring Xtra found the research that The Buying Group had done very enlightening and on that basis we made an informed decision to change to The Buying Group. The application was very simple and the fuelcards for our Company were received promptly enabling us to get on with our business. I recommend dealing wth The Buying Group.
When we were first approached by The Buying Group, we were sceptical whether they could achieve any decent savings on our main categories of consumables.
However, after researching our purchases, they were able to save us 16.9% on average for one category, with sizeable reductions in a number of others. We have now implemented their solutions for engineering consumables, fuelcard, packaging, and safety equipment/clothing and we are very happy with the pricing and service that we receive. The Buying Group continually monitors the supplier’s invoices to ensure we are receiving the correct prices.
We would recommend The Buying Group to any company large or small.
In the five years I have been dealing with The Buying Group with our company’s fuel cards I have not encountered a friendlier, accommodating or more knowledgeable company of people. Whenever we had to alter consumption, vehicle details or specifics to meet our needs the staff were very quick, very able and in some ways even had better ideas on how to suit our particular company’s needs.
Our interaction both by email and phone has always been attended to quickly, precisely and professionally. We have always been alerted early about price changes and offers specific to fuel card holders and our accounts have always been accurate and easy to understand and interpret. All in all our relationship with The Buying Group has been an enjoyable one. I would recommend The Buying Group to any company large or small.
The competitive pricing initially caught our interest with The Buying Group plus were using quite a range of fuel cards amongst our fleet of vehicles. We have successfully changed the habits of our staff to shop where we know fuel is the cheapest, and we have minimised the amount of fuel cards that our company is using. Our monthly invoice is itemised to each vehicle and is easy to follow. Any little teething problems we had with the likes of pin numbers were dealt with efficiently and in a friendly manner.
I have been utilising the services of The Buying Group since 2005. In respect of their fuel charge system, it suited the requirements of my business, due to the ability to select more than one fuel card. This allows me to have a choice of locations to fill up. I had previously found that having a single fuel card supplier i.e. Shell directly, caused me to always be on guard for where the next fuel stop might be especially when out of town. I find The Buying Group billing process to be efficient and I have never needed to query any details on their invoices. Glynne and his team are very accommodating and friendly to deal with and I would have no hesitation in recommending them to other businesses.
We have signed up to The Buying Group for our fuel purchases, and have been with them for approximately 6 weeks. The change over was smooth and our dealings with them have been very efficient. We can recommend them as a cost saving option!
L1, 124 Vickerman Street,
Port Nelson, Nelson 7010
PO Box 1136, Nelson 7040
+64 3 539 0623