More than 70% of Better Buying’s 22 repeat subscriber companies have improved their overall purchasing practices score in this year’s Better Buying Purchasing Practices IndexTM (BBPPI).
While the overall Softgoods score increased by only 1 point on last year, up to 67 from 66, individual category scores and performance in certain practices reveal a more mixed and nuanced picture of the purchasing practices of global brands and retailers, and, for some buyers, notable improvements.
One BBI subscriber company, for example, improved their score in the Win-Win Sustainable Partnership Category by 23 points compared to 2023. A second achieved a 16 point increase in their Cost and Cost Negotiation score, and a third improved on Planning and Forecasting by 13 points.
Sporting Goods companies performed better than Fashion Goods companies across all purchasing practices categories, with particularly large differences in Planning and Forecasting, Payment and Terms, and Design and Development.
Similar to previous years, the largest number of suppliers (38.7%) selected the Planning and Forecasting category as the most important priority area for improvement. The industry score in this category remains unchanged since last year, at 59, with just 1.5 stars out of 5).
Dr. Marsha Dickson, President and Co-Founder of Better Buying Institute, comments:
“While the overall Softgoods overall score has remained stable, the individual category scores and responses to individual questions tell a better story about the improvements and declines buyers are making. I’m especially excited about the big gains some companies have made in certain categories.”
“But the interrelatedness of a lot of purchasing practices mean the most effective improvements will be the result of a holistic approach, with coordinated efforts made across companies.”
“The distinct differences in purchasing practices between Sporting Goods and Fashion Goods buyers are startling in a lot of ways. We’d expect forecasting to be more problematic for Fashion Goods buyers, but didn’t expect to see lower performance in nearly every aspect of the business. This points to the need for more of these types of companies to subscribe with Better BuyingTM and get to work on their purchasing practices.” ”
Notes to Editors
1,273 suppliers submitted a total of 1,553 ratings to Better BuyingTM (BBI)’s 8th annual ratings cycle. Of these, 1,300 were Softgoods ratings, while the remaining 253 were Hardgoods ratings. This report analyzes the results of the 1,300 Softgoods ratings, which evaluated 40 buyers. Out of these, 27 were Better BuyingTM subscribers, accounting for 1,287 of the supplier ratings.