The first e-auction was held a little less than twenty years ago, and today they are widely used, especially in procurement. They enable faster and simpler procurement of products and services online. The most common challenge is to motivate suppliers to actively participate in e-auctions. In this blog, we will give you some tips on how to motivate suppliers for e-auctions, because by motivating suppliers, you will be able to conduct more e-auctions, and using them gives you a lot of opportunities for your business.
First step: Education
To attract suppliers, first educate them about the benefits of e-auctions. In order to accept them more easily, they must understand how e-auctions work and make them aware that in this way they can reduce costs and be more competitive in the market. Give them clear instructions and support them when using e-auctions. The way you will do this can be by e-mail, newsletter, social networks, phone or in person, the only thing that matters is that you are present.
Step two: Motivation
Suppliers will be more motivated to participate in e-auctions if they see concrete advantages, if they know what they are getting. You can point out, for example, faster access to the market, the possibility of greater customer reach, the reduction of administrative costs and the reduction of time spent on traditional methods. Through concrete examples and case studies, you can show real results that have been achieved using e-auctions.
Third step: Adjustment
It is good to continuously improve the user experience of platforms where e-auctions take place. You must listen to the needs of suppliers, take feedback seriously and adapt accordingly. A simple and intuitive user interface, access to essential information and available technical support are something you should strive for. An example of this is the supplier portal in Ensolva, which is simple, intuitive, and suppliers have available customer support for all questions.
Step four: Rewarding
By rewarding, you can attract suppliers to participate in e-auctions. Encourage them to use rewards such as physical rewards for those who participated in a certain number of e-auctions, marketing promotion for those who join, a discount for your company’s services and products etc.
Fifth step: Communication
Try to maintain good relations and be accessible to your suppliers. Regular communication with them is very important for mutual success in this whole story. Listening to their feedback and responding to any difficulties or ambiguities they have will give the impression that they have your support and will lead to a strengthening of mutual trust.
Software like Ensolve offers suppliers e-auctions to bid for goods or services in real time online. They can be based on price alone or a combination of criteria, the most common being reverse auctions where the buyer chooses bids from competing suppliers. There is an English reverse auction, where vendors can see their position relative to other bidders, the best price offered, or both. The Dutch version allows suppliers to see only the current price, which increases at precisely specified intervals, and the first bidder to accept the price wins. The Japanese auction is almost the same, but the price starts high and goes down until there is only one seller left.
All in all, motivating suppliers to use e-auctions requires a combination of education, motivation, additional incentives and platform adaptation. Through this process, companies can realize numerous benefits, including reducing procurement costs, speeding up processes and increasing competitive advantage. It is important to remember that change is always challenging, but through persistence and support, it is possible to achieve positive results for all parties involved in the business process.
