Critical Sourcing Challenges in the Dietary and Nutraceutical Industry

The nutraceutical industry has great demands and challenges for sourcing professionals to thrive stably. There is no static sourcing strategy model, the kind of one-size-fits-all solution. The system lacks agility and adaptation to changing scenarios in the market. Old sourcing strategies can bring a hazardous impact on the innovation and causes substantial value leakage. Now that we have landed here, let us decode a few hindrances in Sourcing popularly faced by professionals.  

Top 5 Popular Global Sourcing Challenges Faced By The Sourcing Managers 

With the increasing importance of quality assurance, there are a few hindrances that sourcing professionals face while hatching deals for ingredients as per requirement. There is always a grey area for sourcing professionals when they set out to buy a product. Unsure of an umpteen of factors, they find it difficult to assure quality. Let us go through every bit of hindrance challenging sourcing professionals-  

1. Company Verification: 

Company verification includes certifications, and some of the primary ones acclaiming the credibility of the company are- ISO, Kosher, Halal, Organic, GMP, etc. Above all, manual visits to factories and warehouses are strongly recommended for better company verification.  

How is company verification a challenging task for sourcing managers? 

Well, getting into the skin of company authenticity is a hectic process. Some of the common challenges are- 

• Vendors or manufacturers might not provide proper certifications like ISO, Kosher, Halal, Organic, GMP, etc 
• Misleading online reputation
• Time-consuming process of verification 
• Company’s turn over might vary  

2. Product verification is another challenge - COA   

A certificate of Analysis(COA) is a document that confirms the supplier information, materials identification, evidence of conformance, product specification, and composition. It enables the buyers to confirm whether the product is adhering to their requirements.   

Why is COA verification big headache for sourcing managers? 

Without COA verified the process chain will not move 
 

Here are some of the hindrances in COA verifications: 

• The vendors or manufacturers might not provide a proper COA for an ingredient including information like physical parameter, heavy metal details, microbes, etc. 
• They might provide manipulative COA certificates of an ingredient 
• The product might not be tested from ISO accredited labs 

3. Lead time and Price consideration: 

Sourcing professionals have difficulty shortlisting the vendors based on the lead time and price offered. Once they are through the document verification process, they enquire about the lead time and price offered to settle on a vendor. 

What are the challenges of Leadtime and price consideration? 

• The vendors might not agree for price negotiation 
• They might not adhere to the quoted lead time 
• They might not have a firm logistic support 

4. Free Sample: 

Sample testing is one of the crucial parts of the quality assurance process. Most of the time, asking for a free sample from the vendor becomes a tough task. Transportation and evaluation of samples take a lot of effort and resources.   

What are the challenges of sample testing? 

• The company might not provide free samples for testing? 
• The company might not provide the actual product as samples 

5. Negotiation of the Net term of Payment: 

The net term is a condition where the full Payment remains due and can be paid in installments. Mostly, a net-term deal is tough to hatch. It is challenging for sourcing professionals to get good payment terms from vendors.   

What are the challenges faced to fetch net term payment? 

• Most vending companies do not allow net term payment 
• The net term might not be applicable on the first order 
• Most vending companies allow net term payment only after business association of years.

Now that we have a brief overview of the Sourcing challenges, how about solving them? Well, we can solve these problems for you by doing all the leg work.  

The differences we can offer:

Also Read More : ​Capturing the Halal Market: Manufacturing Halal Nutritional Supplements for B2B Success

Thriving in the industry for years now, we have a trusted buyers and vendors base to help both parties make valuable deals. We do everything from thorough company verification to COA verification for you. 

Hassle-free Sourcing is all about finding good products at a great deal, and at Green Jeeva, you will definitely find that!