Delivery Extension in Apparel Supply Chain How to

convert the sin into a win?

Any apparel professional on the supply and manufacturing side of the apparel
industry has heard the dreaded words- Let the vendor air the goods.
The usual supplier reactions are
But the buyer did not give comments on time, how can they ask us to air the
goods?
There is no way we can air the goods. There is hardly any margin on the order. In
fact already the fob is based on bare duty drawback advantage.
They made so many spec changes which pushed the schedule haywire. Buyer
must take responsibility for their part of the job.
The lab dips submitted were in acceptable range, we even submitted
spectrophotometer delta readings. They kept asking for resubmits, which ate up all
the lead time available. How can we be made to air the goods, if they could not
decide the color they wanted to buy?
So on and so forth, depending on the various situations one encounters in the
apparel world.
The typical buyer responses are
We cannot afford even a days slide. This is our best selling style.
We need to get the right product to market. Spec changes were necessary since
the vendor was not able to get the fit right in the first place.
Vendor should be able to match the color standard within the time frame they
require to keep schedules on track. We are being generous by even accepting the
goods with off standard color, instead of simply cancelling the order and claiming
for loss of sales.
They took ages to turn around the first fits. Due diligence should have been done
from the beginning to prevent any delays.
We often get stuck in this tricky and conflicting situation. The vendor feels that
buyer is partly responsible for causing the delay and buyer feels that vendor owes it
to them to ship the goods on time, no matter what and should proactively manage
the deadlines. What is the best way to handle such situation is the focus of this
paper.

Decidedly, each situation is unique and will call for a unique resolution. But for the
purpose of this discussion, let us assume the common theme that vendor is not
internally convinced about being held responsible for the delay in question. Some
part may have been played by the buyer in contributing to the delay as well. So
what do you do to put across your point, without appearing to be playing the blame
game?
Some things to consider thoroughly before embarking on the negotiation
A). whats your track record? If you have a reputation for shipping on time, you
may have a stronger case. If out of the 15 Pos shipping this month, 14 are on track
and only one PO is affected, again you have a strong case. Conversely, if the
situation is such that many Pos are facing delivery delay threat and this happened
last season as well, then you as a supplier do not have much of a platform to
bargain.
B). Sample turnaround timelines. It often happens that the momentum and
speed with which samples are turned around reaches its crescendo towards the end
of the approaching PCD. In the beginning of the purchase order cycle, the tendency
is to be a bit slow and slack in the time taken to turn around the samples. This is a
typical students syndrome which is prevalent in the industry. (Remember the last
minute frantic mugging before the exams as a student, while taking it easy
throughout). This is more often than not picked up as a basis by buyers to put the
ball back in the vendors court. So watch out for this one while presenting your
facts.
C) What are your options? Do you have any alternative options or suggestions to
still get back on track and avoid delay? For example, you may want to take an
exception to submit the fit as a PP or request for an exception to use substitute
trims for the purpose of getting past an approval cycle, or you may offer to do split
shipment etc. These would then be used as gambits while negotiating delivery
extension.
D). How far are you willing to go? Sometimes, the pricing is so tight that you
simply cannot afford even a 5 % discount, leave alone an air freight situation. There
might be other situation, when there is enough buffers built in the fob to concede a
bit by way of discounts. A clear understanding of how far are you willing to concede
in a situation is a must before getting into a negotiating situation. This will prepare
you to present your case appropriately. Though any smart negotiator knows not to
lay his cards out too quickly, and keep them for last stages of closing any
negotiation.
E). whats on stake for your buyer? If your style concerned happens to be a
best seller for buyer, you hardly have any chances of getting any extensions.
Similarly if it is part of a special selling line or occasion, for example 4 th July
Collection or Christmas Collection, with limited shelf space and huge potential of

loss of sales, in the event of delivery slide, there is no way that you will get an
extension. On the other hand, if the style in question is part of a core selling which
ships on a regular basis, you might be able to negotiate an extension. This
knowledge of whats in it for your buyer is crucial for effective negotiation.
Being armed with this knowledge, keeping a cool mind and thinking from a buyers
perspective, you should be able to do a very good job of negotiating. When I was in
college I used to participate in lots of debates, and to prepare myself for or against
a topic, I would focus on what my opponent is going to speak, rather than what I
would speak. This counter focus would help me to prepare a fool proof case for or
against the topic I was to represent. I strongly recommend the same strategy for the
vendor. Think of what your buyer is likely to counter you with and prepare your case
in advance to cater to them.

The strategy you employ will depend on what kind of situation you are in. However
a few golden rules to keep in mind while putting across your point are
1. Speak the buyers language. Make them feel you understand where they
are coming from. Example - We realize this style is meant for a special
promotion and on time delivery is very crucial for meeting the business
objectives. A statement like this in the beginning is most likely to put your
buyer on ease and make him feel that you are on his side, and not his
adversary. This will bring down defenses and prevent a situation from
deteriorating into a war like conflict.
2. State the facts in simple, clear and succinct fashion. There is no room
for writing long winding complicated communication. Remember, your words,
your tone, your silly mistakes are all going to be used by your opponent to
fight back with you. Even innocent intentions will be twisted to sound like
malignant insinuations. Its a war and everything is fair in love and war. There
is simply no room for emotion in your communication, which will make you
vulnerable. Attack is the best form of defense and especially when your
opponent is guilty even remotely, they will look for your weaknesses and
attack you there to break you. Prepare thoroughly before you press the send
button on that important email!
3. Present any alternatives or suggestions to fix the situation. It is very
important to come up with some options and suggestions to deal with the
situation at hand. It will steer you clear of any blame game scenario. It will
clearly show your focus on resolving the situation rather than on pointing
fingers at who is to be blamed. At the same time, it sends a signal that you
are willing to make concessions, and expect the same from your buyers. They
in turn will be less likely to get adamant and stuck in a deadlock like situation.
However, caution must be exercised in not making the concessions all at

once. This is a very subtle game and must be played intelligently. You want
your buyer to think that they played a great role in resolving a conflict. Each
party makes one concession at a time and comes out feeling like a winner.
Each party had it their way in the end.
4. Make an appropriate justification for your case. Look for things which
will be positive reinforcements of your commitment to serving the customer
well. It could be your on track performance on other POs, or past seasons. It
could be highlighting your going out of the way to shorten the lead time on
samples or production schedule to squeeze in as minimal delay as possible.
This will reflect professionalism and customer centric commitment on your
part. Your buyer is likely to respect you more and take you more seriously
than they would any other non performing or average vendor. After all they
buyers also need to build good relationships with good vendors to achieve
their business goals.
5. Sometimes its better to lose the battle and win the war. You must
know which battles to pick. Remember, your relationship with the customer is
much more important than the air freight you are going to pay on any one
PO. There might be situations when no resolution is forthcoming. You need to
make a call at such times on what is more important in the long run. A good
relationship with customer will ensure you will have much more business
coming your way which will present means of covering up for the loss
encountered now, at a later date. Never lose the long term vision of
maintaining good customer relationship for a short term gain of delivery
extension by getting into unending arguments.
In the end I want to focus on a few mistakes to avoid.
1. Do not ask for delivery extension just to cover your back. It serves no
purpose and creates unnecessary bad taste for the parties involved. Go out
with such a request only in very genuine circumstances.
2. Do not nag or irritate a customer with a delivery delay threat, too frequently,
every time an activity on TNA goes a bit off track. It is very annoying to be
asked for delivery extension 75 days ahead of the delivery date, just because
fit comments came in a day or two later than the planned date on TNA. It
should be understood that there are enough buffers built in the TNAs to cater
to slight deviations from the planned dates.
3. Do not ask for an extension and then ship the goods on time. Such cry wolf
behavior will undermine your credibility despite your good performance.

Author
Anjuli Gopalakrishna
www.anjulig.com