Buyers Said, Vendors Said

It’s possible for campus store buyers and their vendors to have a mutually productive partnership—the key lies in open communication.

That’s the message from the panelists who took part in the CAMEX100 session Seeing Both Sides: Improving Buyer and Vendor Relationships. Shelly Schrimpf, assistant director, campus retail and licensing, Lope Shops, Grand Canyon University, Phoenix, AZ, and Jennifer Borges, buyer, Bronco Shop, Boise State University, Boise, ID, represented the buyer’s perspective while Kelly Russell, sales director for Central and Southeast regions, Boxercraft, and Matt London, director of sales, Neil Enterprises, shared the vendor’s viewpoint. Andy Dunn, director of campus retail and licensing at Lope Shops, was moderator.

“What makes a vendor stand out for you?” Dunn asked the buyers.

“A lot of the relationship with a vendor is with the rep, for sure,” Borges said. “It’s feeling like you have a partner.” For instance, during the pandemic, her reps paid attention to the store’s situation with students gone and helped find solutions such as holding merchandise or providing a discount.

“If I can count on reps for good follow-up, if they have a good relationship with their boss, I trust them and I’ll be more inclined to buy,” she said.

“A rep is super-important,” Schrimpf concurred. She said reps have been especially helpful with creating imprinted decoration. The people handling customer service calls in the corporate office are also crucial to the relationship. “If they’re not on top of it, or are rude, or don’t know what they’re doing, that’s frustrating to me. So now who’s getting that earful from me? That’s the rep.”

When this session took place almost a year ago, the aftermath of the pandemic shutdown was still causing some pain for both campus stores and vendors. Supply chain issues, prompted by everyone reopening and restocking at the same time, had diminished for the most part but Schrimpf and Borges reported being surprised by big price hikes from some companies, especially in apparel.

Both said they need their reps to be willing to engage in some give-and-take discussion on where pricing should be, because student customers won’t accept a sudden leap. “If I take full margin, I’d price my customer out,” Schrimpf noted, adding, “We have a ton of first-time college students at our campus” who can’t pay higher prices.

“Pricing definitely affected us this year, and changed how we bought,” Borges said. Her best-quality (and higher-priced) items had been selling well shortly after the pandemic—$84 sweatpants, for example, sold out in two days—but “this past year we’ve started to see some price resistance.” To accommodate that, she bought fewer items in the “best” category and focused more on “good” and “better” items.

An audience member brought up the recent spike in shipping charges, saying, “It feels like we’re being taken advantage of.”

“There’s a fairly easy solution,” responded London. “Insist vendors ship on your account. Create an account if you don’t have one.” He pointed out that vendors simply pass along shipping costs. “We charge what we’re charged,” he said.

Russell agreed. “Always ship on your account,” she said. “We don’t make money on our shipping.”

Dunn asked the buyers whether vendor websites are helpful to them.

Schrimpf said she orders tech items online but otherwise prefers a print catalog and contact with a rep. “I don’t like scrolling,” she admitted. “I want to be able to call someone.” She acknowledged that buyers newer to campus stores might be fine with changes in company collateral. One of the print catalogs she received this year featured QR codes, but a younger colleague had no problem with them.

Borges said she sometimes works from home and doesn’t want to haul print catalogs back and forth. So websites are convenient for items such as novelties, gifts, and supplies, or for reorders of apparel. But for original clothing orders, she wants to see samples to check construction and fit.

“If a buyer is struggling with vendor relationships, what advice do you have?” Dunn asked the vendor panelists.

“Absolutely we want to hear about it,” Russell said. “It’s important you trust your salesperson.” She said that changes are possible. “Always communicate. Contact us and let us know there’s a problem,” she said.

“I agree with you,” London said. “The thing about this industry, everyone’s so nice.” He recommended that stores “speak up” if they’re not getting the response they want and contact the corporate office directly.