It takes two to tango: Getting the most from long-term supplier partnerships

Room 5 | 4:00 pm - 4:30 pm | Wednesday, July 19, 2023

There’s a time and place for one-time flings, but there are also a lot of upsides to a long-term relationship – in both love and research!

We’ve been working together for five years and have partnered on dozens of qual projects, including intercepts to understand shoppers’ reactions to new store concepts, online groups to hear what employees think about store loyalty programs and many, many in-store and virtual shop-alongs. Over the course of these projects, we’ve learned a lot about healthy communication, trusting and learning from each other and taking risks. By partnering for the long term, your suppliers can get exposure to the different parts of your business and understand how they fit together, internalize your preferred ways of working and find ways to complement your team’s strengths. In-house insights teams can get lots of value from fresh thinking by nimble, dedicated suppliers who are well-versed in different research approaches.

In this session, attendees can expect to benefit from the lessons we’ve both learned about building successful partnerships: dos and don’ts, best practices and how to make a committed relationship with a supplier work for everyone involved.

Key takeaways:

1. Upsides to committed relationships with suppliers.
2. Best practices for making a long-term supplier relationship work.
3. Potential pitfalls in long-term relationships.