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CombineNet ASAP^®: Expressive Bidding^® Between Buyers and Suppliers

Taking advantage of supplier innovation helps lead to further cost reductions, sourcing and supply chain efficiency, and new competitive advantages. CombineNet ASAP^®, our advanced sourcing product, helps sourcing teams tap into supplier innovation with our Expressive Bidding® approach.

CombineNet ASAP's Expressive Bidding offers the industry's most robust and flexible bid collection features, allowing suppliers to submit their expressive, creative proposals that best meet the buyer's expressed needs.

The result? Expressive Bidding improves the match between the sourcing team and supplier. Each side's preferences are expressed in more detail during the sourcing process — with the associated data collection and aggregation easily automated in CombineNet ASAP. Supplier bid collection, management, and analysis for both price and comprehensive non-price factors are easily and quickly enabled.

Advantages to suppliers with our Expressive Bidding approach:

• Bid on each item individually or create their own bundles.
• Apply conditional (if/then) discounts, volume discounts, rebates, tiered pricing, etc.
• Submit proposals that take advantage of their unique strengths and non-price factors — such as production costs and capacities; raw material inventories; market conditions; competitive pressures; and strategic initiatives.
• Propose alternate items that are similar to those being sourced, but for which unique economic advantages exist.
• Select values for item attributes (e.g., material, color, delivery date) in such a way as to match production efficiencies.
• Nominate specifications, terms, conditions, product and service combinations, and economics that better suit the supplier's business and reflect their unique strengths.

CombineNet ASAP's Expressive Bidding translates to "supplier-friendly" bidding and improved sourcing innovation, because suppliers can clearly offer what they are good at along with price. This approach also encourages smaller suppliers to compete, since each item can be bid on individually for even the smallest part of the business.

Customers of CombineNet ASAP report that this approach actually serves to strengthen their strategic relationships with suppliers, by creating mutually beneficial outcomes and at the best cost.