How do I find out which packaging customers could switch suppliers easily?
Look at how deeply the packaging is built into each customer’s product and process. Custom sizes, approved tooling and qualification steps keep customers in place. Standard boxes that any supplier could make are easy to replace. Order history and customer calls will confirm which is which.
Sort the customer list by what you are really selling. A custom-printed, custom-shaped piece that fits a customer’s filling line and passed their testing is hard to move. A plain carton in a common size is a commodity, and the customer may already get quotes from others.
Ask the owner how long each customer has stayed and how they came to the shop. Customers who stayed through a price increase or a late delivery show real loyalty. Ask whether any have tried other suppliers, and whether they came back. Look at who in the customer’s company chooses the supplier. One friendly contact is fragile if they move on.
Check whether tooling, plates or dies belong to you or the customer, since that changes how easily they can leave. Review recent quotes lost and won. If the owner agrees, speak to a few customers directly and ask what would make them look elsewhere. Pay attention to customers that make up a large share of sales; the ones who could leave easily matter most there. Remember that ease of switching is not the same as willingness. Some customers could leave but never do, because the relationship works. Weigh both the practical barriers and the history of how each customer has behaved.
Key takeaways
- Separate custom, hard-to-move work from plain commodity packaging.
- Ask who has tried other suppliers and who chooses the supplier.
- Speak to customers, with the owner’s consent, about what would make them leave.
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Sources
This answer is checked against primary sources. Links were last confirmed on the dates shown.
- 01Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentHow to conduct due diligence when buying a business
- 02Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentWhat are the steps to buying a business?
- 03Business Development Bank of CanadaGovernmentAfter buying a business, what is the next step?
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