27 May 2010 | Paul Snell

Camels and film star Ray-Bans - it’s all in a day’s work for Andrew Swift, global sourcing director at WhiteConcierge. Paul Snell discovers what ‘high net worth individuals’ demand from buyers

You get a call in the middle of the afternoon. A company is hosting an Arabian-themed party in Zurich. A show is part of the event and the organisers need a camel to appear for at least an hour. Can you source one for them?

Or what about this? Someone has been on holiday in Reykjavik and a piece of art in an optician’s store has caught her eye. Unfortunately she can’t remember which shop it was. Could you find out the name of the artist, and see if similar pieces can be purchased?

While even the most seasoned buyer might see these as daunting challenges, they are just part of the day job for Andrew Swift, head of global sourcing, and his team at WhiteConcierge.

The firm provides a service for several major financial services companies, where holders of premium credit cards can ring up and get whatever they want. Need snow shovelled off your driveway? Want a table at one of the country’s hottest restaurants? Trying to find a watch your wife has seen on the latest episode of Desperate Housewives? WhiteConcierge will arrange it.

You can turn up for work in the morning and not know what you will be buying in the afternoon. And Swift, who joined the company in January, is excited by the challenge and not short of confidence. After all, this is a man who set up a surf shop in Leeds – a place not renowned for its similarity to Bondi Beach.

“As a sourcing department we have a big challenge because how do you anticipate the need for a camel?” he tells SM. “You can’t. The challenge is to develop supplier relationships without the guarantee of volume.”

The company employs around 130 staff to act both as customer service representatives and sourcing agents, to answer calls from customers and fulfil requests, so everyone is considered a buyer. The firm takes around 15,000 calls a month, with around 40 to 50 per cent of these related to travel, ticketing or restaurant bookings.

“A few weeks ago somebody wanted a pair of sunglasses they’d seen in The Italian Job,” says Swift. “It requires a little bit of gumption. What style was it? It was

Ray-Ban, so I emailed the PR person, got the name of the model and asked if we could buy it on the high street. In this case we went to Harvey Nichols and bought a pair, so within about four or five hours we were able to source it, find it and deliver it.”

He adds his team have to be aware of what’s fashionable – from gadgets to candle scents – because if people want to buy it, they will have to find it. Staff are given responsibility for awareness, to keep track of upcoming sporting events or new West End shows, for example.

However, procurement is not just a free for all – processes have to be followed and suppliers have to be verified. “You want reliability, you want the price to be right, you want the quality to be right – you can’t have a diseased camel. So we have a careful supplier selection process that involves due diligence, research on the company and references. We need to apply all the normal category management to this

fast-moving sourcing process.”

The firm had three different offers for camels, and the star of the show was eventually sourced from a circus in the area.

Building relationships

If you don’t know what you need to buy, or how much, this can make developing supplier strategy quite difficult, but is one of the things Swift has been asked to do.

“We know roughly how many flights we book a year, but can we promise it? No we can’t,” he says.

“A lot of the relationship is built on the knowledge we are working on behalf of very high net worth individuals. Even if you don’t end up supplying us with volume, you will end up in front of these people who will then know about your brand and that is second to none for these companies. So you need to not just sell on volume, but on the relationship that can bring.”

Part of his strategy is to build relationships with consolidation partners, such as hotel or airline booking agencies, on services such as travel where they know there will be some volume. That means they can take advantage of better prices and deals without being reliant on volume commitment.

And while suppliers may not be aware of WhiteConcierge, Swift can trade off the value of the cards and banks the firm represents. Smart suppliers will realise it’s not all about volume, but building a profile with the end-users, Swift believes.

He describes his ideal supplier as: “A company that would work in partnership, provide a discount and give us a global reach. It has to have a strict complaints procedure which we would also be able to use to address SLA issues. On top of that they would give us the other discount offers and access to events clients might want that gives them brand awareness and some sort of value-added service. If they can do that they would be perfect for me.”

His definition of a key supplier, and one whom requires a different relationship, are those who can provide around 70 per cent of customer fulfilments.

And, as with his employees, he needs vendors with an ear to the ground. “I have 130 people who source, and they help me keep in contact with what’s in the news, but then it is down to the suppliers and that relationship you have with them. They tell you who is their threat, because their threat could be your new best friend unless you have a good relationship.”

Beyond the norm

One of the differences Swift has noticed is the necessity for him to concentrate more on “sales”. He sells to internal customers to drive compliance with key suppliers and process, and he must promote the company to suppliers to get them to think beyond volume guarantees.

Measurement is also something that does not conform to traditional procurement norms. “One of the first things my boss told me was if I told him I had saved 10 per cent on our money transfer costs, he’d say ‘so what?’.” More valuable is how many requests from customers are fulfilled through the key supply base.

And as compliance is so important, how can this be promoted among such a large squad of buyers? “We are monitoring agents’ abilities to follow compliance and we are building in an incentive to use the key suppliers. They can ring up their buddy who has a hotel in Timbuktu and get a room, but if we use our key suppliers we get the rebates and the discount.”

And does he have any tips for sourcing a ticket to the World Cup final or film premiere? “First of all you don’t pay for it!” he jokes. “You get it offered to you. Everyone has a ticket for something.

Andrew Swift: Career History

January 2010 – present

Head of global sourcing, WhiteConcierge

March 2009 – January 2010

Interim procurement work, including roles at Rank Group, Holmes Place, buyingTeam and Bridge House Capital

March 2003 – March 2009

Global procurement manager, BBG Global

January 2001 – March 2003

Senior buyer, Thistle Hotels

In addition to having run his own surf shop in Leeds, Andrew has also written and published two books: My Reason for Hope and This Page Intentionally Left Blank