CASE STUDY: Pricing of Lab Supplies

HappiLabs performed a small case study to evaluate the pricing of common lab supplies. It has become clear to us that some suppliers use the term "discount" as a tactic to convince scientists to buy their product. When in fact the "discount" provides no savings compared to competitor pricing.This blog post will have little discussion; we'll let the data do the talking. We compared pricing from small "Mom & Pop Shop" suppliers; large, publicly traded, well known suppliers; and Amazon.Amazon is included because our purchasing history shows significant growth with them as more suppliers are selling their products in the Amazon marketplace.

METHODS

1. We selected 9 lab supplies that HappiLabs commonly purchases for its labs.
2. We found identical or similar equivalents of those items from at least 5 suppliers.
3. For each item, we compared pricing from Fisher, VWR, Amazon and 2-3 smaller suppliers.
4. We documented the supplier catalog # and/or manufacturer #, website link, item description, price, and unit size.
5. Documentation was done in a spreadsheet, and screenshots of the product pages were taken.
6. We compared List Prices and reported our findings. (data is as of April 1, 2016)

List Price is the cost of an item as listed on a supplier website. This does not include the price you pay after negotiating a discount, and does not include shipping or taxes.

RESULTS

Figure 1 shows the price ranges for three of the nine items. (Graphs for all nine items can be found at the very bottom of this post)Large scientific suppliers have the highest list price. Fisher has one of the highest two list prices for 7 out of 9 products. VWR is in the top 2 highest list prices for 5 of 9 products.Figure 2 shows the cumulative cost at List Price if a scientist purchased all 9 items individually from Fisher, VWR, and Amazon.The total difference between Fisher and Amazon is 54%. Significant. For lab tape, it's 77%!Your lab might get discounts from Fisher and VWR, but do they average 54%? Isn't it easier to go to Amazon or a small supplier like E&K Scientific or P212121?Amazon aside, many of the small suppliers will always match pricing from large suppliers, and they usually have more exceptional customer service. This is where HappiLabs excels--finding and managing relationships with small suppliers to make sure your lab is treated well.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNED

1. Don't believe a "discount" is a fair price. Always double check pricing against a competitor, Amazon, or by asking HappiLabs.
2. Comparison shopping will save your lab money.
3. Build relationships with small, regional suppliers.

RELATED LINKS

ThermoFisher reported Net Profit of $400,000,000 in Q1 2016.The Relabeling Racket: How what we don't know is hurting biomedical research.The Cost of Moving a Lab Out of a Biotech Incubator

FULL DATA

For questions or more details about operating an efficient lab, CONTACT HAPPILABS.