German for Wholesale and Purchasing (Grosshandel und Einkauf) - Suppliers, Prices and Orders

Wholesale is the step between the factory and the shop, and purchasing is the work of buying well at that step. In Germany both are organised trades with their own vocabulary of prices, terms and conditions.

A buyer who cannot name the difference between a Rabatt, a Skonto and a Zahlungsziel will lose money on every order. The words are not decoration; each one changes what the company actually pays.

The Words of Wholesale

A wholesaler buys in large quantities and sells smaller ones, and the business lives on the Handelsspanne between the two. That margin is thin, which is why every percentage in a supplier negotiation matters and why the buyer must read an offer carefully.

Finding and Assessing Suppliers

A German buyer assesses a supplier on three things: whether the price is stable, whether the delivery date is kept, and whether the quality stays the same from batch to batch. A cheap supplier who delivers late costs more than an expensive one who is reliable.

Negotiating Price and Terms

The classic German negotiation separates the price from the conditions, because a two per cent Skonto for payment within ten days is worth more than a small cut in the unit price. Staffeln reward larger orders, and die Konditionen are agreed in writing before the first delivery.

Placing the Order

An order is only binding once it has been confirmed, and the confirmation must repeat the price, the quantity and the delivery date. Where a supplier cannot deliver in full, a Teillieferung with a fixed date for the rest is normally better than a late complete delivery.

Managing the Supplier Relationship

Large German firms score their suppliers every year on price, quality and delivery, and the score decides who keeps the business. The annual meeting is therefore a formal event, and arriving with figures rather than opinions is what makes a buyer credible.

Documents and Numbers

Purchasing and accounting must agree on every invoice, because a mismatch between the order, the delivery note and the invoice stops the payment. A three-way check of Bestellung, Lieferschein and Rechnung is standard practice in German companies.

Stock, Turnover and Planning

Buying too little loses sales, and buying too much ties up cash and ends in an Abverkauf at a reduced price. German planning therefore works backwards from the forecast, setting order quantities so that the stock cover matches the season rather than the mood of the buyer.

Import, Customs and International Suppliers

A German wholesale business buys far beyond its own borders, so the buyer must know how an import is cleared. The Zolltarif number decides the duty, and the Einfuhrumsatzsteuer is charged on the value of the goods plus the freight.

Incoterms look like jargon but they decide who pays for transport and who carries the risk. A buyer who agrees to DAP has accepted the whole journey, while FOB puts the freight in the buyer's hands from the port of loading.

A Praeferenznachweis can reduce or remove the duty when goods come from a country with a trade agreement, and the document must be correct before the shipment arrives. A missing certificate is expensive and cannot always be produced after the event.

The Ursprungsland is not always the country of dispatch, and stating the wrong origin is treated as a false declaration. German customs can audit a company years after the import and then demand the duty with interest.

Buying internationally therefore needs a second language, and English is the working language of most freight paperwork. German is what the buyer uses with German customs, auditors and carriers. If you want to negotiate a price and read the conditions in German, learn German with the purchasing vocabulary built into the course.

The bars show the order of the stages; each value is a sequence number rather than a duration.

Working in Purchasing in Germany

Purchasing is a respected career in Germany and one of the routes into management, because the decisions made there are measured directly in money. Employers look for numeracy, firmness and the patience to read the small print.

The language of the job is a closed set of terms: Rabatt, Skonto, Zahlungsziel, Staffel. If you want to learn German for commercial work, this is one of the most rewarding vocabulary sets to master.

German purchasing turns language into money through precise terms and conditions. Learn German with supplier, price and order language built into the course.