Made in France as a criterion for awarding an order by company purchasing departments is in significant decline, according to a study published Tuesday, due, it argues, to the return to normal of supplies. According to the annual study by the AgileBuyer firm and the National Purchasing Council (CNA), made up of purchasing managers, this criterion increased from 61% in 2022 and 65% in 2023 to 47% for 2024, falling to the same level than in 2021.
Made in France would thus act as a “safe haven”, believes Olivier Wajnsztok, associate director of AgileBuyer, and “the normalization” of supplies, despite in particular the continuation of the war in Ukraine, reduces its interest as an “anti- supply disruption”. However, this remains an important criterion for orders in luxury and fashion (71%). For 22% of respondents, the cost of Made in France is too high (17% in 2023). Another major problem facing purchasing departments is getting out of dependence on China, due to fears linked to the current geopolitical context: half (51%) of companies want to reduce this dependence, without getting out completely. By far the most affected sector is IT and telecommunications (88%).
More generally, 70% of companies think that geopolitical crises will have an impact on their purchasing strategy in 2024. This is the case for 100% of respondents in communication and media, 96% of those in the automobile industry, 87% of companies in the pharmacy-health-cosmetology sector and 86% of those in defense. Among the feared risks, more than half (56%) of purchasing departments fear facing cartel situations between their suppliers in the same purchasing family.
The complexity of a cartel situation “is that it is difficult to establish, and therefore difficult to counter. It’s a silent poison,” notes Olivier Wajnsztok. The illicit cartel, recalls the study, is a concerted practice between several companies to distort the free play of competition on a market. The most affected sector, according to the study, is that of real estate and construction (at 81%), followed by energy-environment (at 71%), aeronautics-defense and automobiles. (tied at 70%). This study on “the priorities of purchasing departments in 2024” was carried out from November 20 to December 11, 2023, online, with a panel of people working in purchasing, 870 of whom responded in full.
