LPS Pulse

● Hach, a Danaher company, has achieved a dangerously high percentage of market share in the water testing market.

● Lovibond and Taylor Technologies have been in this space for far longer, and both offer equivalent products or better technologies at much better pricing.

● Consumers need to push back against these policies to prevent a monopoly from forming.

From tap water to LC/MS Grade Ultra-Pure water, CAS #7732-18-5 is the one chemical found in every lab.

From Type 1 to Type 4, your lab will most likely use them all.

● Prices go up year after year and savings goals promised are never delivered.

● Service levels go down, year after year. You are told you don’t buy enough to warrant an in-person sales rep. Some companies have even eliminated phone calls!

● Freight charges, fuel charges, handling charges and late payment penalties keep getting tacked on to your bill.

In my 50+ years of experience in the lab distribution business, the one thing that still mystifies me is chemical pricing. Specifically, how is the list price set and why is bargaining still the only way to arrive at a competitive price

● How did regional distributors make a comeback in the market?.

● Why do regional distributors appeal to lab buyers?

● What are the major objections to doing more business with regional distributors?

● How do regional distributors compete against the big distributors?

Did you know that when you purchased goods on labproservices.com that you weren’t dealing with a lab supply distributor? If not, who were you buying from? You were actually buying from a hybrid Procurement Service Provider. What the heck is that, you ask?

We were informed recently that Hach no longer permits its distributors to sell their products to resellers. Hach is a Danaher Corporation company. Danaher owns a lot of premier brands including Beckman Coulter. In the life science sector, they have acquired Pall Life sciences as well as Cytiva (formerly GE Whatman) whose most recent revenue statement was $31.47 billion.