One Year since fast payment promise

At Lion, we place great value on the relationships we have in our ecosystem of suppliers, customers, retailers and consumers. It’s one of the ways we hand back value to the communities we are in. One of these relationships we have been focusing on of late is our commitment to our smaller suppliers.

Recently the Government announced new rules for small business supplier payments, and it reminded me that it’s been nearly a year since we doubled-down on looking after the smaller companies we trade with.

We get that sometimes it’s hard to maintain a good cash flow, so we’re doing our best to be fair when it comes to paying our suppliers. That’s why we were one of the first to jump on board the Business Council of Australia’s Supplier Payment Code.

This has meant that since 1 January this year, a 30-day payment period is the norm for eligible suppliers in Australia and New Zealand. That’s from the original date of an invoice – not the date we approve payment.

There are only two exceptions to this: suppliers we’ve agreed to pay sooner, like our primary producers supplying raw milk who are paid 15 days from the end of the month; and larger businesses with negotiated contracts (and even then, we ask for monthly invoices).

The positive feedback from our suppliers to these changes has been humbling to say the least.

That’s why we’re continuing to work hard to implement the Code and improve payment times across our business. But it’s not all we’re doing.

Since March, we’ve also offered early payments through Earlytrade, where suppliers can be paid as soon as the next business day in exchange for a small discount on their invoice.

In addition, we’re being more transparent with our suppliers and others by publishing our standard purchasing terms on our website here: http://lionco.com/legal/terms-and-conditions/purchasing-terms-and-conditions.

Lion’s commitment to transparency and improving supplier payments goes right throughout our supply chain. It’s something we stand by because not only will it help improve the viability of small businesses, which in turn benefits the economy and our society, but it’s also the right thing to do.