We work with a huge range of suppliers, from international, well-known brands through to single-person operations. Wherever possible, we aim to work with local suppliers, contributing to the positive impact our villages have on the surrounding areas. We have a framework in place to ensure that we deal fairly and ethically with suppliers, recognising that our business can have a significant impact and ensuring we maintain a respectful, two-way relationship in all of our dealings.
Importantly, we only engage with suppliers who have the same high ethical standards and zero-tolerance approach to bribery and corruption as ourselves. To ensure this, we have a robust on-boarding system which ensures new suppliers agree to trade in a safe and ethical manner and understand our expectations of them. New suppliers are asked to complete an anti-bribery and corruption questionnaire, an ethical trading declaration, a data protection agreement and provide insurance certification. Supplier certifications are refreshed on an annual basis. Once the supplier has been approved on our systems, they will have access to system training and regular meetings with Category Managers. We aim for 98% of our business to be placed with suppliers who are registered on our supplier management and payment system.
Supplier payment
It is vital that we pay our suppliers within agreed terms to ensure their financial position is not compromised. We want our suppliers to have confidence in working with us, knowing that we will make payments in a timely manner.
We do not have standard payment terms. Payment terms are agreed with suppliers as part of contract negotiations – however, the most common terms of invoices paid in the period are net 30 days, net 45 days and net monthly (invoices payable on the 28th of the following month), which equates to circa 45 days average.
Our average time to pay invoices is 33 days. 23% of invoices are paid within 30 days, 73% within 31 to 60 days and 4% after 61 days.
Working with local suppliers
We do not discriminate against suppliers based on their size or location, provided they are able to meet our requirements and standards in a safe and ethical manner. We actively encourage, and facilitate, the involvement of local suppliers in tender activity. We define local suppliers as any supplier located within a 30-mile radius of a Center Parcs village.
During the construction phase of our villages, we hold regular Meet The Buyer events in the local area, where we encourage local suppliers to attend, meet our Procurement team to discuss our requirements and provide them with all the information they need to submit a tender. We also encourage our main contractors to use local sub-contractors wherever possible. In particular, we strive to have locally sourced fresh produce in our ParcMarket, use local companies to provide transport for our employees, and engage with local organisations to provide on-site activities, such as pony rides.
