More open to shopping around

Mirakl's industry-leading software powers the Satair Market, where Satair's own extensive inventory of parts are sold alongside those of approved third-party sellers.

This wide variety of available parts provides buyers with numerous options, including the condition of the parts they need.

According to Allan Uldahl Riis, the Director of Commercial Strategic Programmes at Satair, buyer behaviour on that front has changed significantly as a result of the industry crisis.

“Previously, airlines might have only used factory-new parts but now they are more willing to buy a surplus part or even a used part. And they’ve also really opened up their supplier base. Whereas before they may have only bought from one or two preferred suppliers, they’re now open to the idea of using multiple suppliers,” he says.

More likely to negotiate the price

The increased use of the digital marketplaces helped both sides get a more accurate sense of the fair market value of aviation parts.

Buyers were able to use the digital marketplaces to compare prices, while sellers were able to gauge the market-wide availability of certain parts and set their prices accordingly.

Overall, this increased the likelihood of both sides negotiating the price.

Less likely to buy or sell in bulk

Nevertheless, many buyers accepted paying a slightly higher per-item price rather than buying in bulk. And according to Riis, that’s a trade-off many were willing to make.

“Ordering on-demand might result in paying a little bit more, but it’s not likely to be a dramatic difference. More importantly for the buyers, they were reducing the risk of ending up with obsolete parts,” he explains.

In general, both buyers and sellers adopted a more short-term approach. Buyers switched to only acquiring what they would need over the next month, and sellers realised they could get much higher margins by selling the parts individually.

Digital marketplaces help parts sellers get maximum profit with minimum effort

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Brave new world: digital marketplace trading a boon to aviation supply chain