What is a Bundle Lot?
A bundle is a container of line items that is used to solicit discounted prices. There are times where a line item can have a different price when sold as part of the bundle and could be more expensive on its own or in a separate grouping. Suppliers and buyers can create bundles to provide a price for each line item, and a discounted price for the same line items, but within a bundle. The bid is discounted value at the item level, compete at the lot level, and collect item pricing during bidding.
There are two types of Bundles in SAP Ariba:
- Owner Bundles are created by event owners by grouping line items together with the intent of obtaining discount pricing. The Project Owner groups items together to push suppliers to provide a lower price on the collection of items than on the individual items.
- Participant Bundles Suppliers must first submit their primary bid on the items and/or lots created by the event owner, then choose to create an Alternative Response bundle via Bundle Alternative.
Quick Comparison of Owner and Participant Bundles
| Owner Bundles | Participant Bundles |
|---|---|
Created by the event owner before publishing event | Created by suppliers when placing bids |
Represent specific grouping of line items for discount | Represent participant-grouping of line items for discount |
All participants may bid on the same bundles | Bundles may be different across suppliers |
Whether participants can create bundles is independent of project owners creating bundles.
How are Bundles Helpful?
The use of bundles allows the event owner to see if suppliers will provide a discount if the items are packaged together as a bundle. The assumption is that a supplier will provide a bigger discount if they are awarded more business. Bundles are used to find the best discounts available if multiple line items to a single supplier are awarded.
Participant Bundles are advantageous as suppliers are often more knowledgeable than the event owner about how to group items to get the deepest discounts. This is especially true if the grouping of items will vary across suppliers.
Enabling Participant Bundles
- Set the competitive term(s) to be editable by Owner and Participant under the Is Term Editable in Alternatives attribute to allow the supplier to create their own bundles of line items at a discounted price.
- An item has many terms and Project Owners can decide which term(s) the participant can change. Generally, it is the price.
- The default is Not Editable, so do not forget to make at least one term editable by owner and participant, or the bundle will not provide any advantage at all.
Alternative Pricing Requirements
- Owner bundles must be enabled in the lot settings within the event template.
- Bidding rules must be enabled to allow alternative responses and participant bundles.