A Study on the Selection of PL Product Supplier Using AHP
Youngjae Huh, Jeongmin Nam · 2025
In this study, a research model for selecting a PL product supplier was established through prior research related to supplier selection and interviews with experts. It is intended to identify the importance of the main attributes and components that distribution company's PL development buyers consider important in selecting a product supplier and present strategic implications to product suppliers. Since it is more appropriate to survey experts in a specific specialized field rather than an unspecified number, the analysis was conducted using the AHP technique. This study targeted 20 buyers of distributors, a group of experts who develop PL products and select suppliers in the actual distribution field. A total of 20 surveys met all consistency of 0.1 or less and were used for the study. As a result of the study, the importance ranking of PL product development buyers' selection of suppliers was in the order of price factor, quality factor, technology factor, financial factor, and relationship factor, and the price and quality aspect that the distribution industry prioritized was the most important. In particular, this study examined the importance by classifying them into fresh food, processed food, and non-food according to the items operated by each buyer, and it was confirmed that the important factors thought of by PL product development buyers were different according to the characteristics of the product group being operated. The price factor is the most important recognition factor by PL product development buyers handling fresh and processed food, and the quality factor is the second most important factor. On the other hand, PL product development buyers handling non-food products showed the result of prioritizing quality factors over price factors. Third, technical factors were considered important, and relatively, the financial factors and related factors of suppliers were of very low importance in relation to the selection of suppliers. This study empirically analyzed the factors that are considered important in the decision-making process related to the selection of PL product suppliers by PL product development buyers, and it can be said to be meaningful in that it provides a direction for what strategies suppliers should have to cooperate with distributors. The point is that PL product suppliers should recognize and prepare the priorities of factors that PL product development buyers think of depending on the items they want to supply. In addition, if PL product suppliers identify and prepare the priorities and detailed items of the selection factors for each item, PL product development buyers will be able to have a comparative advantage over competitors in selecting PL product suppliers.