How to Successfully Negotiate Prices with Suppliers for Your Singapore Business

There’s no hiding from the fact that we’re passing through stormy waters when it comes to international trade and relationships. The new approach to tariffs in the US and the threat of a trade war between the US and China is causing uncertainty and suppressing consumer demand.

For Singapore, this may cause economic downsides, according to the most recent quarterly macroeconomic review from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). While the MAS forecast of 0% to 2% growth remains stable¹, Singapore businesses can expect to see further pressures develop as consumer confidence and buyer appetite may waver in the light of the changing economic environment².

One way to help mitigate this risk if you’re a Singapore business owner, is to look to improve the terms you have with your suppliers, to lower your own costs and stabilise profitability. This guide looks at how. Plus we’ll also touch on Wise Business as another way to keep costs low in a volatile business environment, with easy ways to pay overseas suppliers with low fees and the mid-market rate for currency exchange.

Table of contents
Why supplier negotiation is so important now Research and preparation Build strong relationships Trust you’ll always get low, transparent fees with Wise Business Value-based negotiation Flexibility and compromise Negotiate payment and contract terms

Why supplier negotiation is so important now

Getting the best possible deals from your suppliers has always been important. However, for Singapore businesses, re-negotiating deals, payment terms and long term commitments could be more important than ever right now.

The US tariffs on imported goods will most greatly affect Singapore businesses which:

• sell to the US,
• work with US suppliers or
• buy components which pass through the US.

However, all businesses may feel the impact in the long run. As the largest economy in the world, changes in the US have a disproportionately large effect on other countries.

After all, if tariffs suppress demand in the US and the economy slows - or even enters a recession - the impact will likely be felt the world over.

There’s a high possibility that inventory costs, and operational complexity will increase, and if uncertainty globally suppresses demand in Singapore, any business based here could feel the effect in the long run.

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• Obtain account details to receive payments in GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD and more for a one-time fee of S$ 99.
• Simply share your account details with customers or add them to invoices.
• Hold, send, and convert money at the mid-market rate in one account.
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• Accept payments from customers and payment service providers (PSPs) like Stripe and Amazon.
• Generate payment links to request money in specific currencies.

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As a business owner, being nimble and thinking now about options to reduce your operating costs to allow you to weather the storm is simply good business sense.

One good way to reduce your own costs is to ensure you have the best possible deal with your suppliers. Let’s look at some tactics to negotiate prices with your suppliers to get a good deal, build mutually beneficial relationships, and thrive in the long run.

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Research and preparation

Whether you’re renegotiating a contract with a supplier you’ve worked with for a while, or shopping around to start negotiations with a range of suppliers, research and preparation will be key.

Getting a good feel for your supplier, their position in the market, their reputation and their advantages and disadvantages will help you to set out your own negotiation strategy.

While every case is different, you might find that smaller suppliers which are actively looking to bring on new clients can be more flexible in their terms - but on the flipside they may not have the track record of performance you need to know they’ll be reliable partners.

On the other hand, looking for a large supplier which has a strong reputation with other businesses, which can offer solid terms and guarantees about meeting your specific business needs, may work better. You might find that they’re more likely to push back on things like payment terms or minimum orders, as they are likely to have more solid operating policies themselves - but this may be a trade off that is worth it for the peace of mind that you’re working with a larger supplier which is likely to be able to flex to meet demand in a changing environment.

Ultimately, knowing as much as you can about the supplier you’re negotiating with can only put you in a position of strength. Research their market share, history, product range depth, where their own supplies come from, their reliability and the feedback from existing customers to learn more.

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Build strong relationships

Ultimately, trade is built on relationships. While you may be able to ‘win’ in the short term by pushing for an extreme deal with a supplier, there’s a decent chance that you’d still lose out in the end. Suppliers are likely to work to offer the best possible terms to businesses which they have strong relationships with - and if you need support, concessions, or variations in your terms of service in future, having a strong relationship is the best way to be able to ask for a favour when you need it.

While building a relationship with a supplier is going to be different to building personal relationships, many of the basic principles still hold. The people you’re dealing with on the supplier side are still exactly that - people.

On a practical note, depending on language and time issues, initiating at least one or two video calls with a supplier can be a good way to personalise the relationship. Actively talk about the best methods for communication to understand their preferences and needs, and above all, be transparent in your negotiations.

Building a sense of trust and respect from both parties is the key building block in a productive supplier relationship.

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Trust you’ll always get low, transparent fees with Wise Business

Transparency is a core part of building strong supplier relationships - and a core part of how Wise operates. As a fully digital provider offering multi-currency accounts which can hold and exchange 40+ currencies, Wise looks to offer fair and transparent pricing which you can compare easily with other services, to pick the optimal option for your business.

💡Whether you're handling one-off invoices, recurring payments, or mass payouts, Wise Business makes it easy to simplify your financial operations and maximise profits.

• Fast and secure payments to 140+ countries with no exchange rate markups.
• Always get the mid-market rate with transparent conversion fees starting from 0.26%.
• Send up to 1,000 payments with just one transfer using Batch Payments.
• Enjoy lower fees when sending amounts above 20,000 GBP (or equivalent in your currency).

➡️Start Paying Overseas Invoices for Less with Wise Business

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Value-based negotiation

It can be helpful to view the negotiation as being about more than simply cost of goods. When working with any supplier, other things matter - including quality, reliability, speed of delivery, and risk management.

As a business owner you’ll know that all these elements - and more - are interwoven into the products you sell your customers, your own operations and your business’ future success.

• For example, choosing a supplier which is happy to offer an absolute guarantee of the quality of their products, with a realistic contractual resolution to issues or disputes which may arise over quality, may be worth paying a slightly higher unit price for, compared to a cheaper choice.
• A supplier which can guarantee delivery timescales and offers solutions for delays or hold-ups may be worth choosing, because leaving your customers without their favourite products for any length of time could damage customer loyalty and brand image.

Weigh up all the factors which really matter to you, and use these as the basis for your negotiation - thinking about the end point being buying a whole package of service, rather than just a shipment of product.

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Flexibility and compromise

Before you enter your negotiations you’ll need to think carefully about where you can and can not be flexible. Having a set of red line non negotiables is normal - but in return you’ll need to also think about where you may be able to compromise, and what the balance here will need to be.

Suppliers may not be able to meet every single requirement you set out in your initial wish list. But by being somewhat flexible and thinking in advance about which terms really really matter to you, you can proceed with the negotiation on an open basis.

State upfront what you can not do without, and where appropriate you can share the aspects you may be able to offer flexibility with, so the supplier can then propose their own workarounds. By being open in the communication here you can also help to build the supplier relationship respectfully - rather than arriving with an ultimatum, and walking away if it’s not fully and instantly met.

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Negotiate payment and contract terms

The final lever you may want to consider is how you negotiate on payment and contract terms. Your supplier may have standard payment terms dictating the timeline for payment, the payment method, currencies and so on - and you may have your own preferences. However, this is often fruitful ground for negotiation depending on your own cash flow.

• For example, you could talk to the supplier about the option of making a payment early to secure a discount. Or, go the other way, and look to secure payment by installments, or only upon sale, depending on which will best suit the way your business cash flow operates.
• From your side, you can make sending money to overseas suppliers cheaper using a provider such as Wise Business to send money to over 140+ countries with the mid-market rate and low fees. This can lower foreign exchange fees associated with international transfers (like conversion fees), and help you to pay on time and in the supplier’s preferred currency, without excess costs to yourself.

This is exactly what NovelShip discovered when they started with Wise Business.

🚀 Real Business Stories: How Novelship saves time and money when paying overseas suppliers

Novelship is a fast growing e-commerce platform for sneakers, apparel and collectibles. Founded in Singapore in 2018, the company quickly discovered that paying suppliers through a bank can be time consuming and expensive. SWIFT telegraphic transfers could take several days to arrive, and the exchange rate available from the bank included a markup or spread - an extra fee. This pushed up the cost of sending a payment overseas, and ate into business profits. Since 2021, Novelship has used Wise Business to make paying invoices and international suppliers easier, cheaper and more efficient. It’s also a speedy process, which means the sellers and suppliers who use Novelship are happy too - there’s no waiting around for a SWIFT payment to be deposited, as supplier payments are quickly processed and received around the world. ➡️ Read how Wise Business helped Novelship grow its ecommerce business globally (and more profitably)

Your supplier may also have their own ideas about how they can adjust boilerplate payment terms to suit you. Be sure to regularly review your contract once you’ve got everything set up, to check whichever clauses you agreed on still work for your business - and if not, you can always re-open the negotiations to talk through alternative options.

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Conclusion

The world is rapidly changing, with economic volatility linked to tariffs, on top of geopolitical and other changes in recent years. While this story could still have years to play out, the time to act to ensure your Singapore business is well set to thrive in uncertain times, is now.

One key point here is to ensure you have productive and mutually beneficial contractor and supplier agreements in place which allow you to build long term relationships with value based negotiations that take into account a range of factors that matter to your company.

Use this guide to help plan your negotiation strategy. And to manage your business costs in a volatile environment, take a look at other partners who may help - like Wise Business for low cost ways to pay suppliers abroad with the mid-market rate and no hidden exchange rate markups to worry about.

➡️Get Started with Wise Business Today

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Sources:

1. Straits Times 28th April - Tariffs risk Singapore growth, jobs, wages
2. Straits Times 25th April 2025 - Tariff impact on Singapore retailers