What are the Benefits of Using Vendor Portal Software?

The supplier portal is an IT solution that optimizes the processes of interaction with suppliers. Clients work in a web interface that is integrated with the company’s infrastructure.

Managers, having gotten rid of routine work, are engaged in monitoring processes, searching for more profitable contracts, developing relationships with large suppliers, and expanding the range. If you are thinking about developing a vendor portal software, this article is for you. You will learn about the benefits for users of such software.

Vendor Portal Software Components

Vendor portal software is a useful solution that consists of several components aimed at increasing work efficiency, reducing time costs, automating processes, saving resources, etc.

Checking Suppliers And Collecting Applications

Any supplier or manufacturer is committed to long-term partnerships with large retail chains. As a result, the flow of applications and commercial proposals turns out to be too large. Accepting applications from suppliers through the portal simplifies the choice and minimizes the risks of concluding an agreement with an unscrupulous representative of services and goods.

Accepting applications through your personal account form allows you to:

• Collect information about the counterparty necessary for the security service.
• Carry out an automatic analysis of cost-effective product items, which will help make a decision on the advisability of working with a particular supplier.
• Carry out an initial check of filling out the application form, which will exclude a company with incorrectly filled in data (non-existent telephone numbers, postal addresses, and other details) from being included in the list of potential suppliers.

Product Management

This module allows the supplier to manage the list of items that he sells.

The module includes:

• Creating an application for new positions.
• The merchant fills out the minimum required set of information about new products (article, catalog section, name, brand, price), this information is checked for correctness and then goes to the buyer’s employees for manual moderation.
• Management of the current product range (suspension of item activity, removal from assortment).
• The ability to both manually fill out each product and work with an array of data by downloading an xls file of a given format.
• Each product item receives a certain status (moderated or not, temporarily rejected or not interesting at all, requires additional data, etc.). The actions available for it depend on the current status of the product.

Content Standardization

Before a product is included in the catalog, suppliers provide a set of data called PIM. This data includes photo content, characteristics, descriptions, and other necessary information. All information received can be standardized. As a result, a product item with a detailed description is formed on the portal, ready for posting on the website.

The built-in PIM module may include:

• Managing the list of product images and their order (main photo, product in packaging, product in use).
• A set of mandatory and optional data about the parameters and characteristics of the product.
• Requirements for the attached files (quality certificates, assembly instructions, etc.).
• Creating and editing product descriptions with a minimum set of formatting (bold and italic font, headings, paragraphs, bulleted and numbered lists).
• Complex product matrices (with distinction between several sizes and colors – for clothing, with reference to a single set – for complete goods).

Requests for PIM, as well as requests for the supply of goods themselves, can be sent individually or collected into a general order over several days. The statuses of applications and the history of their placements are available to both the supplier and managers on the customer’s side.

Pricing Policy Management

This module allows the supplier to edit prices for their products in any convenient format: make a discount or markup on individual products, on a group of products at once, or make bulk changes by downloading a price list in xls format. Information about price changes is reflected in the history, the data is available for viewing by the supplier and the customer.

The module can have a number of settings:

• The discount can be set on a specific list of products or a specific selection can be created using filters (discount in a separate section of the catalog, on all products of the brand, etc.).
• The specified discount is indicated as a percentage and has a validity period (indefinitely, or indicating the start and end dates of the discounts).
• The supplier can set a discount on a limited number of products (for example, on the first 20 items).

Supply And Batch Management

This is a key module for ensuring regular procurement activities. Using this module, supply volumes are controlled automatically.

Module functionality:

• Displaying the merchant’s current needs for goods. Data is generated in the internal accounting system and automatically uploaded to the website.
• Formation of an offer to the supplier based on the size of the next batch of goods. For each product or category, you can set the permissible deviation from the required quantity in the order.
• Coordination of the final composition of the supply request. The transfer of the application to the invoice and delivery stage occurs only after confirmation by both parties. It is possible to set up additional processing rules (for example, if the application matches the declared needs, then it can go to the invoice stage without additional approval).

Logistics Management

The module allows you to automate interaction with the supplier at the stage of goods delivery.

To prevent several deliveries from arriving at the warehouse at the same time, the customer’s accounting system approves the work schedule and the level of workload of the warehouse. Available dates and times are displayed in your personal account; from these options, the supplier selects the best one when drawing up a delivery request. Passport documentation for drivers and forwarders can be processed here.

Final Thoughts

Developing software for a vendor portal is a complex process that includes several modules to provide users with full functionality. We have considered only the most basic of them. If you want to create a customized, scalable, and efficient vendor portal software solution, we recommend finding a team of specialists in the field of vendor portal software development, such as Digiteum, with extensive experience in this field.