Suppliers

A supplier is who you buy from. Stockful keeps each supplier’s contact details, currency, payment terms, lead time and price list together, so building a purchase order is mostly picking products - the costs, currency and terms are already there. Open Suppliers under Purchasing. The list shows each supplier’s contact, linked vendors, currency, lead time and how many products are on their price list, with Active and Archived status. Search by name and sort by any column.

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Adding a supplier

Click Add supplier and fill in what you have:

• Details - name, company, contact, email, phone, website, and private notes (never shown to the supplier).
• Address - used on purchase order documents.
• Purchasing defaults - these pre-fill onto new purchase orders for this supplier:
  • Supplier currency - orders are priced in this currency and converted to your store currency.
  • Payment terms - None, Cash on delivery, Payment on receipt, Payment in advance, or Net 7 / 15 / 30 / 45 / 60.
  • Lead time (days) - how long this supplier takes to deliver. Used by forecasting and reorder timing unless a product overrides it.
  • Tax rate, minimum order value, account number, and a purchase order note template that pre-fills the note to supplier.
• Vendors - link the Shopify vendors this supplier provides. Their products become eligible for this supplier’s price list and orders.

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The price list

A supplier’s price list is the products you buy from them and what you pay. It’s what makes purchase orders quick - costs, supplier SKUs and pack sizes come straight from here. Each entry holds:

• Supplier SKU - the supplier’s own code for the product, for their reference on the order.
• Cost - what you pay, in the supplier’s currency.
• Pack size - the unit you order in, so quantities round to whole packs.
• Min qty - the smallest quantity you can order.
• Lead time - a per-product override of the supplier’s default.
• Primary - marks this as the product’s main supplier.

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Building the price list

Three ways to add products:

• Search your catalogue and add products one by one.
• Add products by vendor - pull in a whole vendor’s catalogue in one go.
• Import a CSV - columns are a SKU or barcode plus optional supplier SKU, cost, pack size and minimum quantity. Rows are checked and flagged Ready, Not found, Vendor not linked, Duplicate or Already added before you commit them.

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Primary supplier

A product can be on more than one supplier’s price list. The one marked Primary is the default used for reorder recommendations and pre-filled costs, so you always know where a product is bought from first.

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Closed periods

Suppliers shut. The clearest case is Chinese New Year, where factories close for around three weeks, but it applies to any holiday or factory break. Add the dates on the supplier and Stockful brings reorder recommendations forward, so an order fires early enough for stock to land before they close, sized to cover the gap until they reopen. Open a supplier, find Closed periods, and click Add period:

• From and To - both required, and both days count as closed. A supplier shut the 8th to the 28th cannot ship on the 28th.
• Reason - optional, for your own reference. “Chinese New Year” or “Factory maintenance”.

Each period shows as Upcoming, Closed now or Past based on today’s date. Edit or delete any of them; recommendations update shortly after.

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How it changes the numbers

If stock ordered today would arrive while the supplier is shut, that delivery realistically lands on the day they reopen. Stockful treats the lead time as stretching to that date, which pulls the reorder point earlier and increases the suggested quantity to cover the closure. Nothing else changes. A supplier with no closed periods, or whose closures are nowhere near your next delivery, behaves exactly as before.

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How suppliers feed purchase orders

Everything on a supplier flows into ordering:

• Choosing the supplier on a PO sets its currency and payment terms, and unlocks their price list for costing.
• Line costs, supplier SKUs and pack sizes come from the price list.
• Falling below the minimum order value warns you before you place the order.
• Lead time drives when reorder recommendations tell you to buy, so stock lands before you run out, adjusted for any closed periods.

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Archiving and deleting

Archive a supplier you no longer use to hide it from pickers while keeping its record - unarchive any time. Deleting a supplier removes it and its price list, but your purchase history is kept, so past orders and costs stay intact.