Vendor Management

Overview

Vendor management covers creating and sending purchase orders to suppliers, tracking goods receipts, running vendor performance scorecards (on-time rate, fill rate, defect rate), and maintaining a supplier portal where vendors can acknowledge POs and provide tracking numbers. For most merchants, QuickBooks/Xero handles POs and vendor tracking, while a supplier portal can be as simple as an email-based workflow for smaller operations.

When to Use This Skill

• When managing 5+ suppliers and need a centralized system instead of email-based coordination
• When your merchandising team manually creates purchase orders in spreadsheets and needs automation
• When onboarding new dropship suppliers and need a structured integration flow
• When preparing quarterly business reviews with suppliers and need performance metrics
• When building a multi-vendor marketplace where each seller needs their own dashboard

Core Instructions

Step 1: Determine your platform and choose the right vendor management tool