A supplier catalog It is a database in which the contact information of suppliers with whom a company or a brand collaborates is protected.
How many suppliers do you have in your business? 10, 15, over 50? Depending on the size of your company, you probably have a tool to help you manage them. Some manage this with the help of an ERP system, however, some others, who may not yet have a high transactional level, decide to have greater control through a supplier catalog.
In this content I will explain everything you need to know about a supplier catalog, giving you specific examples of how to make one and the advantages of having it in your business. You will see that it turns out to be a very powerful weapon to streamline processes and keep your business expenses at bay. Continue reading!
What is a supplier catalog?
In general terms, a supplier catalog It is a tool that contains the data of all the suppliers of a company, whether they are raw materials, logistics or even public relations.
Usually, a catalog of Mexican suppliers refers to a document or a database where the information of all those companies or people that provide a business, a service or a product is collected, and that can even store previous or subsequent quotes for a better control of the purchases in a company.
What is a supplier catalog for?
As such, a supplier catalog It is used to organize and better manage the suppliers that a business has, so that easy and quick access to the information of each of the companies that are related to our enterprise is achieved. Let’s talk a little about the advantages of having one in your company.
Advantages of having a supplier catalog
Considering the benefits of having a catalog of suppliers in a companyThese are the main advantages. Take note!
- Helps keep information up to date.
- It is useful for automating tasks and purchases.
- It serves to maintain the transparency of the company.
- Support in the management and supply of the business.
- It is possible to maintain a comparison between each one.
I explain in a couple of lines a little more about each point.
Help keep information up to date
When we collaborate with 10, 15 or more than 20 suppliers, keeping track of the data of each one, the quotes produced, the requirements for the purchase and more, can be difficult to keep organized. For this reason, having a catalog of suppliers can give us order and keep updated information on each of the companies that provide us with services without misplacing relevant information.
It is useful for automating tasks and purchases
By having everything gathered in a database, it is much more agile to automate tasks and purchases, since information related to purchases in our business is stored on this site, therefore, request a new purchase or a new order from our supplier it can be more agile than if we did not have that information at hand.
Serves to maintain company transparency
Depending on the information stored in said catalog, it is possible to make the purchase and order request processes transparent, managing to choose the one that best suits the business. For example, if we build a catalog of historical suppliers, we can observe the current and past suppliers, as well as the quotes made for said services and thus compare both companies.
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Support in the management and supply of the business
At the beginning of a business, it is likely that there will not be so many problems with the management and supply of merchandise, however as suppliers are added to our company, it is likely that different working methods, delivery dates, purchase conditions, even different shipping methods. A catalog of suppliers comes to speed up and overcome this obstacle, since it contains all the information necessary to improve the way in which an entrepreneur relates to the companies that provide him with a service or product.
It is possible to maintain a comparison between each
If you have made different quotes or different requests to various suppliers for the same item, you can easily make a comparison to help you decide which is the best supplier for what you are looking for and decide based on cost, purchase conditions or dates. of delivery.
Types of supplier catalogs
Now that you know what a supplier catalog, the definition of this tool and how it helps entrepreneurs, let’s talk about the different types of supplier catalogs that exist. I will list them below:
- Chronological
- Historical
- Raw material
- of packaging
- of finished products
- by dropshipping
- Of maintenance
- advertising
- Decoration and furniture
- local
- Nationals
- international
- From suppliers in Mexico
- From Asian suppliers
Let’s talk about each of them depending on their operation, do you think?
Types of supplier catalogs depending on time
These two types of catalogs work as blogs. The method used to order the data can be chronological, listing the suppliers as they began to collaborate with the company or separating the current ones from the previous ones.
Depending on the type of company and the area that makes use of these tools, it is common for these catalogs to be used as photographs of a moment in the company’s history.
Types of supplier catalogs depending on the supplier
In a business, there are multiple types of providers in MexicoTherefore, this classification collects your information and groups it depending on the service or product that the provider provides to the enterprise. Some of the types of supplier catalogs that can be generated are:
- Raw material
- of packaging
- of finished products
- Of maintenance
- advertising
- Decoration and furniture
- Of design
- Of back office
And many more! These types of catalogs are common to be found in different areas of operation, having different catalogs depending on the needs of the collaborators. For example, marketing can have its own catalog of suppliers, warehouse can also have its own catalog, as well as accounting, human resources, logistics, sales, etc.
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Types of supplier catalogs depending on the location
In companies that maintain import or export business relationships, suppliers are likely to be grouped depending on the geographical location where they are located, so it is possible to find supplier catalogs:
- local
- Nationals
- international
- From suppliers in Mexico
- From Asian suppliers
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How to make a supplier catalog?
Let’s get to work! Since you know the different company supplier catalogs, let’s make one as an example so you know how you can create one to facilitate operations in your business. These are the steps you will need to follow:
- Defines the type of catalog to build.
- Choose the necessary fields to build the catalog.
- Gather the information.
- Update it constantly.
Let me explain each of them to make everything clearer.
1. Define the type of catalog to build
The main thing is to choose what type of catalog your company requires. You can select one of our previous list or carry out an information survey with the area involved and thus define the scope of the project. Some of the questions that can help you find the ideal answer would be:
- Which providers do we work with?
- What kind of information do we need to collect?
- Who will use the supplier catalog?
- What will we use the catalog for?
Once you have the answers to these questions, you will be able to choose the catalog of suppliers that you need in your business.
💡Tip: Being sensitive information, not all your company’s collaborators require the information of all the suppliers with whom you work. For this reason, one of the best practices is to divide the catalogs so that each area collaborates and completes the one that has the suppliers with which it has a close relationship.
2. Choose the necessary fields to build the catalog
There are priority fields depending on the type of supplier catalog you want to build. Have you thought about whether you have the corresponding information on each of your strategic allies? Some of the common fields that you can find in almost any catalog of Mexican suppliers are:
- Provider’s name
- RFC
- curp
- Telephone
- Business name
- Tradename
- Owner
- Legal representative
- Address
Other fields that you can include depending on the type of catalog you are creating are:
- Country
- Incoterms
- MOQ (minimum order quantity)
- Marketer
- Previous quotes in PDF
In addition to these fields, it will be necessary to include a key field, where the status of the supplier is included, that is, if he is actively collaborating with the company or not.
Here I show you a supplier catalog example easy. It is built with the data of a company that sells custom t-shirts and designs.
💡Type: Because it is a database, you can build your supplier catalog in Excel or any data processing program, such as Google Sheets or Numbers. If you require a more robust solution, you can rely on it to do the task yourself.
3. Gather the information
With the base armed, it is time to collect the information to complete the supplier catalog. Define which will be the priority fields and request this information from your business partner. A good time to do this is at the time of billing, requesting the key fields not only to generate the commercial transaction, but also so that it is saved in the files with which your company works.
Let’s continue with our supplier catalog example. See how trade partner data has been included, leaving additional space for useful comments that can be used for negotiation and the generation of new purchase orders.
4. Update it constantly
Never forget to update it! An outdated supplier catalog is as useful as a car with flat tires: it won’t get you anywhere and if it does, it won’t be far. You can define certain moments in the year to update the supplier catalogs, some of the most common being close to the commercial close, the year close or the fiscal close.
Remember to include the last date of…
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