Vendors

In Fannie, Vendors are sources from which the co-op purchases items. Products are the items that the co-op sells to customers. Products are typically a subset of of all items available via the various vendor catalogs. Vendor information is optional as it is not required to sell products, but entering vendor information can streamline processes related to adding new products and updating product prices.

• Entering vendor information
  • Upload Spreadsheet - upload a spreadsheet containing vendor item information and update the catalog or add new items as appropriate.
  • Map SKUs to PLUs - sometimes items are purchased from a vendor under one UPC and sold via a different UPC - e.g., under a bulk PLU. Associating vendor item SKUs with product UPCs allows costs and prices to be compared correctly. Use Item Maintenance => Manage Vendors to upload a mapping for a particular vendor.
• Using vendor information
  • Update Prices - compare vendor costs to product prices and update en masse.
  • Add new Products Use Item Maintenance => Manage Vendors to browse a vendor catalog. Items can be added to products simply by specifiying a department.

Ordering items from Vendors

Fannie is not currently the mechanism for generating or placing purchase orders at any co-op. Most stores use the Scan Genius service provided by Living Naturally for large vendors, such as UNFI, and place orders with smaller vendors via phone or fax. In this scenario the vendor information is used pricipally to change prices quickly and easily when the vendor costs change.

Fannie does have an interface for creating purchase orders using vendor catalog information and exporting them as spreadsheets or PDFs. This system could be further refined if anyone is more interested and willing to give feedback.

Change Log:

 3Dec13 AT First draft