Suppliers Overview
Suppliers are a prerequisite for Purchase Orders in Synplex. Before you can create a PO, at least one supplier must exist and have products assigned to it. This is why the onboarding checklist explicitly asks you to set up suppliers before adding POs.
How suppliers work in Synplex
Synplex uses a two-level supplier model: Supplier └─ Supplier Products (one per variant per supplier) ├─ Lead time (days) ├─ MOQ ├─ Pack size ├─ Unit price └─ Supplier SKU
A Supplier holds the company-level details: name, currency, payment terms, lead time default, order minimums.
A Supplier Product is the link between one supplier and one product variant. It stores the variant-specific commercial terms for that supplier. A single variant can be linked to multiple suppliers — Synplex uses the primary supplier designation on the inventory item to decide which supplier to use in forecasting and PO recommendations.
This separation means you can:
- Source the same SKU from two different suppliers at different prices and lead times
- Switch primary supplier per variant without changing the supplier record itself
- Inherit store-wide defaults for any supplier product that doesn't have its own override
Where to find suppliers
Settings → Suppliers tab (/settings?tab=2)
From here you can:
- See all suppliers with computed performance metrics
- Add a new supplier manually
- Click any supplier to open its detail page
The Suppliers list shows these computed columns, all derived from actual PO history:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Products | Number of variants linked to this supplier |
| PO count | Total purchase orders raised against this supplier |
| Avg lead time | Average actual days from PO confirmation to delivery |
| On-Time % | Percentage of deliveries received by or before confirmed date |
| Fill Rate % | Accepted quantity ÷ ordered quantity across all POs |
| Defect Rate % | Defective units ÷ total delivered units across all POs |
All four performance metrics start empty and populate automatically as you receive PO shipments.
Supplier status
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Active | Available for selection when creating POs |
| Inactive | Hidden from PO supplier picker; existing POs unaffected |
Related
- Setting Up Suppliers — adding manually or via Shopify vendor sync
- Managing Supplier Products — linking variants, CSV upload, per-variant terms