Add-Ins · Supplier connections
Supplier Data That Arrives Without the Retyping.
Distributor catalogues change constantly: new lines, discontinued products, revised costs and stock that moves through the day. We build the connection between those feeds and your own catalogue, so the information your team works from is current.
Connections are built around what each supplier actually provides. Some publish live APIs, some send scheduled files, and some only allow access to parts of their catalogue. We assess your accounts and tell you which it is.
Ingram Micro Xvantage and other distributors are named as examples of systems we can assess. Connection depends on your account, region, permissions and the integration services available to you.
01 · Capability
Catalogue and product data
Product information is imported, cleansed and matched, so your catalogue holds one record per product rather than one per supplier feed.
- Catalogue imports from supplier systems, APIs and scheduled files
- Product names, descriptions, specifications and brands
- Manufacturer part numbers and supplier SKUs
- Product images and documents, where their use is permitted
- Category mapping into your own taxonomy
- Product matching and duplicate detection across suppliers
- New line detection, so additions reach your catalogue without a manual review of the whole feed
02 · Capability
Cost and availability
Cost price and availability drive what you can sell and what it should sell for, so they are updated on a schedule that matches how the supplier publishes them.
- Supplier cost price updates
- Stock availability and lead time information where published
- Multiple suppliers linked to one internal product
- Preferred supplier rules based on cost, stock or lead time
- Minimum margin and markup rules applied after the cost update
- Out-of-stock and zero-price controls, so a product is held back rather than sold at a guess
- Price change history, so a sudden movement can be traced back to the feed that caused it
03 · Capability
Purchasing and fulfilment
Where the supplier supports it, the same connection can carry purchase orders out and fulfilment information back, removing the rekeying between your system and theirs.
- Purchase order submission, where the supplier supports electronic ordering
- Order acknowledgements and confirmation references
- Dispatch and tracking updates, where the supplier publishes them
- Backorder and substitution information where available
- Delivery confirmation feeding your own stock and job records
04 · Capability
What each supplier allows
Supplier capabilities differ, and they change. The assessment step exists to establish what is available to your specific account, rather than assuming it from a feature list.
- Some suppliers provide live APIs, others provide scheduled files, and some provide both
- Access depends on your trading account, region, permissions and any integration services enabled for it
- Data licensing may limit how product images, descriptions or specifications can be republished
- Rate limits and file sizes determine how often a feed can be read
- Where a supplier provides no supported access, the fallback is a controlled import rather than a workaround that breaks quietly
How it works
Discover, connect, configure, test, then launch
Supplier connections follow the same five steps as every Add-In. Discovery is where we test access against your own supplier accounts.
Discover
We list the suppliers you buy from, the access your accounts allow, and how each one publishes catalogue, cost and stock information.
Connect
Supplier credentials and API access are configured through supported methods, with the data you are licensed to use kept separate from the data you are not.
Configure
Category mapping, product matching rules, preferred supplier logic, margin rules and update schedules are set up and reviewed with you.
Test
A live import runs against a sample of products, including the awkward ones: discontinued lines, duplicate part numbers and cost changes.
Launch and support
Feeds run on schedule with error notifications when a supplier changes format or a product cannot be matched, and the rules are tuned as your range moves.
Supplier & Distributor Connectors questions
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. Some provide APIs, some send scheduled files, and some allow limited or no automated access. We check your own accounts during discovery and tell you what is possible.
Yes. Multiple suppliers can be linked to a single internal product, with rules that decide which one is used for cost and availability, and a record of where each figure came from.
As often as the supplier publishes them. Live API data can be read on a short cycle, while file-based feeds arrive in batches. The schedule is agreed with you and shown in the synchronisation log.
Only where the supplier's terms permit it. Where they do not, we keep supplier data for internal use and publish from your own product content.
Related Add-Ins and services
Supplier & Distributor Connectors enquiry
Tell us what to connect
Share the platforms, suppliers, marketplaces and systems you use, and the workflow that costs the most time today. We will come back with what each one allows and what an integration would involve.
- A written assessment before any build starts
- Access through supported authentication, never a password
- Your data, mappings and documentation stay yours
Prefer the general form? Use the contact page or call 0800 00 2270.
Start with the assessment
Tell us what you use and what you want connected. We will tell you what can be automated, what has to stay manual, and what it would take.