Introduction
A vendor, or seller, is an entity selling products or services in a supply chain. A supply chain vendor typically produces stock/inventory products and sells them to the next link in the chain.
A vendor or supplier is a term for the management of the supply chain and implies someone who offers products or experiential services to another person. Vendors can be a part of business-to-business (B2B), business-to-consumer (B2C), or business-to-government (B2G) transactions.
Some vendors manufacture inventory items and then market those goods to customers, while other vendors provide services or experiences.
Vendor and Supplier
We also hear words like vendors and suppliers in the business world because they are the essential links to the supply chain process. A vendor is someone who sells a commodity for sale to customers who is the final link in the process of the economic supply chain.
A supplier, on the other hand, is an individual or company engaged in the business of supplying the products and services to whoever wants it. It represents the first and foremost link in the supply chain process.
In general, the supplier supplies produce in bulk quantities of a specific category of products. Unlike a supplier, the vendor holds a wide range of products in small lots and provides them to the consumer.
Types of Vendors
There are different types of vendors that might have different roles in supplying goods and services. These are just a few common examples:
- Service providers who perform services and maintain them.
- Manufacturers who make goods from raw materials.
- Wholesalers who sell goods to other businesses.
- Retailers who sell goods to consumers.
Vendor in a Supply Chain
A vendor is part of a supply chain. The turnaround, starting from the time a product is made until a customer buys it, includes the product travelling through the hands of many people and businesses. This journey makes up a supply chain.
Actually, a supply chain is a network that moves products from factory to customer shelf. Some supply chain networks are simple, while the others are complex.
