Supplier code
A supplier code is a supplier’s own reference for a product, the code its price lists and invoices use, which means nothing outside its systems.
- Supplier SKU
- Dealer code
What it means
Every supplier numbers its products its own way, whether it calls the result a stock code, a dealer code or a SKU. The code is the key to its price list, stock and invoices, so it is often the one thing every row of its file has. It follows no fixed format and has no check digit.
Keep it in a column of its own, beside your own SKU. When two suppliers send the same product, the merged product keeps one code. The other is filed as a supplier code, with that supplier’s name and price. Its next file then updates the product instead of adding it again.
Treat it as text from the start. By default, Excel turns 00123 into 123. It also converts “a continuous string of letters and numbers” into a date, which is how a code like DEC10 comes out as 10-Dec.1
Think of it like this
A takeaway’s order number is the same kind of thing. Quote it at that counter and your bag appears. Quote it at the shop next door and nobody knows what you mean.
For example
Two suppliers send the same basin mixer tap, one as TAP-ARC-CH and one as NW/ARC/BM/C. After the merge the product keeps TAP-ARC-CH. NW/ARC/BM/C moves to a supplier codes column with that supplier’s name and its price, 38.90, ready for its next file.
Why it matters
A supplier’s next price list arrives keyed on its own codes. If you kept them, every row maps onto a product you already have. If you did not, the same products come back as new ones, and every duplicate has to be found again.
Not to be confused with
A supplier code is not an MPN, even when it sits in a column headed Part no. The MPN comes from the manufacturer and is the same from every supplier, while a supplier code changes with the supplier.
Sources
- Microsoft Support. Set automatic data conversions.