vendor

Definition of vendor

Etymology

Old French *vendour; Latin venditor (“seller”); vendere (“to sell, cry up for sale, praise”), contraction of venundare, venumdare, also, as orig., two words venum dare (“to sell”); venum (“sale, price”) + dare (“to give”)

Pronunciation

• Audio (US) ^[?]
• Rhymes: -ɛndə(r)

Noun

vendor (plural vendors)

1. A person or a company that vends or sells.

Synonyms

• merchant
• seller

Further reading

A vendor, or a supplier, is a supply chain management term meaning anyone who provides goods or services to a company. A vendor often manufactures inventoriable items, and sells those items to a customer.

History

The term vendor originally represented property vendors. However, today it means a supplier of any good or service. A vendor, or a supplier, is a supply chain management term that means anyone who provides goods or services to a company or individuals. A vendor often manufactures inventoriable items, and sells those items to a customer.

Typically vendors are tracked in either a finance system or a warehouse management system.

Vendors are often managed with a vendor compliance checklist or vendor quality audits.

Purchase orders are usually used as a contractual agreement with vendors to buy goods or services.

Vendors may or may not function as distributors of goods. They may or may not function as manufacturers of goods. If vendors are also manufacturers, they may either build to stock or build to order.

'Vendor' is often a generic term, used for suppliers of industries from retail sales to manufacturers to city organizations. 'Vendor' generally applies only to the immediate vendor, or the organization that is paid for the goods, rather than to the original manufacturer or the organization performing the service if it is different from the immediate supplier.