Supplier vs. Vendor - What is the difference?

[paciffic]

what is the difference between a supplier and a vendor

[Jim Wynne]

In Reply to Parent Post by paciffic

what is the difference between a supplier and a vendor

No difference. Sometime in the relatively recent past it became fashionable to say "supplier" rather than "vendor."

[ddunn]

I have always considered "supplier" a general term to refer to vendors, manufacturers and contract manufacturers.

Vendors - someone who sells products manufactured by someone else.
Manufacturers - someone who makes and may or may not sell their own product
Contract Manufacturer - someone who makes someone else’s product.

[Jim Wynne]

In Reply to Parent Post by ddunn

Vendors - someone who sells products manufactured by someone else.

To "vend" is to sell, and the definition makes no distinctions as to where the thing sold comes from.

In Reply to Parent Post by ddunn

Manufacturers - someone who makes and may or may not sell their own product

If they don't sell what they make, what do they do with it?

In Reply to Parent Post by ddunn

Contract Manufacturer - someone who makes someone else’s product.

AKA "job shop." Job shops that make products are also manufacturers and vendors.

[Marc]

Also see this definition thread: Supplier - Definition of supplier

Supplier in the Wiki.

[tomvehoski]

Back in the early 90s I spent several hours in a meeting where two managers argued which of these two words we should use in our procedures. I did not care - I just wanted a decision so I could move on.

I did just do a search at dictionary.com and it came up with a somewhat disturbing list of synonyms:

1 entry found for supplier.
Main Entry: drug dealer
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: person who sells illegal narcotics
Synonyms: bagman, candy man, connection, dealer, dope peddler, dope pusher, drug peddler, drug seller, drug supplier, drug trafficker, man, pusher, source
Source: Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.1.1)
Copyright © 2006 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

[cncmarine]

This is what a got when I went to the same website
supplier

n : someone whose business is to supply a particular service or commodity

[Coury Ferguson]

In Reply to Parent Post by paciffic

what is the difference between a supplier and a vendor

No difference as far as I am concerned.

Politically Correct: "Supplier" sounds a little better then Vendor.


Coury Ferguson