The Vendors module in Zoho CRM enables you to maintain a record of the companies, individuals, and contractors from whom your organisation procures products and services. By tracking vendors within CRM, you can link them to the products they supply, associate them with purchase orders, and keep all procurement-related information in one place alongside your sales data.

What Is a Vendor in Zoho CRM?

A vendor record represents any external party that supplies your business with goods or services. This could be a product manufacturer, a software provider, a subcontractor, or any other type of supplier. Vendors are distinct from customers or prospects and are used primarily in the context of purchasing rather than selling.

Standard Vendor Fields

• Vendor Owner: The CRM user responsible for the vendor relationship. This is a required field.
• Vendor Name: The name of the supplier or organisation. This is a required field.
• Phone: The main contact telephone number for the vendor.
• Email: The primary email address for vendor communication.
• Website: The vendor's web address for reference.
• Category: A classification field to group vendors by type, for example "Software", "Hardware", or "Professional Services".
• GL Account: General Ledger account code for accounting integration purposes.
• Address fields: Billing and shipping address details for the vendor.
• Description: Free-text notes about the vendor relationship or terms.

Linking Vendors to Products and Purchase Orders

Once a vendor record is created, you can associate specific products with that vendor to indicate which supplier provides which items. This association is visible both on the vendor record and on the product record. When raising a Purchase Order in Zoho CRM, you select the relevant vendor, and the purchase order is linked to that vendor's record for full traceability.

Creating and Importing Vendor Records

Vendor records can be created manually through the Vendors module, or imported in bulk using a CSV or XLS file. The Vendor Name and Vendor Owner fields are mandatory for each record. Existing vendor data can be exported for use in other business systems if required.