Scoring supplier data quality and improving it
Two suppliers can offer the same products at the same prices and still be very different partners. One sends a complete, accurate price list every morning. The other sends it late, with missing images, outdated stock and a different column order every month. The second supplier costs you more than the price list shows. Scoring data quality makes that cost visible.
What to measure
Timeliness
Does the price list arrive on schedule? How often is it late or missing?
Stock accuracy
How often do orders fail because the supplier did not actually have the item? This is the most expensive quality problem.
Completeness
Share of products with images, a brand, a category and the key attributes for their category.
Consistency
How often does the file structure change? Are identifiers stable from one file to the next?
Price reliability
How often do prices change unexpectedly, or differ from what the supplier invoices?
A simple scorecard
Rate each supplier on each dimension from 1 to 5 once a month. Keep it simple; the aim is to see trends and compare suppliers, not to build a complex model. A supplier whose score keeps falling deserves a conversation before the problems reach customers.
Improving quality
- Share the scorecard with suppliers. Many improve quickly once they see the specific issues.
- Ask for a better format. A feed by link or an API is usually more reliable than e-mailed files.
- Agree on fixed identifiers and a notice period before file structure changes.
- Fill gaps from other sources: another supplier of the same product, the manufacturer or the supplier's website.
- Use priority. When several suppliers offer the same item, prefer the one with better data.
How YfiFX helps
Because YfiFX processes every supplier's price list the same way, differences between suppliers become easy to see: which files bring new and missing products, how prices change over time, which products lack images or characteristics. Missing data can be filled from other suppliers linked to the same product, from automatic photo and specification search, or from the supplier's website with the scraper. Supplier priority lets you rely on the most dependable sources first.
Set it up once. YfiFX does the rest
14 Days Free Trial. Sign up and import your first price list today.