Suppliers

Suppliers are the vendors you buy from. In Spensa, a supplier record holds everything the rest of the app needs to work with that vendor: where order emails go, in which language, your customer numbers, and any minimum order value. Orders, order templates, products, and invoices all hang off your suppliers, so setting them up is one of the first things to do.

What this is for

• Keep a record for each supplier: name, legal company name, VAT ID, order email address, email language, minimum order value, and customer numbers.
• Create suppliers by hand or ask the assistant to add them for you.
• Edit supplier details at any time.
• Search and sort your supplier list.
• Archive suppliers you no longer work with, and restore them later.

Where to open it

On the web, click Orders in the left sidebar, then Suppliers. Suppliers sit next to your orders because their order days, delivery times, and minimum order values shape how you order.

The phone app has no supplier pages. Suppliers show up there inside other flows: you pick a supplier when placing an order, and you read supplier replies in the supplier messages screens. While recording a stock outflow on the phone, you can also create a new supplier on the spot, with just a name.

Access and permissions

Admins and managers can create, edit, archive, and restore suppliers. Other company members do not see the Suppliers page unless you give them a custom role with permission to manage suppliers. Everyone in your organization can see supplier information where it appears elsewhere in Spensa, for example on orders and invoices, and staff members see their location's suppliers when ordering on the phone. Read more in Team and permissions.

What a supplier record holds

• Supplier Name (required) - the name your team knows the supplier by, for example "Tichy". Spensa shows this name everywhere, including in order emails. Each name can only be used once in your organization.
• Legal company name (optional) - the registered name printed on invoices, for example "Eismanufaktur GmbH". Spensa uses it, together with the supplier name, to recognize invoices and delivery notes from this supplier. It is not shown anywhere else.
• VAT ID (optional) - the supplier's VAT identification number with its country code, for example ATU12345678. Spaces and dots are removed when you save. An invoice showing the same VAT ID is matched to this supplier even when the names differ; an invoice showing a different VAT ID is never matched to it automatically.
• Supplier Email (optional) - the address your order emails are sent to.
• Order email language - German or English. German is the default. This controls the language of the order emails Spensa sends to this supplier.
• Minimum order value (optional) - in euros. Leave it empty if the supplier has no minimum. If you enter a value, you also choose what happens when an order stays below it:
  • Show a warning - the order can still be sent.
  • Block the order - the order cannot be sent until the minimum is met.
• Customer numbers - one optional customer number per location (the app sometimes calls a location an "establishment"). This is the number the supplier uses to identify that location. Spensa includes it in outgoing orders and uses it to match incoming invoices to the right supplier.

Creating a supplier

1. Open Suppliers and click New Supplier.
2. Enter the supplier name. A name only, for example "Metro", is enough to start.
3. If the supplier's invoices show a different registered name, enter it under Legal company name, and add the VAT ID if you have it.
4. Add the order email address if you plan to send orders through Spensa.
5. Choose the order email language.
6. Set a minimum order value if the supplier has one, and choose warning or block.
7. Enter your customer number for each location that orders from this supplier.
8. Check Delivery days and Next-day delivery cutoff if the supplier restricts deliveries. Choose whether a missed cutoff warns or blocks ordering.
9. Save, then reopen the supplier and check the order email before placing an order.

One heads-up shown on the form is worth passing on: suppliers can reply to your orders through orders@orders.spensa.ai. Tell your supplier about this before sending your first order, so their reply does not get missed on their side.

Adding suppliers with the assistant

If your supplier list is still empty, the page offers two buttons: Ask the agent to add them and Add manually, plus a "See how it works" link. The first button opens the assistant with a ready-made request. You list your suppliers in plain language, names are enough, and the assistant creates them for you. You can also ask the assistant to update supplier details later. See The assistant.

When you ask the assistant to create suppliers from documents or a list, it uses the available details for each supplier and leaves unknown details blank. An email printed on an invoice is not necessarily an address for orders. Identify the order address explicitly if the document does not, and check it before placing your first order.

Spensa never creates suppliers on its own

This is important to know when you start uploading invoices: Spensa reads invoices, but it only matches them against suppliers you already have. It never invents a new supplier from an invoice.

When an invoice arrives, Spensa first looks for a supplier whose customer number for that location matches the invoice, then for a supplier with the same VAT ID. If there is no match, it picks the best fit among your existing suppliers, comparing both the supplier name and the legal company name. If nothing fits, the invoice stays without a supplier, and it cannot be approved until you assign one of your suppliers or create the missing one. You can create the supplier before uploading or during invoice review. When you create it from an invoice, Spensa fills in the supplier name, legal company name, and VAT ID from the invoice; check them before saving, especially the supplier name, which should be the name your team uses. When you also have permission to manage invoices, creating a supplier triggers a background check of unassigned invoices across uploads. Clear matches are assigned automatically; unclear matches remain for review. Review assignments in the invoice list or change them during invoice review. See Invoices.

Editing a supplier

Click a supplier card in the list to open its edit form; there is no separate viewing page. Change what you need and save. Changes apply from then on: for example, a new order email address or language is used for future orders, not past ones. Changing the name, legal company name, VAT ID, order email addresses, or customer numbers also rechecks unassigned invoices when you have permission to manage invoices.

If a supplier currently shows its full registered name, for example "METRO Cash & Carry Österreich GmbH", you can shorten the supplier name to "Metro". Keep the registered name under Legal company name so invoices are still recognized.

Finding suppliers in the list

Each card shows the supplier's name and order email address. Type in the search box to find suppliers by supplier name or legal company name; small typos are fine. You can sort the list by name, ascending or descending, and it loads more suppliers as you scroll.

The list shows active suppliers. To see archived suppliers, click Filter and check Archived suppliers, or choose the Status: Archived suggestion below the search. Archived suppliers carry an Archived label.

Archiving suppliers

Suppliers cannot be deleted. When you stop working with a supplier, archive it instead. Archiving keeps everything that belongs to the supplier, so your history, costs, and stock values stay correct.

What stays:

• The supplier's products stay in your catalogue, with their price history. You can still count them in inventories and use them in recipes. The catalogue marks their supplier as archived.
• Orders, order conversations, delivery notes, and invoices stay, and still show the supplier's name. Replies to orders that were already sent keep arriving.
• Order templates and order schedule slots are kept but hidden until you restore the supplier.

What stops:

• You cannot place or send orders to the supplier, or create order templates or schedule slots for it. Unsent orders cannot be sent while the supplier is archived.
• Order reminders for the supplier are paused.
• New invoices are no longer assigned to the supplier automatically, and the supplier is no longer offered when you pick a supplier.

To archive suppliers from the list:

1. On the Suppliers page, open the three-dot menu and choose Edit.
2. Select the suppliers you want to archive.
3. Click Archive. The dialog lists any unsent orders and order reminders that will be paused.
4. Click Archive to confirm. The suppliers disappear from the list of active suppliers.

To archive a single supplier, click it to open its edit form, scroll to Archive supplier, click Archive supplier, and confirm.

Restoring an archived supplier

1. On the Suppliers page, click Filter and check Archived suppliers.
2. Click the supplier. Its edit form shows "This supplier is archived".
3. Click Restore supplier.

To restore several suppliers at once, open the three-dot menu while archived suppliers are shown, choose Edit, select the suppliers, and click Restore.

A restored supplier works as before: you can order from it again, its templates and schedule slots come back, and Spensa checks unassigned invoices against it again.

If you try to create a supplier with the same name as an archived one, Spensa tells you that an archived supplier with this name already exists and offers to restore it.

How suppliers shape ordering and invoices

Once a supplier is set up, its details do quiet work all over Spensa:

• Every order goes to exactly one supplier. The order email is sent to the supplier's email address, written in the chosen language, and includes your customer number for the ordering location.
• Supplier replies come back through orders@orders.spensa.ai and appear as a conversation on the order, on the web and in the phone app's supplier messages.
• If the supplier has a minimum order value, Spensa checks it when the order is sent and warns or blocks, depending on your setting.
• Each order template belongs to one supplier, and its items are that supplier's products.
• Incoming invoices are matched to a supplier using the customer number or the best fit among your suppliers, and invoice lines are matched against that supplier's products.

How this connects to other parts of Spensa

• Orders - orders are sent to the supplier's email address in its language, with your customer number; minimum order values warn or block at order time.
• Order conversations - supplier replies to orders arrive as message threads.
• Order templates - every template belongs to one supplier.
• Order schedule - schedule slots are tied to suppliers.
• Invoices - invoices must be matched to one of your suppliers before they can be approved.
• Product Catalogue - every product belongs to exactly one supplier, and you can filter the catalogue by supplier.
• The assistant - the assistant can create and update suppliers for you.
• Mobile app - staff pick suppliers when ordering and read supplier messages on the phone.

Good to know

• You can have up to 500 suppliers in your organization.
• Supplier names are unique, including archived suppliers. If a name is taken, Spensa tells you: "Supplier with the given name already exists."
• Archived suppliers count toward the 500 supplier limit.
• Entering a minimum order value starts with the warning behavior; you can switch it to blocking. Clearing the value turns the check off entirely.
• A supplier created on the phone during a stock outflow has only a name. Add the email address, language, and customer numbers later on the web before sending orders. If the name belongs to an archived supplier, that supplier is restored instead.
• Clicking a supplier always opens its edit form; supplier details such as products and orders live on those features' own pages.