Agora has two types of Platforms:
- Buyer Platforms
- Supplier Platforms
Supplier Platforms are used by businesses, distributors, or manufacturers that regularly sell to a variety of Buyer organizations. Supplier Platforms may also be used by “facilitator” organizations that manage product catalogs on behalf of Buyer organizations.
Supplier Platforms can be used to create and manage Stores. Suppliers usually create Stores for client businesses that buy regularly from them. In some cases, these Stores may be connected via punchout to Buyer organization e-procurement systems.
Supplier Platforms can also be used to participate in Buyer-controlled Marketplaces. A single Supplier Platform can participate in any number of connected Marketplaces, and each Marketplace may have many participating Suppliers. Buyer organizations using Agora must invite the Supplier to participate before the Supplier can connect their Platform to the Buyer Marketplace.
A Supplier who doesn’t already have a Platform in the Agora system, when invited by a Buyer to participate in a Marketplace, will be given a Supplier Platform with limited functionality. In order to create Stores, manage products, and manage multiple Marketplaces in a centralized way, the Supplier will need to upgrade their Platform.
A fully-upgraded Supplier Platform will have the following sidebar categories: