---
title: "Supplier Groups"
space: "ERPNext"
url: "https://www.prilk.com/docs/erpnext/supplier-groups"
updated: "2026-05-15"
---

## Supplier Groups

A Supplier Group is a category — Raw Material, Services, Local, Foreign, Logistics, Subcontractor. Use Supplier Groups to:

- Default different payment terms per group
- Filter spending analysis by group
- Restrict purchasers to specific groups (e.g., a junior buyer can only order from "Approved Local Suppliers")
- Apply different default accounts (for cost classification)

### Where to manage them

**Supplier Group** → list view. ERPNext seeds a default (All Supplier Groups, Raw Material, Services, …); add your own structure.

### Create a new Supplier Group

**Supplier Group → New**:

| Field | What |
|---|---|
| **Supplier Group Name** | Raw Material, Services, Logistics, … |
| **Parent Supplier Group** | For tree structure |
| **Is Group** | Yes if it will have children; No if it's a leaf |
| **Default Payment Days** | Days you typically pay this category |
| **Accounts** | Optional — default expense account for purchases from this group |

### Tree structure

```
All Supplier Groups (root)
   Goods
       Raw Material
       Finished Goods (resale)
       Packaging
   Services
       Consulting
       Maintenance
       Subscriptions
   Logistics
   Utilities
```

### Default inheritance

A Supplier inherits from their group:
- Default Payment Terms (and thus Due Date on Purchase Invoices)
- Default Tax Category (if you've split by domestic / EU / non-EU)
- Default Expense Account (so all "Consulting" supplier invoices land in the right account)

The Supplier's own fields override the group.

### Reports

Most purchase reports can filter by Supplier Group. Useful for:
- "What did we spend on Raw Material this year?"
- "Top suppliers per group"
- "Average payment period per category"

### Restricting buyers

For procurement teams where junior buyers shouldn't order from certain groups:

1. Open the User
2. **User Permissions** → Allow Supplier Group = [allowed groups]
3. Save

The user can only create POs for suppliers in those groups.

### Common situations

- **Local vs Foreign** — separate groups; foreign suppliers get different tax handling automatically
- **Approved vs Unapproved** — "Approved Suppliers" group; junior buyers restricted to this group only
- **Single-source critical items** — own group with stricter monitoring (Authorization Rules trigger on these POs)

### Renaming and merging

Rename freely — Suppliers follow. To merge: move Suppliers from old group to new, then disable old.