📌 This article is a focused how-to. For the full picture of how Preferred Suppliers relate to Smart Suppliers (the general lowest-cost automation), see Smart Suppliers and Preferred Suppliers in Ply.
🧭 Before you start, turn on the general Smart Suppliers toggle.
This step is easy to miss, but it's required. If the general Smart Suppliers setting is off, you won't be able to register a Preferred Supplier on any material at all.
Go to Settings > Procurement > Smart Suppliers.
Turn the toggle on.
Under Select Method, choose Suggest Adjustments (this keeps Ply from automatically overriding your Preferred Supplier choices with the lowest-cost option).
With that set, you're ready to configure preferred suppliers per material.
➡️ Step 1: Add Suppliers to a Material
Go to Catalog > Materials and open the material you want to configure.
Click the Prices & Suppliers tab.
Click the arrow (›) next to the material's row to expand it.
Click + Add Supplier.
5. Select the supplier and enter their cost.
6. Repeat for each supplier you want to compare on that material.
➡️Step 2: Mark a Preferred Supplier
Once you've added multiple suppliers to the material:
Still in the Prices & Suppliers tab, find the Smart Supplier toggle on the right-hand side of that material's row and turn it off.
Checkboxes will now appear next to each supplier listed for that material.
Check the box next to the supplier you want as your default.
You’ll see a “Preferred Supplier” label next to the selected vendor.
This supplier will be used by default when creating purchase orders or replenishing that material.
🔙 Switching back to automatic (lowest-cost) selection
If you change your mind and want Ply to go back to picking the lowest-cost supplier for a material instead of your manual pick:
Go back to the material's row in Prices & Suppliers.
Turn the Smart Supplier toggle back on for that material.
This clears the manual preferred supplier selection for that item and lets Ply resume choosing based on cost.
⚡Best practices
✅ Set the general toggle up first every time.
If Preferred Suppliers "aren't sticking," the very first thing to check is whether the general Smart Suppliers toggle is on and Select Method is set to Suggest Adjustments, not Adjust Automatically, which will keep overriding your manual picks.
✅ Only mark a preferred supplier once pricing is loaded for at least 2 suppliers on that material.
Marking a preference is most useful when there's an actual price comparison behind it; otherwise, there's nothing for Ply to "override."
✅ Re-check your preferred supplier after a bulk pricing update.
If you bulk-upload new supplier costs for a material that already has a Preferred Supplier set, confirm the per-material toggle is still off and your preferred pick is still checked.
⚡Common issues & fixes
"I turned off the Smart Supplier toggle, but I don't see any checkboxes to pick a preferred supplier."
Double-check the material actually has more than one supplier registered under Prices & Suppliers; checkboxes only appear when there's something to choose between. Also confirm the general Smart Suppliers toggle (Settings > Procurement) is on; if it's off, this feature won't be available on any material.
"I marked a preferred supplier, but Ply keeps switching it back to the cheapest one."
This happens when Select Method is set to Adjust Automatically instead of Suggest Adjustments. Adjust Automatically will always re-apply the lowest-cost supplier account-wide, overriding your manual picks. Switch to Suggest Adjustments under Settings > Procurement > Smart Suppliers to keep your Preferred Supplier choices intact.
"I set a preferred supplier, but the PO dropdown won't let me switch away from the smart supplier."
This was a known bug where the supplier dropdown on the PO could get locked when a preferred supplier was set. It's been fixed and is live in production; the dropdown should stay editable and default correctly to your preferred supplier. If you're still seeing this, reach out to us with the PO number.
Important notes
Preferred Suppliers are set per material.
Setup is currently manual, there's no bulk way to mark Preferred Suppliers across many materials at once yet (bulk pricing updates are supported; bulk Preferred Supplier assignment is not).
The choice can be changed anytime by toggling Smart Supplier back on or off for that material.
If you're planning to set this up across your entire catalog and want guidance on the most efficient workflow, feel free to reach out to Support; we're happy to help.
If you’re planning to set this up for your entire catalog and would like guidance on the most efficient workflow, feel free to reach out to Support, we’re happy to help.