Sourcing and supply chain systems built for how retail actually works.
Generic procurement tools manage simple purchase orders. Retail sourcing manages suppliers, factories, agents, samples, costings, logistics, QC, and compliance across multiple brands and hundreds of concurrent orders. That requires a system built specifically for it.
BasicData has been building sourcing and supply chain systems for South African retail groups since 2018. Our clients include Pepkor, TFG, Coricraft, and Choice Clothing. We built BasicPSF, a sourcing platform deployed across multiple retail operations, in continuous production since 2011.
What a retail sourcing system actually needs to manage.
Sourcing operations generate complexity at every stage — supplier qualification, product development, costing, ordering, production, QC, logistics, and landed cost reconciliation. Every one of those stages involves different people, different data, and different decisions. We build the system that ties it together.
Supplier and factory management
Purchase order creation and lifecycle tracking
Product development and sample management
Logistics, shipping, and customs management
Quality control and compliance documentation
Cost modelling and landed cost tracking
Range planning and seasonal management
Supplier performance scoring and audits
Executive reporting and sourcing dashboards
Most sourcing operations are held together by spreadsheets and emails.
The sourcing operations we are called into share a common pattern: the ERP handles finance, but the actual sourcing workflow, sample management, cost sheets, packing specs, and production milestones live in a combination of spreadsheets, email threads, and shared drives. Nobody has a complete picture of any order. Decisions get made on incomplete information. Mistakes happen at the handover points between systems.
BasicData has been building sourcing and supply chain systems since 2018. We understand the multi-party, multi-brand complexity of retail sourcing. Our BasicPSF platform has been running in production for enterprise retail clients for over a decade. When a new build is the right answer, we scope it to fit your operation precisely.
We are a registered member of the Claris FileMaker Business Alliance, the formal partner programme for professional FileMaker development companies.
Retail groups and sourcing operations managing complexity across suppliers, brands, and markets.
Our retail and supply chain clients range from single-brand sourcing teams managing direct factory relationships, to multi-brand enterprise groups running hundreds of concurrent orders across dozens of suppliers and multiple freight lanes. If your sourcing operation has outgrown spreadsheets and the gaps between systems are costing you time, money, or accuracy, that is the problem we solve.
Questions about FileMaker for retail sourcing and supply chain.
Our client credentials, what BasicPSF is, and what building a sourcing system involves.
Who are your retail and supply chain clients?
We have built and maintained sourcing and supply chain systems for some of South Africa's largest retail groups, including Pepkor, TFG, and brands including Coricraft, Choice Clothing, and PPS. We also work with specialist sourcing companies and importers across the fashion, footwear, and food sectors.
What is BasicPSF?
BasicPSF is our configurable sourcing and supply chain platform, first deployed commercially in 2011 and now in use across multiple retail groups and sourcing operations. It covers procurement, order management, supplier relationships, logistics, and reporting in one connected system. For retail and supply chain clients, it is often the right starting point rather than a fully custom build.
What does a sourcing system need to handle that generic software cannot?
Retail sourcing involves complex multi-party workflows: buyers, suppliers, factories, agents, freight forwarders, and QC teams, all touching the same orders at different stages. Generic procurement tools are built for simple purchase orders. Sourcing operations need product development workflows, sample approval chains, cost sheets, packing specifications, shipping milestones, and inspection results, all linked to the same order and visible to the right people at the right time.
Can the system handle multiple brands or business units?
Yes. Multi-brand operations are a core use case. We build systems that partition data by brand or business unit while maintaining a shared supplier and factory network, shared compliance documentation, and consolidated group-level reporting. Our Pepkor and TFG work spans multiple brands operating on the same platform.
How does the system handle overseas suppliers and agents?
Overseas supplier and agent access is managed through FileMaker WebDirect, which gives external parties browser-based access to specific parts of the system, such as order confirmations, sample submissions, or production updates, without access to the full platform. We design the access model to match your supplier communication workflow.
How long does a sourcing system take to build?
For a new custom build, a focused first module covering supplier management, purchase orders, and basic logistics typically takes ten to sixteen weeks. For clients deploying BasicPSF, the timeline is shorter since the core platform is already built. We scope both options and let you decide.
Tell us about your sourcing operation.
Describe how you currently manage suppliers, orders, and logistics, and where the gaps are. We will tell you whether BasicPSF is the right fit or whether a custom build makes more sense.