Beyond the Spreadsheet

If you’re starting from scratch and your phone calls to colleagues and friends don’t yield many leads, there are some excellent online resources available. One notable one is Panjiva.com, which rates more than 40,000 suppliers, mainly in the apparel and accessories areas. In addition to using supplier- and customer-reported data, Panjiva uses data from third-party sources, such as U.S. Customs and various certifying organizations. This enables it to give ratings on a whole range of criteria, from quality to customer loyalty to social responsibility and more.