During the sourcing process buyers need to be able to consider a maximum of products presented to them, in their own formats, which makes comparing and negotiating much easier. After utilizing the portal for streamlined external & internal collaboration a decision is reached and only data from the best producer/price/quality is uploaded to the in-house merchandise management system of the retailer. Data from all the “no thank you” proposals should never pass through the retailer’s corporate firewalls or enter into the company’s back office or master Product Information Management systems (PIM).