How to Build a Supplier or Vendor List
Use ProfileSpider to build a supplier or vendor list from public directories, trade listings, marketplaces, and search results. Extract the visible suppliers, save them to a list, enrich missing details, and export to CSV, Excel, or JSON.
Goal
What This Workflow Is For
Turn public supplier and vendor sources into a structured list you can compare, enrich, and export.
Use this workflow when you need to find and compare suppliers or vendors, for example manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, service providers, or software vendors in a category or region. Trade directories and vendor listings are high-intent because they group suppliers by what they offer.
Whether you are sourcing for procurement, building a vendor shortlist, or prospecting suppliers as customers, ProfileSpider reads the visible listings and turns them into structured rows you can qualify and export.
This page is focused on the ProfileSpider workflow: open the supplier source in Chrome, extract the visible suppliers, save the rows to a list, optionally enrich missing details, and export the list as CSV, Excel, or JSON.
Prerequisites
Before You Start
Confirm the page and tooling match this workflow.
Before you start, make sure you have:
- ProfileSpider installed in Chrome and signed in
- A public supplier directory, trade listing, marketplace, or search results page open in a normal Chrome tab
- Supplier or vendor listings, cards, or rows visible on the page
- A rough idea of the columns you want, such as supplier name, category, website, contact, location, and source URL
This workflow works best when the source shows repeated suppliers in live HTML. If listings are hidden behind a login you cannot access, extraction may be limited.
Fit
Best For / Not Ideal For
Set expectations before you install or run an extract.
Best for
- Trade and industry supplier directories
- Wholesaler, distributor, and manufacturer listings
- Software and SaaS vendor directories
- Procurement and sourcing marketplace pages
- Service provider and contractor listings
- Search results for suppliers in a category or region
Not ideal for
- Supplier portals behind a login you are not authorized to access
- PDFs, screenshots, or scanned supplier catalogs with no live HTML
- Pages that only show supplier logos without names or links
- Pages where listings only appear after complex in-page interactions
- Single-supplier pages with no repeated rows
Steps
Step-by-Step Workflow
- 1
Open the supplier source in Chrome
Go to the public supplier directory, trade listing, marketplace, or search results page and wait until the listings are fully loaded and visible.
If the source has category or region filters, apply the filter you want before extracting so you capture the right suppliers.
- 2
Open ProfileSpider
Click the ProfileSpider extension icon. The extension will analyze the current page and prepare the extraction workflow.
- 3
Review the fields you want to capture
Common fields for supplier lists include supplier name, category or product, website, contact, email, phone, location, and source URL.
ProfileSpider structures the data visible on the page. Fields the source does not publish may remain empty.
- 4
Run the extraction
Start the extraction. ProfileSpider turns the repeated supplier listings on the page into structured rows. A normal page scrape uses one credit.
- 5
Save the suppliers to a list
Save the extracted rows to a new or existing list. Use tags or notes to record the category, region, or sourcing project.
For example, save rows to a list named “Packaging suppliers EU” or “SaaS vendors - analytics”.
- 6
Enrich and export the supplier list
Review the rows, remove anyone outside your target, and enrich missing details such as websites or contacts where useful. Export the saved list as CSV, Excel, or JSON for sourcing or outreach.
Schema
What ProfileSpider Extracts
Default fields for this workflow. Add or remove columns before you extract.
- Supplier NameThe supplier, vendor, or company name shown in the listing.
- Category / ProductThe product, service, or category the supplier offers when listed.
- WebsiteThe supplier website linked from the source page, when available.
- ContactA named contact, sales contact, or role when the source exposes one.
- EmailAn email address if it is visible on the page. Missing emails can be handled later with email finding where available.
- PhoneA phone number if the listing provides one.
- LocationCity, region, country, or service area when present in the listing.
- Source URLThe directory or listing page the row came from, useful for verification and deduplication.
Output
Example Output
What a downloaded file looks like. Real exports are saved as .csv, .xlsx, or .json.
| Supplier Name | Category | Website | Contact | Phone | Location | Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lumen Packaging | Sustainable Packaging | lumenpackaging.com | Maria Chen | sales@lumenpackaging.com | +49 30 123456 | Berlin, Germany | trade-directory.example/packaging |
| Northwind Components | Electronic Components | northwind.io | James Patel | +44 20 555123 | London, UK | trade-directory.example/components | |
| Cartergrove Analytics | Analytics SaaS | cartergrove.com | Aisha Carter | hello@cartergrove.com | Amsterdam, Netherlands | vendor-marketplace.example/analytics |
Troubleshooting
Common Problems
The directory mixes many categories
Filter by category before extracting, or save everything and tag by category so you can isolate the suppliers that fit your sourcing brief.
Listings show suppliers but no contacts
Save the supplier rows first, then enrich the website to add a contact, or open the supplier contact page and extract details into the same list.
Emails or phones are missing
Save the visible data first, then use email finding where available, or enrich the supplier website to add contact details.
The same supplier appears more than once
Suppliers can be listed in several categories or directories. Review duplicates inside the saved list and keep the source URL for verification.
The directory is paginated or uses infinite scroll
Extract each page or scroll until suppliers load, saving each batch to the same list, then deduplicate before export.
Questions