Odd choice of words in the standard. I think it could be reworded to better distinguish between suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, and distributors. "Suppliers" can have various meanings, but in our profession, it typically means the company that you purchase something from. In the case of consumable supplies (as opposed to ingredients or cleaning chemicals), they're usually sold in small quantities through a retailer or industrial supplier. If I ask Grainer, McMaster, Walmart, etc., they'll likely tell me to pound sand. And they would be right to do so based on the tiny fraction of their business my company represents, multiplied across the thousands (millions?) of products they stock.
BRCGS Glossary
'Supplier : The person, firm, company or other entity to which a site’s purchase order to supply is addressed.'
