Why we created MFI - Multi Feed Inventory
Our tools originate from our ecommerce unit. We need tools to either solve a problem, create efficiency or get a leg up on competition. MFI is a good example of such a tool.
Customers are always looking for the best price. If you are selling other people's products, the chances are other people are also selling the exact same product. That creates a problem. Why should a customer buy from you instead of someone else with a lower price. The product is not different so why should he pay you more when he can get it cheaper.
In most industries, retailers and ecommerce merchants buy from multiple distributors / suppliers. Many a times, the same products are sold by multiple distributors. Prices fluctuate. One distributor may have the best price today on 500 items but another distributor may have better prices on the same tomorrow and a third distributor may be a percentage or two lower two days later.
If you don't update your prices daily, every day, some other merchant may have a better price than you and will get the sale instead of you.
It would be best if you update prices daily but if you are selling 40,000 to 50,000 products or more, you cannot do that manually even if you hire 10 people to do nothing but price updates.
That is where MFI becomes such a huge asset. It import data feeds from all your distributors, compares them and then sends you one product data feed that includes the best price for each item.
This gives you the advantage. Now you can have the best price each and every day.
If you are using other tools like UMP, you can easily upload your product data feeds in bulk to marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, Walmart, Google Shopping etc. and have the pricing edge there also.
Because the lower your cost, the more competitive your prices. Translates to greater sales and greater profits.
Markup prices at cost + % or cost + $ or both. You can markup prices differently for different distributors. You have total control over your selling price.
All products don't ship equally. You can apply shipping markups in addition to price markups to come up with a selling price that takes all costs into account.
If you don't want to sell a product or a product category, you can simply block it and it won't get downloaded to your database.