Return to Vendor Manager: what this AI agent does and how to use it

Try the Return to Vendor Manager live demo →

What it does

Stock-outs lose sales; overstock loses margin. These agents watch days of cover and availability. The Return to Vendor Manager agent is the specialist for this job: lists faulty and damaged returns to send back to suppliers, grouped by brand, with the value to claim.

Who it's for

Your team. It runs in the console for your staff and through the REST API. It is a team agent, so it is never exposed to shoppers.

Questions it answers

Ask it in any of our languages, for example:

• "Which returns should go back to suppliers?"
• "Faulty returns by brand this quarter"
• "How much can we claim back from vendors?"

The live demo shows these as sample prompts in your language, on a fictional store's data.

How it works

1. It understands the question in the language it was written in, even when your catalog is in another language.
2. It looks things up with tools, never from memory:

• Read-only sql over your retail data (sandboxed per workspace)

3. It answers from your data, in your brand voice and currency, and shows which tools it used.
4. Rules stay in code. Prices, eligibility and permissions come from your data and settings; the agent explains them and can't invent them. Why this matters.

The data it needs

Returns, Products, Order lines. As soon as these tables are loaded, the agent is ready to switch on. Files can use your own column names: they're mapped automatically. See Connect your data.

Works well with

• Stock-out Sentinel: Flags SKUs at risk of stock-out from on-hand stock vs recent sales velocity.
• Availability Checker: Checks stock for a product across stores and warehouses.
• Store Rebalancing Planner: Suggests stock transfers between locations, from where stock sits to where it sells.
• PO Status Tracker: Shows what's on order, where stock is short despite open orders, and what to chase.
• Allocation Advisor: Recommends how to split incoming or available stock across locations by sales and current cover.

Your team can use them side by side in the console, or call each one through the API.

Turn it on

1. Load the data it needs.
2. Install Return to Vendor Manager from the Agent catalog and add your own instructions (guide).
3. Test it in the Playground, in every language you serve.
4. Invite your team or call it from your own systems.

New to ServiceBuddy? Start with how onboarding works.