An automatic supplier recommendation engine for suggesting a product supplier from outside of an existing merchant network is disclosed. A set of optimization solutions may include pricing, performance, shipping, duties, trust score and other inventory or manufacturing factors. The set of optimization solutions are run on a processor to determine optimal fulfillment for products in an e-commerce platform. A set of heuristics may include geographic location, quality, sizing of purchases, similarity of supplier offerings, supplier positioning and other attributes may be created for merchants and suppliers. The set of optimization solutions are run, and the set of heuristics for each merchant and for each supplier are compared, to determine whether a match exists. A prospective merchant-supplier relationship may be communicated and established via an e-commerce platform.