I would start on that with some sort of relational database, and its corresponding DBI module. You could have the contact info, description, email addresses, and any other necessary info, and store it in said database. Then, for the registry part of the site, it would be very easy to search through the database with some simple sql calls based on selected criteria. Relational databases are an excellent route to go when information you have needs to be searched, sorted, and/or grouped often, as the routines to do so are already implemented, and designed to be as efficient as possible. In addition to that, if you want consumers and/or suppliers to have passwords with which to log in to the site, I'd take a look at storing this info in the database as well. Then, take a look at the AuthDBI module at CPAN (which I've used and works very well), for Authentication/Authorization out of the database. Having all this information would then enable things such as easily sorting things by user, letting users have configurable preferences, etc., all with just a few hairy sql statements.