Wholesale and distribution businesses are all about margins on volume. A percentage point of error in stock, pricing or delivery cost is the difference between a good year and a bad one. Here is how an ERP fits a distribution business, and what to look for.
The problems an ERP solves for wholesalers
- Stock you cannot trust. Wrong counts mean promising what you cannot deliver, or holding cash in stock you did not know you had.
- Pricing in people's heads. Trade prices, quantity breaks and special deals that live in a spreadsheet or a sales rep's memory.
- Margin discovered at year end. Not knowing which customers and products actually make money.
- Reordering by instinct. Stockouts on fast movers and dead stock on slow ones.
- Retyping. Orders from email or phone into a sheet, then into accounts, then onto a delivery note.
Features that matter in distribution
Multi-warehouse and locations. Stock by warehouse, zone and bin, with transfers between them. Even one warehouse benefits from locations so pickers know where things are.
Price lists. Per customer or group, with quantity breaks and date ranges. One source of truth for what everyone pays.
Reorder rules and lead times. Minimum and maximum stock levels per product, and supplier lead times, so purchase orders are suggested before you run out.
Back orders and partial deliveries. Deliver what you have, track what is owed, invoice correctly.
Units of measure. Buy in cases, sell in units or cases, keep stock accurate.
Barcode picking. Scanners on the warehouse floor for receiving, picking and stock counts. This is where accuracy comes from.
Margin per order and per customer. Visible at quote time, not at year end.
Landed costs. Freight, duty and handling added to the cost of imported goods so margins are real.
The integrations that pay back fastest
- Courier integration. Labels and tracking numbers generated from the delivery, rates compared automatically. See courier integration for online stores.
- Online ordering for trade customers. A portal where customers see their prices and stock and place their own orders. Our guide to B2B eCommerce portals explains what customers expect.
- Accounts. If you keep Xero or Sage for accounting, invoices and bills flow across automatically. Many wholesalers eventually move accounting into the ERP.
How Odoo fits
Odoo's Inventory, Sales and Purchase apps cover the features above natively, with barcode scanning, multi-warehouse, price lists, reorder rules, landed costs and units of measure. The eCommerce app or a connected store gives trade customers online ordering. It is one of the most common configurations we implement. Wholesalers who also assemble or make products should read ERP for small manufacturers alongside this.
A realistic project
A wholesaler with 15 to 30 staff, one or two warehouses and a few thousand products typically goes live with sales, stock, purchasing and accounts in 8 to 10 weeks, with courier and online ordering integrations following. Data preparation, especially products and price lists, is where your time goes. Our data migration guide covers the approach.
The payoff
Accurate stock, consistent pricing, margins visible per order, and a warehouse that picks from a scanner rather than a printed sheet. Wholesalers usually see the return in reduced stock holding and fewer errors before they see it anywhere else.
If that sounds like the business you are trying to run, our free discovery call is the place to start. Read about our ERP service or request a quote.
Key takeaways
- Wholesalers live or die on stock accuracy, margin per order and reliable delivery. An ERP puts all three in one place.
- Key features: multi-warehouse stock, customer-specific price lists, back orders, reorder rules and supplier lead times.
- Integrations with couriers, online stores and accounts remove most of the retyping in a distribution business.
- Start with sales, stock and purchasing, then add B2B ordering online.
Frequently asked questions
Need help with ERP?
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