Automation for wholesale distributors

Distributors live on thin margins and high transaction volumes. Every order keyed by hand and every pricing error fixed after the fact comes straight out of profit. We automate the high-volume paperwork at both ends of your business.

At a glance

  • Customer orders from email, PDF and EDI
  • Contract pricing and stock checks
  • Supplier invoice matching
  • Inventory sync with every sales channel

Two inboxes run your business

On the sales side, customer orders arrive in every format and inside-sales teams key them in. On the purchasing side, supplier confirmations and invoices arrive the same way and AP keys those in. Both sides check prices by eye, and both catch errors late.

We automate both ends with the same approach: read the document, check it against your ERP data (contract prices, item cross-references, stock, open POs), create the transaction when it is clean, and route it to a person when it is not.

Common projects for distributors

  • Sales order entry

    Customer POs turned into sales orders with price and stock validation. See PO automation.

  • Supplier invoice matching

    Invoices matched to POs and receipts with variance handling. See invoice automation.

  • Order acknowledgements

    Supplier confirmations compared with your POs; date and price changes flagged.

  • Inventory sync

    Stock across ERP, warehouse, webstore and marketplaces. See inventory sync.

  • Customer price files

    Price updates generated and sent to customers in their required formats.

  • EDI onboarding

    New retail trading partners connected without manual re-keying.

A typical first project for a distributor

  1. Measure order entry

    Orders per day by customer and format, time per order and error rates.

    Week 1
  2. Test on real orders

    Extraction tested on a sample of real customer POs.

    Week 2
  3. Build validation

    Contract pricing, item cross-reference, stock and credit checks against the ERP.

    Weeks 3–6
  4. Pilot with key customers

    Orders from the highest-volume customers first, then the long tail.

    Weeks 6–9

An example distribution finding

Pricing errors often cost more than the time spent keying orders.

Example finding (illustrative)
Order prices differ from contract prices on a meaningful share of linesHigh value
What we found
Customers order from old price lists, and staff do not always catch the difference before the order ships.
Fix
Every line checked against the contract price in the ERP, with differences above a tolerance held for a decision.
Effect
Fewer credits and disputes, and pricing discussions happen before shipping rather than after invoicing.

Signs a distributor is ready

Order and invoice automation pays back fastest when several of these are true.

  • Inside sales spends hours a day on order entryTime that could go to customers and quotes.
  • Many customers, many formatsPDF, spreadsheet, email body and portal orders.
  • Credits for pricing or item errorsErrors discovered after shipment.
  • EDI for some customers, manual for the restThe same rigour without EDI for smaller accounts.

Common questions

Do you work with distribution-specific ERPs?

Yes, where they provide an API, import tools or database access. We regularly work with NetSuite, Business Central, Acumatica, SAP Business One and Epicor; tell us which system you run.

Can you handle customer-specific item numbers?

Yes. We maintain a cross-reference between customer part numbers and your SKUs, learn from corrections, and flag unknown items for review.

What about EDI?

We connect EDI trading partners through your existing EDI provider, and handle non-EDI customers with document automation so every order follows the same rules.

Can it check credit limits?

Yes. Orders from customers over their credit limit or with overdue balances can be held for approval before they are released.

Find out what one process could save you

Book a paid automation assessment. We map the process with your team, measure the time it takes, and give you a fixed-price build plan with expected savings. If automation is not worth it, we will tell you.