The daily reality
A wholesaler serving restaurants and grocers takes orders by phone, WeChat and a sales rep visiting in person. The same customer may order three times a week. Delivery windows are narrow because the customer needs the goods before service, and a missed item means a phone call the next morning.
- Orders arrive through several channels and are consolidated by hand.
- Batch and shelf-life determine what can be picked for which customer.
- Sales commission and customer receivables are tracked in separate places.
Where the system helps
The first release concentrates on the path from order to settlement, because that is where the daily cost sits.
- Order entry by staff on behalf of the customer, with a confirmation link the customer can approve on a phone.
- Picking list by route, with batch and expiry shown at the point of picking.
- Delivery confirmation on the driver side, feeding the invoice automatically.
- Receivables per customer, with statement generation on a fixed day.
Batch and shelf-life handling
Food distribution differs from general wholesale in one respect that changes the data model: the same SKU has multiple batches with different expiry dates, and which batch ships depends on the customer and the delivery date.
- Batch recorded at inbound, with expiry and supplier reference.
- Picking rule set per customer: earliest expiry first by default, with manual override recorded.
- Expiry alerts by remaining days, not by fixed calendar dates.
Delivery scope
A single-warehouse operation typically goes live in six to eight weeks, with order entry and picking first, then delivery confirmation and settlement. Multi-warehouse operations add a transfer module and take longer.
- Product and customer master data, including per-customer pricing.
- Order, picking, delivery and settlement on one record.
- Driver application for delivery confirmation, working on a phone.
- Monthly statement generation per customer.
