Running a distribution business is hard. You need to manage your products and their prices closely, and keeping your warehouse organized is a full-time job that only gets harder with multiple locations.
A warehouse must run like a well-oiled machine to ensure inventory moves smoothly, orders are processed quickly, and customers receive the right products at the right time. These are complex processes, and if you use disconnected systems, spreadsheets—or worse, paper—to manage them, you’re wasting time and making mistakes.
This blog post highlights four of the top warehouse management challenges as reported by Vision33’s wholesale distribution customers—and explains how a cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution solves them.
Inventory management has many moving parts, including forecasting, overseeing purchases from suppliers, maintaining stock storage, controlling the amount of stock to sell, and order fulfillment.
Proper inventory management also affects loss prevention, financial audits, and—perhaps most importantly—customer satisfaction.
“Deadstock,” stock shortages, and shrinkage are common inventory management challenges that can be remedied with powerful technology with built-in inventory management capabilities.
Costing is a necessary evil of inventory control. When considering the standard costs of a product—e.g., freight, import tariffs, and insurance—some business management systems can affect the actual profit margin.
Margin affects everything from the product’s pure gross profit margin and your sales team’s commission to your company’s net profitability. If your software doesn’t account for costs like freight and you pay the sales team a commission based on the initial price, your realized margin can be much lower than expected.
Traceability is a chief concern for industries like life sciences and food and beverage.
Recalls can happen any time, and when one occurs, distributors need instant traceability to locate and track their products in the supply chain. The ability to track multiple types of inventory is necessary to keep customers safe and brands protected.
If your distribution business engages with online giants like Amazon, you must be compatible with newer integrated systems or risk losing money waiting for payment. And if you don’t have enough product to fulfill orders as they come in, Amazon and other online retailers will find another vendor who does.
Many small and midsized distribution businesses use entry-level accounting software like QuickBooks, supplemented with Excel spreadsheets. But basic software can’t handle the complexities of distribution, and spreadsheets are dangerous workarounds that lead to expensive mistakes. Even if you use an inventory management system, it probably can’t integrate with your other applications.
A cloud ERP solution is essential technology for today’s wholesale distributors. And when it comes to cloud technology, all other ERPs are chasing SAP.
As a technology pioneer, SAP has designed some of the most robust cloud ERP solutions available. SAP Business One, SAP Business ByDesign, and SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition have every module you need to successfully and efficiently run your distribution business and manage your warehouses.
One integrated solution streamlines operations, whether you distribute soft goods, hard goods, heavily regulated products, or perishable items. With cloud ERP, data from your business’s different departments is captured in one centralized location, eliminating data siloes and providing visibility across the entire business.
Vision33 is a multi-award-winning SAP partner with the world’s largest team of certified consultants.
Our experts have developed a comprehensive eBook to show you what’s possible for your distribution business with the right cloud ERP solution and a trusted partner.
Download your copy of Warehouse Management 4.0: A Guide to Modern and Efficient Wholesale Distribution below.