Industry — Distribution
ERP for distribution and wholesale
Stock across warehouses and vans, pricing that differs by customer and route, credit held to its limit, and schemes calculated by the system rather than by hand.
The problem
What distributors tell us
“Pricing lives in people’s heads.”
Customer-specific rates, slabs and schemes are applied manually, so invoices get corrected after the customer complains.
“Credit limits are advisory.”
Orders go out against overdue accounts because nobody checks at the point of sale, and collection becomes next quarter’s problem.
“Expiry is discovered, not managed.”
Batch and expiry sit in a register, so near-dated stock is found when it is already a write-off.
The system
What ERPNext gives a distributor
| Area | What it does | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-warehouse stock | Godowns, vans and transit tracked separately with live balances | Operations |
| Batch and expiry | FEFO picking, near-expiry reporting and controlled write-offs | Warehouse |
| Pricing rules | Customer and group price lists, slabs, schemes and free-goods offers | Sales |
| Credit control | Limits enforced at order entry, with ageing visible to the sales team | Finance |
| Purchase and supplier terms | Reorder levels, lead times and supplier-wise rate contracts | Purchase |
| Sales reporting | Movement by item, route, salesperson and customer, from live data | Management |
Why distribution margins depend on the system
Distribution runs on thin margins and high transaction volume, which makes it the business type where small systematic errors cost the most. A price applied wrongly on one invoice is trivial; the same rule applied wrongly for six months is a serious number.
Putting pricing, schemes and credit rules into the system takes them out of individual judgement. The invoice is right because the rule is right, and when a rule needs to change it changes in one place.
The same applies to stock. Batch and expiry handling with first-expiry-first-out picking turns expiry from an annual write-off into a weekly report that someone can still act on, which for food, pharma and chemicals usually pays for the implementation on its own.
FAQ
Questions we are asked before signing
Can it handle customer-specific pricing and schemes?
Yes. Price lists, pricing rules, quantity slabs, free-goods schemes and promotional periods are all configurable, and they apply automatically at order entry rather than being remembered by the person keying it.
Does it support van sales or route distribution?
Yes. Each van is modelled as a warehouse, stock is loaded against it, and sales and returns are recorded on the route. Combined with a driver app this closes the loop between what left the godown and what was collected.
How does credit control work in practice?
Limits and ageing rules are checked when the order is entered, with an override that requires authority and leaves an audit trail. The point is not to block business but to make the decision visible.
Can we see profitability by item and by customer?
Yes, from live transactions including landed cost. For distributors this is often the first time the genuinely unprofitable lines and accounts become visible.
Services
How we help distribution businesses
Walk us through your operation.
A 30-minute call, no slide deck. You describe the process; we tell you honestly whether ERPNext is the right answer.