The industry is now undergoing a massive technology-oriented shift, and to remain competitive, they must embrace new tools. They need material requirement planning for optimum procurement, inventory management ERP together with sales and distribution ERP. Such tools will help companies know where their products are, which material is still left in the stock in what location. There are other equally important tasks like calculating flexible discounts on the go, managing customer-related processes, and collecting business-critical data on a single platform to fast forward the decision-making process.
All these tasks and more have just one solution- the ERP system. Having said that, there are a number of suppliers out there, and it is not easy to choose the best solution that will meet the company’s specific requirements and unique business processes. What to look for when shopping for an ERP? Let’s talk about a few key components of such systems to look for.
Advantages of sales and distribution ERP
ERP is a digital tool that stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. It provides a solution that helps businesses to get a better understanding of what materials they have in stock, and what to procure to efficiently manage different branches including inventory for material requirement planning, and warehouses.
The role of ERP is to make it easier for companies when they want to purchase something. Now either the material is not in stock or maybe they have too much of it. The ERP is also supposed to accumulate business-critical data on a single platform for better management and accounting. For example, a good ERP software from businet will lead to process optimization, cost reduction, and revenue growth.
Important features for distributors to look for in ERP
The sales and distribution ERP systems help wholesalers and distributors to solve several tasks that may seem simple at first glance. For efficient management, they have to manage their warehouse better, and also reduce costs, and optimize the procurement and delivery process. Sales related activities also need to be automated for better productivity and higher ROI. Besides, all business information should be integrated and available in one place to make informed decisions, produce comprehensive reports, and devise more practical plans.
So, what capabilities should a sales and distribution ERP have to deliver the highest value possible? Let’s check them out in this blog.
Basic functionality
The basic role that wholesalers and distributors play in the supply chain is to fill retailers’ orders and provide orders to manufacturers. To make the wholesale business successful, the company should first create ideal business processes for activities such as purchases, order management, sales, and warehouse management. And this is the basic requirement of the sales and distribution ERP that a good system like businet provides.
The ERP software should be able to automate the entire sales lifecycle starting from the entry point of the first contact to the transaction and the order fulfillment tracking. Since almost every contract in the distribution business is custom, the ERP solution should also provide features for custom pricing, support dealing with multiple businesses and processes. Besides, such features should be readily available in the software without having any need for additional modules and add-ons.
The sales and distribution ERP system should also be able to work with complex products and manage all the requirements. It often happens that a product has multiple options of size, color, etc., and therefore, the software finds ways to work with that without additional overhead. The ERP solution should also incorporate warehouse management functionality for wholesalers and distribution companies.
Sales
The distribution business is closely associated with sales which is the most important business process that should be automated efficiently for better results. This is achieved by extracting customer data from multiple channels like POS software or mobile applications for sales. The sales and distribution ERP for wholesalers and distributors should have the following features:
- Customer pricing
- Processing of sales order
- Managing shipping
- Managing returns
- Sales reporting
- Self-service features
The ERP system from businet allows flexible sales management, including discounts, to offer the best price to the customer.
The Inter-trade support for global contracts is another important feature. Besides, the sales and distribution ERP should also support different currencies, branches, languages, legal bodies, and local regulations. For instance, countries like Germany, Poland, and Turkey have separate legislation that not all international vendors can support.
Supply chain and supplier management
The performance of the supply chain is critical for the overall success of the wholesale and distribution business. The ERP system should be able to track inventory transactions, fuel procurement, avoid understocking or overstocking, etc.
Besides the material requirement planning, the sales and distribution ERP software should provide information on delivery schedules for each supplier’s specific goods, produce procurement orders, and track the delivery. The ERP should also be equipped to issue notifications to suppliers if they fail to meet the agreement’s requirements. Another crucial feature is the demand forecasting which manages the incidents of overstocking and understocking by using the earlier demand data. The ERP software can suggest when the right time is to purchase more raw materials, and when you should clear your stocks.
Customer management
The best sales and distribution ERP also improves customer management processes. To achieve this, the software must support many features, including:
- Salesforce automation
- Customer service and support
- Campaign and leads management
The software should be able to combine all customer-related data on a single platform, with no need for double data entry, manual mistakes, data inconsistencies and losses while transferring data between multiple systems.
Reporting
To stay competitive, wholesalers and distributors need to be on top of their business operations to stay ahead of the competition which is not possible without high-quality reporting. The ERP software is meant to collect business data from multiple systems on a single platform and run thorough reports using this information. This is required for better demand forecasting, procurement and warehouse planning, and ROI calculation. The data should be utilized in real-time, to help decision-makers take efficient steps.
Integrations, scaling, and customizations
There cannot be a single solution that can solve all business issues. Every business is unique and needs a broad scope of human resources, customer relationships, and project management. Integrating the sales and distribution ERP with these tools leads to higher synergy and a three dimensional view of all business processes, which is required for decision-makers.
Final thoughts: How to choose the best sales and distribution ERP?
A company should look for ERP solutions by comparing multiple options available in the market. Some of the important things to consider:
- ERP software should cater to every essential business need. This includes material requirement planning, inventory management, order management, customer service, reporting, and forecasting for the distribution business.
- Sales needs to be fully automated, and the ERP solution for distributors should be sales-focused. It should allow them to track the entire sales journey right from the inquiry stage to the shipment of the product. The software should be compatible with complex goods and use flexible pricing to attract customers.
- The ERP system should be flexible and adaptable because it’s used for accelerating business growth, and not limiting it.
