How an ERP system can help you overcome the top 5 challenges of Wholesale Distribution
Let us show you how innovative technology can help your company meet the challenges of wholesale distribution by becoming more resilient and improving supply chain predictability. Wholesale distributors must redesign their methods and rethink their use of trade information to gain a competitive edge. Leading players are leveraging digital technology to create and maintain seamless relationships with customers.
Finding innovative solutions starts with asking the right questions. By identifying the top challenges in wholesale distribution, you can make improvements, gain efficiencies, and thrive in a highly competitive market. Here are the top 5 distribution challenges and how to overcome them.
1. ERP System: Fast and Complete Order Fulfillment
Distribution companies are struggling to keep pace with customer demands. As distributors face a wider range of orders and unpredictable turnaround times, many have fallen behind competitors who have modernized their processes. A business that is overly reliant on manual processes will not be able to keep up with growing demand and customers expectations.
2. Fast and Accurate Shipping
Warehouse productivity is crucial to the supply chain; it has a direct impact on a company’s performance. The goal is to maintain customer satisfaction and maximize chain operations at every stage. It is essential to perform regular operational reviews to see if everything is running as efficiently as possible. An ERP system can help you anticipate orders so that you can prepare available materials and store them in the warehouse, where they are immediately available and ready to be packaged and shipped out.
3. Complete and Reliable Reporting
For many distribution companies, data is spread across multiple systems, making automated reporting impossible. And too often, data must be entered manually or processed, resulting in errors and incomplete reports. With an ERP solution that provides a single source of real-time data, distributors get a clear picture of the company’s performance.
4. E-Commerce
Many distribution companies use the Internet for e-commerce activities, buying, selling or exchanging products and services electronically. However, some of them have not integrated their e-commerce platforms with core systems such as ERP systems. Without this vital "communication" between the various platforms, employees must enter data into each system individually. Again, this tedious process wastes time and leads to costly errors, not to mention the negative impact on customer satisfaction.
5. Requests, Forecasting, and Stock Replenishment
Although manual inventory management is common for small and medium-sized distribution businesses, it represents a significant risk in the current environment of rapidly changing customer demand and fluctuating warehouse staff capacity. An effective ERP system will allow a company to take these variables into account to accurately assess demand and forecast inventory needs.
Experts to guide you
Grounded in hands-on experience and deep industry understanding, Forgestik brings together a team of experts to provide comprehensive ERP solutions for every SMB. Contact us to find out more.