How do you select the best Wholesalers software solution for your business?
Begin by finding a specialist supplier who really understands merchants and trading companies.
Ideally one based in the UK with the all important UK based software development team.
Dealing with large quantities of stock with multiple units of measure and the complexities
arising requires software which has been created from the ground up for wholesalers.
Wholesalers software solution packages require intimate knowledge of wholesaling.
So look for a company that has many installations and happy customers.
On the one hand, you need to be able to see the big picture, i.e. via an at-a-glance dashboards.
On the other hand, you need to be able to drill down and see individual products with an
image of the product next to the text.
Look for integrated stock control software and website systems.
Regardless of the size of your wholesaling business, look for multi site, multi company capabilities
– you need software that will grow with your business now and in the future.
It is critically important that the vendor offers integrated websites for wholesalers.
Look for examples of their live websites when you visit their website.
The standard package should include Sales, Invoicing, Debtors Ledger, Quotation Processing,
Sales Order Processing, Customer pricing / price groups, Contract pricing, Settlement discounts,
Order Entry validation rules, Standing orders, Lump sum discounting and Double Discounting.
It should also have Rebates, Haggle, Clone quotations & sales orders, Replace returned item with
new order, Surcharging, Deposits – Account & Cash sale customers, Customer discounts – individual
& groups,Head Office & Branch customers, Stock allocations / reservations, Credit Card facility
and Vouchers.
There should be in depth Purchasing features including Creditors Ledger, Purchase Order Processing,
Purchase Forecasting, Back Orders, Direct Deliveries (drop shipping), Supplier Pricing / price groups,
Settlement Discounts, Ordering on a supplier reminder, Choose best quotation, Purchasing Trends /
Forecasting, and Rebates.
Within Nominal you should find Nominal Ledger, Bank Transfers, Bank Reconciliations, VAT Control /
Returns, Cost Centres, and Auto VAT selection per supplier.
Stock should include Stock Item Images, Multi Currency, Barcoding, Multi units of measure,
Related products, Alternative products, Alternative supplier & customer stock item codes,
Kits (Sets of components / interchangeable), Stock take – Auto compare system to actual & adjust.
CRM should include Follow up with the ability to link tasks & appointments, Social media search
i.e.Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.
Business Intelligence features to look for include Workflows: automation of processes and
Process Flows: essential steps to be followed.
General features should include Individual User Control / Restrictions, Global search,
Reporting Tools, Pivot Tables, Dashboards, KPIs (Key Performance Indicators),
SMS Texting, Skype, Gtalk, Audit Trails, Custom Fields and Custom Objects.
Finally your supplier must have UK development resource to make changes to meet
your individual system requirements for the software and website as well as IT
expertise to add on new companies and locations seamlessly.
Please contact our support team support@sharp-ax.com or call us on 01442 505950
for further information or to arrange demonstration.
This blog may also help: Do you think of your business software as a cost or as an investment?
Image courtesy of M&S Distributors.
Posted: 21st July 2017
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