Case studies / Wholesale
Case studyStock, purchasing and finance for a growing wholesaler
A growing wholesaler replaced spreadsheets and an old accounting package with Business Central, getting reliable stock levels, approved purchasing and a much lighter month-end.
Overview
An owner-managed wholesaler of household, catering and cleaning supplies, selling to independent retailers, hotels and restaurants. It runs one main warehouse, several regional sales teams and a small online store for trade customers.
Scale. Thousands of items, around 250 suppliers at home and abroad, and a finance team of four.
The challenge
The business had doubled in five years on the strength of good service and a broad range. Its systems had not kept up. Stock, purchase orders and invoices lived in separate spreadsheets and an accounting package that was older than some of the staff.
Stock levels were unreliable. The warehouse team updated a spreadsheet from delivery notes and picking lists, and errors built up between counts. Sales teams promised items that turned out not to be there, and buyers reordered items that were already on the shelf.
Purchasing had no formal approval. Buyers placed orders by email, and finance often learned about a commitment only when the supplier's invoice arrived, which made cash planning guesswork.
Month-end took many days. The finance team reconciled stock, purchases and sales by hand, chased missing invoices and adjusted for errors, and the owners received figures well into the following month.
The item list itself was a problem. Years of adding products had left duplicates, inconsistent descriptions, missing units and supplier codes that no longer matched anything.
The owners wanted to add a second warehouse and grow the online store. Neither was realistic while stock could not be trusted and the finance team spent the first half of every month closing the last one.
The solution
Inventory and warehouse management in Business Central track every receipt, put-away, pick and despatch using handheld scanners. Stock levels update in real time, and cycle counts replace the disruptive annual stocktake.
Purchasing runs through approvals based on value and category. Buyers raise orders in the system, approvers see them on their phones, and finance sees every commitment from the moment it is approved.
Sales and pricing hold customer price lists, discounts and promotions in one place. Sales teams see live stock before they promise, and online orders from the trade store flow straight into the warehouse queue.
Finance handles payables, receivables and bank reconciliation, with bank statements imported automatically. Courier labels and tracking are generated from despatches, and invoices and statements go out by email.
Standard reports give the owners stock value, margin by customer and product, and cash position whenever they want them, without a request to finance.
The team went live at a month start so that opening balances matched a clean period end. That gave finance a tidy first close on the new system and made comparisons with the old figures straightforward.
The engagement
- Four months
- Four specialists
- Process mapping, item and price structure, Dynamics 365 Business Central for inventory, warehouse, purchasing, sales and finance, five integrations, data cleansing and a month-start go-live.
Integrations
- Warehouse scanners
- Online store
- Bank
- Courier
How we delivered it
- 01
Map routines and agree structures
Four weeks
We mapped purchase, stock and sales routines with the warehouse, buying and sales teams, then agreed item categories, units and price structures that everyone could work with.
- 02
Configure and connect
Six weeks
We configured finance and operations in Business Central and connected the warehouse scanners and online store, so stock moves are recorded as they happen and online orders arrive directly.
- 03
Cleanse and rehearse
Four weeks
The item list was cleansed line by line, removing duplicates and fixing units and supplier codes. Opening balances for stock, customers and suppliers were rehearsed twice before the real load.
- 04
Month-start go-live
Three weeks
The business went live at the start of a month. For the first weeks we held a short daily review with each team to resolve questions before they became workarounds.
Results
- Stock levels that match the warehouse
- Fewer stock-outs
- A much lighter month-end
- Approved, tracked purchasing
Stock now matches reality, and stock-outs have fallen. Sales teams trust the numbers on screen, and buyers order what is needed rather than what they suspect might be needed.
Month-end takes far less effort. Reconciliations that took days now take hours, and the owners receive their figures early in the following month.
Purchasing is approved and tracked. Finance can plan cash against known commitments, and the owners can see spend by supplier and category for the first time.
The clean item list has made everything else easier. New products are set up to a standard, and the online store shows accurate descriptions and units to trade customers.
The system has also given the business room to grow. The owners are now planning the second warehouse with confidence, knowing it can be added as another location in Business Central rather than another set of spreadsheets.
We spent three weeks on the item list and moaned about every day of it. Looking back, it was the whole project.
What made the difference
A clean item list was the single biggest success factor.
