Wholesale businesses are under increasing pressure to work faster, reduce administration and provide customers with a better buying experience.
But what exactly is wholesale automation, and how can it help your business?
But what exactly is wholesale automation, and how can it help your business?
What is wholesale automation?
Wholesale automation is the use of technology to reduce repetitive manual tasks across your wholesale business.
This could include:
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Taking and processing orders
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Managing product catalogues
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Providing sales reps with product and pricing information
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Checking stock availability
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Connecting sales systems with your ERP
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Managing customer and order data
The aim is simple: spend less time on administration and more time selling.
Why Does Wholesale Automation Matter?
Many wholesalers still rely on a combination of spreadsheets, emails, paper catalogues and manual data entry.
For example, a sales rep might take an order from a customer, write it down, send it to the office and then have someone manually enter it into the company’s system.
That’s a lot of unnecessary steps — and every manual step creates the possibility of delays or errors.
Automation can streamline this process, so information is captured digitally and passed between systems more efficiently.
What Can You Automate?
There are several areas where automation can help wholesalers.
Sales Order Taking
Sales reps can take orders digitally while they’re with customers, rather than writing orders down and processing them later.
Product Information
Digital catalogues give sales teams access to up-to-date product information, images, pricing and other important details.
ERP Integration
Connecting your sales tools to your ERP system can reduce duplicate data entry and help keep information consistent across the business.
Stock Information
Giving sales reps access to current stock information can help them make better decisions and avoid promising customers products that aren’t available.
What are the benefits?
Wholesale automation can provide some significant benefits, including:
Less Administration
Reduce the amount of repetitive data entry your team needs to do.
Fewer Errors
Removing manual processes can reduce mistakes with orders, products and pricing.
Faster Ordering
Orders can move through your business more quickly.
More productive sales reps
Your sales team can spend less time on paperwork and more time with customers.
Better customer service
Faster, more accurate processes create a smoother experience for customers.
What are the benefits?
No.
The purpose of automation isn’t to replace people. It’s to give them better tools.
For example, if a sales representative spends several hours every week entering orders and managing paperwork, automation can reduce that workload and give them more time to visit customers and generate sales.
Technology should support your team, not get in the way of them.
Where should you start?
You don’t need to automate everything at once.
Start by looking at the processes that cause the most administration or frustration.
Ask yourself:
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Where are we entering the same information more than once?
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Where are mistakes happening?
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How much time do our sales reps spend on administration?
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Are our sales and back-office systems connected?
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Can our sales team easily access the information they need?
