The wholesale and distribution industry acts as the link between the economy and the supply chain. Wholesale distributors source and distribute goods to several consumers around the world and the whole demand and supply system can crumble if the distribution system fails. The challenges faced by the wholesale industry include shrinking margins, increasing costs, demanding customers, and the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s explore the transformative potential of SAP for wholesale industry and uncover the key benefits and trends driving its adoption in this dynamic sector.
With the change in customer needs and demands, the wholesale industry is also going through a transformation. SAP Business One eases the transformation and makes it easier for companies to streamline their entire order-to-cash process. Today, digitalization plays a key role in business operations, and SAP, which is one of the best ERP software, provides several benefits to the wholesale and distribution industry.
Benefits of SAP Business One for the Wholesale Industry
In the past few years, end-users have evolved a lot and their demands today are increasingly different from before, making it harder to manage and fulfill them. Here is how SAP B1 can prove beneficial in such cases:
1. It helps in analyzing customer buying behavior precisely by analyzing past transactions, buying interests, order history, and more. It is also helpful in keeping stock levels balanced.
2. SAP B1 is a consolidated solution for business management and has features for the efficient functioning of sales, purchases, financials, inventory, accounting, CRM, and more. It optimizes inventory management and provides integration with modern processes for delivery and payment.
3. Automates the supply and distribution chain to improve the entire business process and increase the efficiency of results.
4. Improves collaboration with customers and helps in providing supreme customer satisfaction by streamlining the end-to-end order-to-cash process, reducing errors in manual operations, increasing margins, and saving overall time by eliminating redundant paper-based processes.
5. Improves inventory control and material planning to eliminate dead-stock or stock-out situations and fulfill customer orders every time. Better inventory planning also leads to a reduction in inventory costs.
6. provides a single dashboard to keep a constant check on business processes. Track and manage information about goods movement, invoices, suppliers, goods receipts, customers, transactions, and more through the same dashboard.
7. SAP B1 is quite flexible when it comes to integration and supports mobility to be tailored as per business needs and requirements. It can be easily integrated with various eCommerce portals as well.
Trends to Watch out for in the Wholesale Industry
Recent disruptions and market dynamics are reshaping the wholesale industry. Here are some trends to watch out for in 2021:
1. New Players in the Field
Competition is getting tough in the wholesale industry. B2B e-commerce has seen rapid growth in companies, marketplaces, and non-traditional competitors leveraging advanced technologies to provide better products and customer service. Customers now have a lot of options to choose from in terms of convenience, personalization, pricing, and delivery.
The emergence of new players compels businesses to find other ways of generating revenue through improved management and value-added services.
2. Upgrading the Supply Chain
The pandemic brought changes to a lot of businesses. Wholesale, being the first link in the logistics supply chain, had to find new ways to evolve. Customer demands varied a lot. Some products were in greater demand than was anticipated. While there were other products that nobody wanted to buy, especially given the tough economic period.
The industry needed to upgrade its inventory management to make smart supply chain decisions. They had to focus on customer demand, inventory volume, and supply chain processing to better forecast the trend and make strategic decisions.
3. Feeding the Talent Pool
Prominent B2B companies are finding it difficult to attract or retain top talent on their record books. Due to a lack of growth scenarios, or inadequate learning opportunities, several employees feel they won’t be able to achieve their best.
Companies should focus on getting rid of repetitive mundane tasks, upgrading technology, and improving employee management to provide them with every opportunity to learn and get ahead.
4. Dealing with Regulations
Product traceability, national mandates, customer protection, and other factors make complying with regulatory requirements complex for companies. Distributors have to spend more on tracking, tracing, and monitoring goods to prove their compliance.
Using a digital platform allows distributors to execute this process efficiently and adapt to regulatory compliances with minimal impact on the business.
SAP Business One has the capability of performing almost any task related to business. It provides incomprehensible value to the business by providing immense benefits while keeping up with the latest market trends. The wholesale industry is undergoing a paradigm shift for digital transformation and SAP is aiding a lot of companies in several different countries in achieving their business objectives.
