Distribution & Wholesale Case Study : Real-Time Inventory & Margin Visibility for B2B Distribution

Company type: B2B distributor (purchasing / warehousing / resale)

Size: 15 to 60 employees (procurement, warehouse, sales, finance)Operations: multi-warehouse / multi-location, large catalog (high SKU count), multiple suppliers, frequent deliveries

Business model: B2B sales with negotiated pricing (by customer / category), discounts, payment terms, possible returns / credit notes

Initial situation (tooling)

• Inventory managed through spreadsheets + manual adjustments

• Purchase and sales orders handled via email / Excel / paper documents

• Accounting in a separate tool (or only partially integrated)

• Stock valuation and margins calculated at month-end through manual reconciliations

• Limited traceability of stock movements (inter-site transfers, partial receipts, backorders, returns)

Inventory & operational reliability

• Recurring gaps between “system” inventory and physical inventory

• Unexpected stockouts on critical items

• Overstock on slow-moving items

• Hard to manage: multi-warehouses, units of measure, lots/serials, locations, partial receipts

Symptoms: long and painful inventory counts, frequent adjustments, internal disputes between sales / warehouse / procurement.

Manual order processing (Purchase & Sales)

• Slow creation/validation of purchase orders and invoices

• Multiple re-entries (quote → order → delivery slip → invoice)

• Errors in pricing, discounts, taxes, payment terms

• Lack of standardization for approvals and priorities

Symptoms: delivery delays, invoicing delays, dependency on a few key people.

Margins & performance management (by product and customer)

• Limited visibility into true margin (including purchase costs, logistics costs, discounts, returns)

• Difficult to quickly identify:

  • unprofitable customers

  • “star” products vs “trap” products

  • supplier cost drift

Symptoms: purchasing decisions based on intuition, weaker supplier negotiation, poorly controlled pricing.

Month-end reconciliation (accounting & inventory)

• Long inventory/accounting reconciliations (days, sometimes weeks)

• Unreliable stock valuation (average cost/FIFO misapplied or manually recalculated)

• Late reporting → delayed management decisions

• Make inventory reliable in real time (multi-site)

• Standardize and automate flows: purchase → receipt → storage → sale → delivery → invoicing

• Gain margin visibility by product / product family / customer

• Drastically reduce month-end close time and manual adjustments

• Put a governance framework in place (rules + roles + approvals)

End-to-end mapping (from supplier to customer)

We modeled the full operational chain:

• • Purchasing (purchase requests, RFQs, supplier comparison, approvals)

  • Receiving (partial receipts, quality checks, backorders)

  • Inventory (locations, inter-warehouse transfers, cycle counts)

  • Sales (B2B pricing, discounts, terms, picking, delivery)

  • Invoicing & accounting (taxes, payments, reconciliation/clearing, credit notes/returns)

Governance & management rules

We implemented clear rules:

• • Who can create/approve purchases (thresholds, budgets, exceptions)

  • Inventory rules: allowed movements, responsibilities, traceability

  • Pricing policy: price lists, discounts, exceptions, B2B contracts

  • Margin rules: alert thresholds, blocking or approval for below-margin sales

Quick wins + maturity ramp-up

UnifyX structured a phased rollout: stabilize inventory first, then speed up purchasing/sales, then secure finance and dashboards.

Operational core

• Inventory: centralized multi-warehouse management, locations, transfers, cycle counts

• Purchase: RFQ/PO, receipts, backorders, replenishment rules

• Sales: quotes/orders, B2B price lists, discounts, payment terms, deliveries

• Barcode (if applicable): scanning for receiving/picking/transfers to reduce errors

Finance & margin control

• Integrated Accounting: invoicing, payments, reconciliation, reporting

• Automated stock valuation (average cost / FIFO depending on context)

• Margin dashboards:

  • margin by product / product family

  • margin by customer / segment

  • margin by salesperson / channel

  • alerts for sales below margin threshold

Data & quality

• Data cleanup/standardization: UoM, categories, suppliers, purchase costs, customer price lists

• Master data governance: a true “single source of truth”

Inventory reliability & discrepancy reduction

• Reliable real-time inventory visibility by warehouse / location

• Fewer discrepancies and manual adjustments (often -30% to -70%)

• Faster inventory counts through cycle counts + traceability

Productivity gains (procurement, sales, logistics)

• Less re-entry → smoother order cycle

• Fewer pricing/quantity/delivery errors

• Faster invoicing (delivery → invoice can be automated)

Margin management & purchasing decisions

• Immediate visibility into profitable products and customers

• Stronger supplier negotiation through cost/volume visibility

• More robust pricing policy (B2B contracts, controlled discounts)

Faster month-end close

• Inventory & accounting aligned (automated valuation)

• Faster reporting (days → hours / 1–2 days)

• One platform replaced scattered tools → no more “multiple versions of the truth”

• The project was not just “tech”: it was process + governance + adoption

• Margin became an operational management tool, not a month-end calculation

• Teams had simple rules, clear workflows, and the right approval paths

• Inventory discrepancy rate (% or value)

• Average order processing time (sales & purchase)

• Delivery lead time and on-time delivery rate

• Month-end close duration

• Gross margin by customer / by product family

• Slow-moving stock value / inventory turnover

UnifyX typically delivers this type of project in short phases, with usable deliverables early on.

Phase 0 — Scoping (Week 0–1)

• • Kick-off + alignment on objectives (inventory, margins, month-end close, productivity)

  • Audit of existing tools (Excel, partial ERP, accounting, WMS, etc.)

  • Definition of target KPIs and scope (sites, SKUs, pricing rules, roles)

  • Data migration plan + cutover strategy

Deliverables: high-level blueprint, prioritized backlog, project plan, RACI, KPI baseline.

Phase 1 — Design & Governance (Week 1–3)

• • “To-be” process mapping: purchase → receiving → inventory → sales → delivery → invoicing

  • Management rules:

    • purchasing approval thresholds

    • replenishment rules (min/max, MTO/MTS)

    • B2B pricing/discount policy

    • margin rules & exceptions

  • Selection of inventory valuation method (AVCO/FIFO) + returns/credit note rules

Deliverables: process maps, approval matrix, inventory/pricing/margin rules.

Phase 2 — Configuration & Quick Wins (Week 3–6)

• • Module setup (Inventory, Purchase, Sales, Accounting, etc.)

  • Multi-warehouse/location configuration + inter-site transfers

  • Standardized purchase/sales workflows

  • First dashboards (inventory, backorders, sales, gross margin)

Deliverables: configured environment, validated workflows, dashboards v1.

Phase 3 — Data Migration & Testing (Week 5–8)

• • Data cleansing (UoM, categories, suppliers, purchase costs, price lists)

  • Import of products, opening stock, partners, commercial terms

  • Test scenarios: partial receipts, backorders, returns, discounts, multi-site

  • UAT (User Acceptance Testing) + fixes

Deliverables: ready data, test reports, signed UAT, cutover plan.

Phase 4 — Training, Go-Live & Stabilization (Week 8–10)

• • Role-based training (procurement, warehouse, sales, finance)

  • Go-live (by site or global depending on complexity)

  • Hypercare support (2–4 weeks) + adjustments

  • Cycle counts + control routines implementation

Deliverables: successful go-live, post go-live support, operational routines.

Phase 5 — Optimization & Scale (Week 10+)

• • Improved margin steering (costs, discounts, logistics charges)

  • Advanced automation (barcode, EDI, carrier integrations, B2B portal)

  • Executive reporting + monthly KPI review

Deliverables: evolving roadmap, automations, advanced dashboards.

Risk 1 — Unreliable inventory/product data (garbage in, garbage out)

Impact: incorrect stock, wrong margins, low trust.

Mitigation:

• Dedicated data-cleansing phase

• Standardization of UoM, categories, purchase costs, suppliers

• Controlled opening stock load + reference inventory count at D-1

Risk 2 — Change resistance (warehouse & sales)

Impact: workarounds (Excel), poor adoption.

Mitigation:

• Role-based training + simple SOPs

• Adoption KPIs (share of orders processed in-system)

• Internal “champions” + post go-live hypercare

Risk 3 — Incorrect stock valuation setup (AVCO/FIFO) and returns

Impact: inconsistent accounting valuation, difficult close.

Mitigation:

• Dedicated finance workshop (returns/credit notes, costing rules)

• Testing on real scenarios (partial receipts, returns, discounts)

• Accounting validation before go-live

Risk 4 — Multi-warehouse complexity & inter-site transfers

Impact: untracked movements, discrepancies, delivery delays.

Mitigation:

• Location design + standardized transfer rules

• Barcode/scanning (if high volume)

• Cycle counts + weekly controls

Risk 5 — Poorly controlled B2B pricing (lists, discounts, exceptions)

Impact: margin erosion, customer disputes.

Mitigation:

• Pricing governance: who can grant what and when

• Below-margin alerts + approval workflow

• Segmented contracts/price lists (by customer, category, volume)

Risk 6 — Go-live too “big bang”

Impact: operational disruption, delayed delivery/invoicing.

Mitigation:

• Phased go-live (by site, or by flow: inventory then sales)

• Detailed cutover plan + rollback plan

• Reinforced hypercare for 2–4 weeks

Risk 7 — External integrations (existing accounting, carrier, e-commerce)

Impact: duplicates, errors, delays.

Mitigation:

• Prioritize the internal “single source of truth” core first

• Integration specs + end-to-end testing

• Error monitoring + automated reconciliation