What Is Distribution ERP And Its Advantages?

And, perhaps, similarly as important: what's the difference between your average, everyday ERP and an industry-specific distribution ERP?

ERP stands for enterprise resource planning. It is a software solution to help you manage your business.

A solution integrates all areas of your operations: financials, communication with suppliers and customers, EDI, warehousing, analytics, demand planning, importing, transportation — and so on, there's a spot for it in your ERP.

A ton of suppliers have individual solutions to assist you with managing each of these departments independently.

There's software for accounting, software for human resource activities, and software for the supply chain management.

The only issue with all of these add-on solutions is there's no single source of truth. That's what an integrated ERP gives.

Presently, a distribution-specific ERP gives you all of those same things we mentioned above. It gives you the exact things a nonexclusive ERP does.

Only it gives you more. It is a solution designed specifically to satisfy the necessities and needs of your industry and your vertical within that industry.

As distributors, you have to manage things that, say, a discrete manufacturer doesn't. So, it wouldn't be beneficial to work with the same software.

Rather, you want a solution that was designed in light of your business.

Distribution ERP software manages shipping and transportation logistics, assists forecast items with demanding, supports on-time, in-full (OTIF) requirements, tracks inventory levels, offers worked-in EDI services, and enables you to calculate genuine landed costs.

The right distribution ERP also handles shipping products directly from your supplier to your customer manages chargebacks and breaks down your customer allowances, royalties, and commissions — all of which impact your profitability.

It is a solution that all departments use — from sales to warehousing to logistics and accounting — all to join data and synchronize your operations.

Distribution ERP ensures your teams work from the same real-time information to make running a fruitful distribution business a lot easier.

Advantages of a Distribution ERP

For importers and distributors, an industry-specific ERP can make a difference. It offers far beyond a conventional software solution.

Measurable advantages and return on initial capital investment are not far off when you select the right software for your industry.

Regardless of the size of your business — whether you're a ten-person enterprise or you have 1,000 employees — you want a robust distribution ERP to assist you with growing your enterprise.

In the same way, as other software implementations, the specific advantages of a distribution ERP for distributors vary depending on the requirements of your business, however here we've collated a couple of common ones that you can anticipate straight off the bat.

1.      Improve operational processes, performance, and profitability

2.      Enhance expansive visibility and agility

3.      Optimize inventory management and improve forecasting accuracy

4.      Reduce costs with profitability analysis and productivity in your operations

5.      Improve shipping speed and accuracy

6.      Maintain retailer compliance

7.      Increase customer satisfaction

By creating efficiencies across your enterprise, distributors can increase profits and ensure that the entire business utilizes the same real-time data.