Industry Challenges

The wholesale industry is composed of many different types of companies that act as a link between producers and end customers. The core processes of a distributor include purchasing, inventory, sales, delivery, and retail. There are many different ways for a distributor to serve the end customer, ranging from companies with a mix of design, stock, and retail to those focused on shipping and value-added service. Challenges for these types of companies may vary significantly, but they still share a basic set of mandates in order to operate effectively in the supply chain, including remaining responsive to changing customer demands, and operating efficiently in order to capitalize on what are typically narrow margins.

Wholesale companies take risks by holding inventory in order to have products available when their customers need them. As a result, distributors are sensitive to trends, price fluctuations and economic turmoil, and they must have the means to respond quickly to market changes. What’s more, the wholesale industry has become increasingly competitive, with many other factors affecting the growth and sustainability of distributors, including:

  • Increased globalization has led to significant changes in the flow of products, with more and more products being sourced in low-cost countries and shipped to local markets.
  • As manufacturers offshore production to developing countries, their distributors must follow, faced with international growth in order to continue their role in the supply chain.  
  • Increased incomes in developing countries have has broadened global purchasing power and opened up opportunities for wholesalers and retailers to enter new markets.
  • The increased availability of goods and services via internet has transformed the value chain, opening up a realm of new ways for consumers to price and find products and suppliers.
  • Increased supply chain integration via the use of sophisticated technology and business systems has created new business models and radically changed the way wholesale companies work with their suppliers.
  • The wholesale industry remains highly fragmented, with several large dominant players and a large number of small and midsized companies with niche specializations. This fragmentation leads to high competition, as well as a great deal of growth opportunity via mergers and acquisitions.

Even the best responses to industry challenges can be constrained by a rigid ERP solution. Jeeves ERP is a cloud-based ERP (enterprise resource planning) software solution for small and midsize businesses with operations in Sweden. Unlike other cloud and SaaS ERP systems, Jeeves ERP delivers a powerful platform service built on a genius architecture that allows you to easily and cost-effectively implement and upgrade a highly custom system on top of a rich standard feature set. These customizations can be done in house, or by Jeeves’ professional ERP services team.

Jeeves ERP is built to address the core challenges and requirements of the small and midmarket wholesale, distribution and retail industry, with the ability to be further optimized to align with your company's unique business processes. The system comes with pre-built workflows, screen dialogues, reports, and business intelligence designed specifically for wholesalers and distributors—leading to a rapid system implementation, as well as a rapid system payback.

Jeeves ERP for Wholesale, Distribution and Retail

Jeeves ERP addresses the core functional requirements of growing wholesalers, distributors and retailers, including:

International Multi-Company Support

Jeeves supports operations with multiple entities and international groups. The solution is specifically designed to simplify and standardize processes across multiple units within the same company or between companies, with built-in adjustments based on their geographic locations. As a result, you can quickly establish new sales and distribution units or outsource warehousing and services to anywhere in the world—and all from within a single business system. Create a sales order from a selling unit, and invoice from a delivery unit. Regardless of how your business is configured, you will enjoy enhanced collaboration and increased visibility of your company's global assets and resources.

Inter Company Transactions

The Jeeves intercompany transactions feature (ITC) makes it possible for businesses with complex, geographically dispersed structures to operate as a single entity when working directly with customers. Customer and warehouse replenishment orders follow a single, automated process, making all the transaction updates required for both selling and supplying sites.

International Location and Language Support

Jeeves ERP is developed in close cooperation with our customers, often wholesale, distribution and retail companies with international operations. The system is used in more than 40 countries, and is localized and translated into many languages, as well as constantly updated to support local regulations and requirements.

Support for Value-Added Services

Whether your operation style is source-hold-sell-ship; design-sell-source-ship; source-hold-retail; sources-hold-sell-tailor-service; or mixed mode manufacturing and distribution, and whether you support your customers with aftermarket services or distribute products to customers through a complex value chain, Jeeves ERP is designed to be quickly configured to support the way you run your business. The system also supports forecasting, advanced inventory control, e-commerce and more.

Easy to Integrate

Jeeves ERP’s open database design and service-oriented architecture gives it an inherent ability to easily integrate with any third-party front- or back-office system that’s already supporting your differentiated business model, including point-of-sale (POS) systems, external warehouse management systems, automated storage and retrieval systems, transport management software, and much more.

Other key features include:

  • Efficient procurement
  • Optimized logistics management
  • Advanced inventory control
  • Flexible price and discount management
  • E-Commerce
  • Efficient with EDI
  • Master data management
  • Support for Value Added Services
Core Application Areas