Software for distribution

Likewise, you can invoice multiple customers for time and expenses in one batch, and give your business room to grow with the capacity to add and track hundreds of thousands of vendors. The platform works with Microsoft Excel to give you comprehensive reports and has scanning capabilities, so you can easily capture quotes, receipts, and other important documents.

It lets you sort documents into categories and keep track of important accounting files, and log and record document changes with date and time stamps. You can also track employee information to comply with laws and regulations. Next on our list of top 21 distribution software is Epicor Eclipse , a real-time transaction processing accounting software used for order fulfillment, inventory control, accounting, purchasing, and sales. Created in for wholesale distributors in the electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and PVF industries, Epicor Eclipse has since been adopted by a wide range of market sectors.

With a backend running on a NoSQL UniVerse database from Rocket U2, Epicor Eclipse easily handles accounting and finance, customer relations, project management, inventory, pre-production materials planning, manufacturing execution, human capital, supply chain, global business management, and many others. The application is designed around a service-oriented architecture.

It is modular based, which means you can choose to acquire only certain modules that you need without being tied to buying other modules to run the system. This flexibility is further reinforced by deployment options—you can have it on-premise, hosted, or as a cloud-based SaaS. It can be installed on a single site or several sites of a multinational corporation.

Founded in , Parcelhub Shipping is a multi-carrier shipping and ecommerce customer services solution. With one access point to plus carrier partners and plus services, it gives you a global shipping and delivery network for your customers.

Parcelhub Shipping Software sees to it that dedicated, proactive parcel management comes as standard. Founded in , Deskera ERP is part of an award-winning integrated business suite that gives you the freedom to run your business in the cloud. Since it is such a diverse software service, Deskera is a suitable choice for medium- and large enterprises looking to define their management needs.

Businesses belonging to any industry can make good use of this software, which makes Deskera an appealing product. The Magaya Distribution System is meant for businesses that buy, sell, and manage inventories. It provides you a simple and low-cost platform with tools to handle payments and POs to suppliers, facilitate inventory tracking and offloading, monitor deliveries, and more.

With accounting features tucked into the online system, you get complete visibility over your inventory, invoices as well as sales and purchase orders. Magaya Distribution System serves more than 1, companies around the world in more than 40 countries.

Those customers enjoy online visibility of purchase orders, sales orders and invoices, inventory management, and integrated accounting. It combines core ERP capabilities and other advanced features to give you one powerful platform to address your food distribution requirements.

Intuitive and straightforward dashboards, search screens, and ribbon menus, among others, make it a great system to work with, whether your business is focused on produce, meat, dairy, beverage, or seafood distribution. Founded in , Primaseller is a cloud-based multichannel inventory and order management platform designed to expand the capabilities of small and medium-sized businesses to effectively and efficiently manage and handle inventory and orders.

By centralizing all their online and offline sales channels, synchronizing their inventory, and managing all aspects of their operations from a single location, Primaseller makes it easy for businesses to take care of their orders and POS. Primaseller comes with such core processes as inventory management, point of sale, purchase management, accounting, and shipping.

From 3PL Central, a company established in , is Red Rock Warehouse Manager , a cloud-based inventory and warehouse management system for companies doing retail distribution, ecommerce fulfillment, and manufacturing. Red Rock WMS integrates with QuickBooks, manages multiple warehouses, distribution centers, manufacturing facilities, and any storage facility while providing real-time inventory visibility.

It handles all pick, pack, and shipping needs and offers options to integrate with ecommerce solutions as well as other leading accounting and ERP platforms. Red Rock Warehouse Manager likewise gives you order fulfillment capabilities through its partnership with leading carriers and shipping companies. And through its mobile scanning tool, you can easily capture barcode information for quick package identification. Founded in , Distribution One provides powerful software applications to help wholesalers and distributors run their businesses efficiently, profitably, and competitively.

It is a complete wholesale distribution accounting system and warehouse automation solution that meets all of your needs.

It provides complete and interconnected accounting integration, advanced order entry, inventory management, and intuitive point-and-click functionality. Next on our list of top 21 distribution software is Iptor ERP for distribution, one of two ERP solutions from Iptor Supply Chain Systems, a pioneering company in planning and logistics software that has been in business since Both are suitable for businesses of any size.

It is suitable for companies seeking to move towards lean and agile methodologies. Both solutions are made up of a set of core functionalities, which include order processing, billing, returns management, inventory management, accounting, and shipping.

Industry-specific modules can then be added as required. A key feature of the distribution package is the inventory and distribution module, which allows real-time optimization of the goods handling process. Iptor ERP is a cloud-based solution, available via web browsers on both desktop and mobile devices.

The firm operates on SaaS and IaaS models. From TGI, a software development firm founded in Toledo, Ohio, in , Enterprise 21 ERP is an integrated wholesale distribution software suite that provides a total sales order management solution that includes available-to-promise and capable-to-promise mechanisms that will improve order lines and reduce inventory carrying costs. Enterprise 21 ERP can meet the needs of wholesale distributors due to its warehouse management system that is radio frequency- and barcode-enabled.

Founded in , Oracle JD Edwards Distribution software allows you to handle complex business operations with minimal operational costs. It is one of the top-class distribution tools to streamline distribution functions and realize operational excellence. Comprehensive, integrated logistics capabilities enable you to cut response time for a meager total cost of ownership, with no hidden costs over time. Oracle JD Edwards Distribution Management software lets you access the same customer and product data for sales, shipping, delivery, and after-sales service with a single data source, improved communication with supply chain partners with an automated pull-based process, retain lot characteristics throughout the manufacturing and distribution processes for increased flexibility and control and easily extend your business processes to interact with business partners.

The company is fully focused on developing Advanced Business Management Systems that can provide numerous advantages to big and small businesses alike. ERP system offers intuitive features packaged in modules that cover every key business function and process to help organizations when it comes to strategic and tactical decision-making. Businesses of all sizes and in a variety of industries, such as energy, financial services, advertising, hospitality, manufacturing, retail, logistics and transportation, use this system.

The order and billing management functionality in NetSuite centralize finances, sales and fulfillment to help manage quotes and reduce billing errors.

Warehouse management is available for multiple locations to optimize, configure, define and store inventory. Order Management: NetSuite controls the process from the time a sales quote is entered to the time an order is fulfilled. The program can manage quotes and reduce billing errors through the integration of workflows such as finance, sales and fulfillment. Workflow: The program contains prebuilt functionality for omnichannel engagement and includes financial management applications that are configured with marketing support.

Source Management: This tool uses supplier performance data to effectively manage suppliers. NetSuite offers a real-time supply portal that centralizes the purchasing process and ensures compliance. The system also contains dynamic forecasting and operational planning functionality, with the algorithm continuously reforecasting based on any deviance in data.

Warehouse Management: Multi-warehouse support is available through this tool. The solution can optimize, store, define and configure inventory through aspects such as barcode labeling, warehouse activity dashboards, expiration tracking and shelf-life tracking. Customization and Visibility: Organizations can view information related to customers, items, orders and inventory in a centralized location with NetSuite. The program can be configured to meet unique business needs by setting rules and managing requirements through the built-in automation capabilities in the solution.

The solution is modular and enables organizations to create a program that adheres to their unique needs. Some of the modules that wholesale distributors might find helpful are the invoice management and warehouse management capabilities. The program enables users to track and process orders to aid in the procurement of materials from local and global suppliers. The system is suited for companies of various sizes and is available for deployment both on-site and through the cloud. Its customers span across industries such as manufacturing, electronics, chemicals and fertilizers, automotive parts and accessories, food and beverage, medical devices, packaging, industrial machinery and equipment, rubber and plastics.

Lot Traceability and Serial Tracking: This tool enables you to trace products from their point of origin to their final destination. Visibility of materials is available across different virtual and physical locations.

This tool also enables users to analyze and trace the source of any defects that occur. The system streamlines the order-to-delivery process, and users get access to visibility of all operations.

Additionally, the sales order module assists with order fulfillment and processing. Sales Analysis and Optimal Pricing: The sales analysis tool helps to predict sales trends of products, determining how much revenue is gained per item. This feature also helps measure the profitability of different customers.

Cost Tracking: This feature identifies and tracks cost elements of products. It also includes information related to backorders, order policies and inter-warehouse lead time data. This tool can also assist in executing and planning warehouse replenishment along with order fulfillment requirements. Acumatica is a software solution that centralizes essential business functions such as finance, distribution, field service, manufacturing and CRM.

The program is available for deployment both on-site and through the cloud, making it a versatile option for a range of companies, especially those that are small and medium-sized. Some of the industries it serves include manufacturing, technology, software, service, e-commerce, retail and distribution.

Personalized expert support is available to customers, along with training opportunities. The system manages the purchase requisition-to-payment and quote-to-cash processes. More than customers currently use this solution. Requisition Management: This solution can organize distribution processes that are complex and involve multiple suppliers and products.

It can obtain bids, gather requests, manage purchases, fulfill orders, and create and approve quotes for external or internal needs. Advanced Inventory Management: You can view inventory information in real time through this system. Some of the metrics that can be observed minute-to-minute include reordering quantities, inventory in transit and inventory costs. These buyers run multiple facilities and need to track and balance inventories over a geographical area. The buyers require software that can balance inventory between warehouses while strategically placing it closest to the probable customers.

The system must give both overall enterprise data as well as breaking down each operation. It must track customer and vendor accounts, and make sure customer accounts are consolidated even if the customer orders from different locations.

Departmental buyer. These buyers are specialists for firms that have an internal distribution network. They may only sell to their own outlets, but they must contend with multiple suppliers, inventory issues, competing corporate customers and transportation decisions similar to commercial distributors use. As such, they should evaluate software for wholesale distribution companies that can support multiple departments.

Small business buyer. These buyers may work for distributors or wholesalers or may have a distribution component as part of their business. They usually have smaller numbers of clients, suppliers and inventory and may include some assembly or production components but still face the same basic issues as large-scale distributors. These buyers are often using paper-based systems or general wholesale distribution software small business distributors typically use like Intuit or Peachtree.

As distributors feel pressures from increasing demands to restock as the economy recovers and to reassert value in the supply chain, they need concrete benefits to justify system expenses. Lower total logistics cost. Since distribution management systems let managers get a more realistic view of inventory costs, they can take steps to increase the overall costs. For example, it might be more cost effective to buy a slightly more expensive product that has better packaging that takes substantially less shelf space.

Increased profitability. Combining information from TLC analysis and slotting analysis, objects that are picked together often, can be shelved next to each other. This reduces the overall labor involved in picking, although the costs for each individual item is constant.

Improved customer service. Improved vendor relations. Distributors can use the information and analysis from the inventory system to become better customers to their suppliers by analyzing trends and placing orders that do not have to change in the middle of fulfillment.

Better orders, improved receiving processes and integration with supplier systems all work to make vendor transaction run smoother. Reduced compliance costs. Many distributors are subject to strict governmental and insurance regulations because of the materials they carry in inventory. Distribution management software can generate much of the required compliance documentation as a consequence of ordering and receiving materials and equipment. The chief issue with wholesale distribution software systems is lag time.

Even when the various modules and components share a database, which is the norm now, there is a time lag between when events occur and when they are recorded. This can lead to improper decisions. Most systems are written with the assumption that changes are made and transmitted instantly; reality is different.

For example, when a customer places an order, ideally the value of that order should be immediately moved from current inventory and appear in accounts receivable. If the shipment is free on board FOB origin, once the order is picked up, the items should be removed from inventory.

The other limitation is expense. Even basic warehouse distribution software systems use bar codes, mobile readers and a wireless network. More advanced systems require an extensive infrastructure that potentially requires every location on every shelf to have some form of hardware installed. In the age of on-demand, custom-built products; overnight shipping and Internet disintermediation, the distribution sector is under pressure to reestablish its value proposition and increase efficiency.

One of the ways distributors can do this is by utilizing advanced features included in software for distribution business needs. Total logistics cost modeling. Traditionally, inventory was costed by adding its unit cost to its shipping cost.

Total logistics cost TLC looks at all expenses related to acquiring, transporting and storing inventory. This includes things such as labor costs, the amount of shelf space required and even allocated overhead costs. For example, if two items cost the same and weigh the same, but one is much larger than the other, the larger item will require more storage space and will have a higher TLC.

Pick to light technology. Pick to light PTL is a paperless picking technology. Instead of printing a pick list, arrays of lights on the ceiling and shelving indicate the location of the items to be picked. Digital displays on the shelf give the quantity to pick. PTL is incorporated into warehouse management or inventory management software and can reduce operations costs in the warehouse. Intelligent inventory tagging. The use of one-dimensional bar coding for equipment and inventory tagging is well established in manufacturing systems.

Recent systems use radio frequency identification RFID , which can be read remotely to check inventory levels and to confirm equipment availability. Other systems use two-dimensional bar codes which contain descriptive information in addition to an identifier like a part number. Advanced slotting analysis. Advanced slotting analysis uses historical inventory information, picking trends and warehouse shelving layout information to determine the most cost-effective placement of inventory in the warehouse.

Slotting analysis can also ensure that dangerous items are not stored together, for example, ammonia next to chlorine, which could violate government regulations, insurance restrictions and common sense. Software Advice uses reviews from real software users to highlight the top-rated Distribution Software products in North America.

Get Advice. More Distribution Software. Other Software. Sort by:. Fishbowl FrontRunners Fishbowl is a hybrid manufacturing and warehouse management solution designed for small and midsize companies.

Price Watch Demo Learn More. Agiliron Agiliron cloud-based point-of-sale POS solution is designed to serve both in-store and mobile businesses as well as online sales channels. Focus X FrontRunners Focus X is an all-inclusive enterprise resource planning ERP system that helps you connect every aspect of your business operations. Price Demo Learn More.