As our technology and process optimization evolve each day, industries everywhere are feeling the effects of heightened competition, tighter margins, and the need for speed. With this expansion comes a new market of wholesalers looking for supply chain solutions to increase efficiency and decrease costs throughout their processes.
To put this in perspective, the number of warehouses in the US has grown 7% since 2016. (https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/ENUUS000205493?data_tool=XGtable) As this amount grows in the competitive landscape, wholesalers are juggling running their warehouses, minimizing costs, and optimizing processes, all while satisfying happy, loyal customers. Sounds like a lot to handle or nearly impossible? Not quite.
Utilizing tech-savvy innovations such Order Time’s efficient inventory management software includes all the tools you need and more to ensure you’re making the most of your business. Automating wholesale processes can give you a closer look into distribution, sales, production, and throughout the supply chain all in one centralized location.
If you’re a wholesaler with an online distribution channel, keep reading to learn more about the features you need and how Order Time fits the bill for the job.
Accurate Forecasting
Our world has quickly become data-driven, and your inventory management should be too. Using Order Time’s cloud-based inventory software, data is constantly collected on processing time, inventory levels, sales, and more; all of which can be used for accurate sales forecasting.
This technology automatically identifies low inventory levels and generates purchase orders. Reorder analysis takes your business’ historical sales figures to generate a purchase forecast, which is used to make important business decisions that prevent over and under stocking the inventory your customer’s demand.
Making these calculated business decisions help reduce overspending, the need for markdowns, or lost customers due to out of stock inventory. You can also gain insight into key performance indicators to understand real-time reports on the business’ performance and areas of improvement. Order Time includes all these features and more allow you to dive deeper into your business, saving you precious time and money.
Sales Order Fulfillment
No matter the business or industry you’re in, the end goals are satisfied customers and revenue. To make this possible, you’ll need to install a structured sales cycle that controls all order stages from leads to the customer’s hands. Order Time gives you this visibility so that you can ensure quality, timeliness, and gain insight into any inefficiencies that need to be addressed.
Once a lead is converted to a customer when they place an order, a sales order is generated and delivered to the customer to confirm purchase before distributing the goods. The sales order includes important information such as customer addresses, the promise date, instructions, item details, and the order status.
After the sales order is approved, the ship doc is created to show the customer’s purchase and deducts that inventory from your warehouse. Packing slips are also generated including SKU numbers, item weights and dimensions, and more. Order Time ensures the sales cycle is flawless by automating all steps and emailing confirmation to customers throughout the process.
Multiple Warehouse Fulfillment
Often businesses make mindless mistakes by misplacing inventory or having an unorganized system that can lead to heavy financial losses. These can be easily avoided with an automated system’s warehousing tools that allow you to track your inventory at any time with the click of a button.
Order Time’s warehousing toolkit is essential to ensuring all inventory is accounted for regardless of how many warehouses you have. Track and fulfill orders across multiple warehouses from a centralized device to ensure optimal organization, timely order processing, and cost efficiencies.
View the warehouse overview to track, adjust, and scan your inventory. Order Time utilizes bins and locations to designate inventory storage including crates, shelves, or even a virtual location. The transfer location function allows you to move inventory between warehouses and bins with ease.
Kitting
If a customer orders two or more goods, utilizing the kitting tool is a great way to reduce packaging by combining the goods into one box. These items are normally tracked individually, but the kit bundles them into one sales order like a subscription box.
Kits offer customers choices of what is included in the kit at time of purchase. Order Time’s features authorize you to add components and selections, enforce rules, and control connected items. Components can be fixed, meaning they are always listed in the kit; variables, or options to be selected from; or Yes/No, which are optional components that can be included in the kit.
Lot Tracking
Lot and serial number tracking is a crucial feature in ensuring product quality and timeliness, especially when dealing with perishable or time-sensitive goods. Serial numbers are assigned to a particular unit, while lot numbers are an identification number given to a quantity or batch of a product.
Order Time syncs all the moving parts of your inventory so that you can easily track items that have been purchased, received, used in production, and shipped to customers. Lot and serial number tracing is imperative to managing all goods, including “items within items” such as component pieces. Update counts of all inventory items to assist by importing CSV files.
Keeping tabs on all moving parts is now seamless using an end-to-end automated full lot tracking system like Order Time. Our traceability features allow you to achieve FDA, ISO, or CFIA compliance for your business. You can base tracking on expiry date as well as automatically generate tracking numbers, enabling your business to perform at low costing all while reducing the risk of product recall and item misplacement.
Click here for more information on Order Time’s vast assortment of traceability and accounting features.
Bin Management
As a wholesale distributor, you know how frustrating it can be to have a customer’s order be delayed due to misplaced inventory. Not only does this lead to unhappy customers, but also wasted time and money in your facility. This headache can easily be prevented with bin management systems.
Regardless of how big or small your inventory warehouse is, or how many there are, bin management allows for inventory to be received at the warehouse in an organized manner. The inventory is then put away into preferred bins within the warehouse’s rack system so that it can be quickly located during the order fulfillment process.
Warehouse management assists in performing inventory counts and stock adjustments with the click of a button, granting you instant access to the data needed to maintain proper inventory levels. Using Order Time’s systematic approach, you can also control inventory receipts as it comes in to assist in a fast turn-around as it goes out to customers.
What Now?
These features are more integrated perfectly into all supply chain processes as the wholesale distributor. Order Time also raises productivity levels for other steps in the supply chain from raw materials to customers such as manufacturers, retailers, and e-commerce platforms.
Love everything you’ve read? Order Time offers all types of advantages for your sales team!
Sign up for a one-on-one meeting to get all your questions and concerns answered, or check out our detailed video tutorials and knowledge base. Order Time is constantly updating, so check out the latest release notes.
Feel free to call our sales representatives, 1-866-278-6243, dial 1 for Sales or visit our website for more details!
We're always adding new Features, so if you have one you can't live without, let us know using the Contact Us Form.For more information check out our Order Time Cheat Sheet.
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