Connected systems for wholesale distributors.
Most distributors do not have an ordering problem. They have an order that gets typed three times between the customer and the invoice.
Parameter builds, connects, and supports wholesale distribution software: B2B ordering portals, Odoo ERP, customer pricing, and the integrations between sales, warehouse, and accounting. One team, from the first workflow review to support after launch.
- Repeat orders without the phone call
- One record from order to invoice
- Supported after launch
Wholesale distribution software problems you will recognize.
None of these is a people problem. They are what happens when the order, the stock, and the invoice live in different places.
Orders arrive every way except one
Email, phone, text, a rep's notebook, a PDF from a buyer. Each one waits for someone to type it into the system, and the order is only as accurate as that typing.
The same order gets entered twice
Once to take it, again for the warehouse, sometimes a third time for accounting. Every re-entry is a chance for a wrong quantity or a wrong price.
Stock numbers nobody trusts
Sales checks a spreadsheet, the warehouse checks the shelf, and purchasing checks last month's report. On paper they agree. In reality, someone calls the warehouse to be sure.
Pricing lives in people
This customer gets contract pricing, that one gets a volume break, a third has terms nobody wrote down. It works until the person who remembers is out.
Customers cannot help themselves
Where is my order, can I reorder last month's, what is my balance. Each question is a phone call, because the answer sits in a system the customer cannot see.
Systems that follow the order, from the customer to the ledger.
Five areas of work, in the order an order moves through your business. Most projects start with one or two of them, not all five.
B2B ordering and customer portals
A place for customers and sales reps to place repeat orders without a phone call: their catalog, their prices, their order history, and the status of what is open. Built on Odoo's portal and eCommerce, on your current platform, or as a custom portal when the rules call for it.
Odoo ERP with connected inventory and purchasing
Sales, inventory, purchasing, and accounting in one database, so a confirmed order reserves stock and a low shelf becomes a purchase order. We implement Odoo, migrate the data, and stay to run it.
Customer catalogs, price lists, and order rules
Which customer sees which products, at which price, with which minimums and approvals. Most of this is configuration. The unusual rules get written down and scoped before anyone builds them.
Warehouse, shipping, accounting, and ecommerce integrations
Carriers, payment gateways, a warehouse system, an existing accounting package, a storefront. We connect them through documented APIs, with a named owner for each record, so the same number is not typed twice.
Reporting, automation, and ongoing support
Open orders, stock position, and margin where the people who need them can see them. Routine steps automated where the rule is clear. One team that still answers after go-live.
| Need | Usually configuration | Needs its own scope |
|---|---|---|
| Customer price lists and volume breaks | Usually configuration in Odoo | Pricing that depends on data held in another system |
| Customer portal: orders, invoices, order status | Usually configuration, using Odoo's portal | A branded portal with its own workflows, or one on another platform |
| Customer-specific catalogs | Often configuration | Rules by contract, territory, or buyer role that go past the built-in options |
| Order approvals and minimums | Simple rules are configuration | Multi-step approval chains and exceptions |
| Shipping carriers and labels | A connector, where one exists for your carrier | A carrier or warehouse system with no ready connector |
| Accounting | Odoo's own accounting | Keeping your current accounting package and syncing to it |
| An existing storefront or ordering site | Not applicable | Always an integration, with a written owner for each record |
This is a guide, not a price list or a promise. What applies to you depends on your Odoo plan, your current software, and your rules, and it is settled in a written scope before work starts. Odoo implementation, Odoo integrations, and custom software each have their own page.
ERP for wholesale distributors is not always a new ERP.
Odoo is the system we implement most, and for many distributors it is the right one. It is still one of three routes, and replacing everything is the most expensive of them.
Integrate the tools you have
When the accounting package is sound and the team knows it, the gap is usually between systems, not inside one. Connecting ordering, inventory, and accounting can remove the re-entry without a migration.
Use more of your current platform
Some distributors already pay for software that can do the job and was never set up for it. If the platform fits and the vendor is stable, configuring it properly costs less than replacing it.
Move to Odoo
When the spreadsheets are the system, the old software has no future, or four tools each hold part of the truth, one database is the cleaner answer. That is when we recommend Odoo, and we say so in writing with the reasons.
Connecting systems that are not Odoo is covered under API and systems integration.
One order, from the customer to accounting.
This is how a repeat order can move once ordering, inventory, shipping, and accounting share one record. Your version will differ, and which steps are configuration or integration depends on your setup.
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The customer places the order
A buyer signs in, sees their own catalog and prices, and reorders from last month's order. A sales rep can do the same on the customer's behalf from the road.
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The rules run before a person does
Minimums, credit terms, and any approval the account requires are checked on submission. An order that needs a second look is routed to the person who gives it.
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Stock is reserved
The confirmed order reserves inventory in the right warehouse. Anything short shows as a backorder, and purchasing sees the demand without being told.
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The warehouse picks and packs
The pick list comes from the order, not from a retyped copy of it. What was actually packed is recorded against the order.
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It ships, and the customer knows
The carrier label comes from the same record, and the tracking number flows back to the order. The customer sees it in the portal instead of calling.
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The invoice matches the shipment
The invoice is created from what shipped, at the price the customer was quoted. Nobody rebuilds it by hand.
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Accounting already has it
Revenue, receivables, and inventory value update from the same transaction. Month-end starts from numbers that agree with each other.
Distribution, B2B ordering, and integration work, running today.
Unlimited Florida Sales is a wholesale distributor running on Odoo with us. The other two are not wholesale distributors. They are here for the building blocks: customer-specific ordering, approvals, shipping, and a connection to something Odoo does not reach by default.
Odoo for a Florida wholesale distributor
A wholesale distributor in Florida. Sales, inventory, purchasing, and accounting on Odoo, implemented and supported by us.
Client stores and approval routing for a Jacksonville printer
Per-firm client stores, approval routing, and ShipStation shipping, built on Odoo and run by us. The same pieces a distributor's ordering portal is made of.
Read the case studyA print connector for a greeting card publisher
A custom connector that turns paid orders into queued print jobs on Fiery print servers. An example of connecting Odoo to equipment and software it does not talk to on its own.
Read the case studyMore projects are on the work page.
Six phases, one accountable team.
The order matters. Workflows before software, data before launch, and support that is planned from the start instead of discovered afterwards.
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Understand the workflows
We follow real orders through your operation: how they arrive, who touches them, where they wait, and where they get retyped. You get a written scope that says what we found and what we recommend.
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Configure and integrate
Configuration first, integration second, custom work last and only where the first two fall short. Everything is built on staging, not on your live system.
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Validate the data
Customers, products, prices, and opening stock are cleaned and loaded on a test copy, then checked by the people who know them. Bad data is the most common reason a launch disappoints.
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Train the team
Sales, customer service, warehouse, and accounting each learn their own part on their own real cases. Short written guides stay behind.
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Launch
A planned cutover with a checklist, a way back, and us on hand while the first real orders go through.
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Support
After launch the system has an owner. Odoo Support runs month to month, and Odoo Operations is a committed engagement for teams that want us to own the platform.
Questions distributors ask us first.
We already have accounting software. Do we have to replace it?
No. If the accounting package is sound and your team knows it, we can connect ordering and inventory to it instead. Replacing it makes sense when it has no usable way to connect, or when keeping it means keeping the double entry.
Do wholesale distributors need Odoo, or can you work with what we have?
Both happen. Odoo is the ERP we implement, and it suits distributors who want sales, inventory, purchasing, and accounting in one database. When your current software fits and only the gaps between tools hurt, we connect or configure what you own. The written scope says which and why.
How does migration work for customers, products, and prices?
We load them on a test copy first, and the people who know the data check it before anything goes live. Customers, products, price lists, and opening stock almost always move. How much order history moves is decided in the scope, because old history is where most bad data lives.
Our pricing is complicated. Can a system handle customer-specific pricing?
Usually, yes. Price lists by customer, volume breaks, and date-limited prices are configuration in Odoo. Pricing that depends on another system, on contract terms, or on rules nobody has written down needs its own scope. We ask you to write the rules down first, and that step alone tends to settle arguments.
Can customers place and track their own orders?
Yes. A B2B ordering portal lets a business customer sign in, see their own catalog and prices, reorder, and check order status and invoices. Odoo includes a customer portal, and a custom portal is an option when your rules or your brand call for more.
What does it cost, and how long does it take?
Both depend on the workflows, the state of the data, and the number of integrations, so we do not publish a price list or a standard timeline. You get a written scope with a quote and dates, and nothing starts until you approve it.
What happens after launch?
The system keeps an owner. Odoo Support runs month to month for fixes, changes, and questions. Odoo Operations is a committed engagement for teams that want us to own the platform, including upgrades.
Show us how an order moves today.
Tell us how orders arrive, where they get retyped, and which systems are involved. We reply with what we would look at first. If Odoo is on the table, the Odoo Assessment is free and ends in a written Preliminary Scope.