Retail refers to the business model of a merchant that sells products directly to the end consumer. Wholesale on the other hand is when a merchant sells products to other businesses who then distribute through different channels to the end user.

Traditionally, wholesale distribution was not a channel that many founders or merchants would consider expanding into, especially in the first few years of the business. The capital cost was usually too high and the supply chain complications made it impossible for small teams to manage manually.

The retail industry may have been quick to digitize but wholesale lagged behind. To a certain degree it still does; even with affordable and reliable cloud SaaS solutions that provide end-to-end supply chain solutions for wholesalers, many retailers are still hesitant to take the leap of faith. However these merchants are missing out on a huge opportunity for growth; the wholesale market is expected to reach a value of nearly $47768.95 billion by 2022 and more and more of these sales are being made online.

The key to running a successful online wholesale distribution business is to have the right tech in place from the get-go. With a complex supply chain, comes complexity in other aspects of the business- accounting being a big one. Wholesalers have specific inventory and order management requirements that need to be properly accounted for. QuickBooks Online accounting software is easy to set up, simple to use and comes with powerful and intuitive integrations to simplify even the most complex wholesale needs.

How to Use QuickBooks for Wholesale Distribution

1. Manage and automate inventory reconciliation

With the QuickBooks Online, you have access and visibility into inventory levels and available stock in real time. Manage orders and inventory in various stages of fulfillment and gain a complete picture of available, committed, incoming and outgoing stock. Automate stock control and save your team hours in receiving, picking and packing and performing general stock management.

2. Make data-driven decisions based on accurate financial tracking

Who says you can’t codify growth? With QuickBooks Online, your team can leverage detailed reports and forecasts to keep abreast of changes in consumer buying trends, fluctuations in demand and more. Shine a light on your company’s overall health and financial performance with up to date ledgers that account for everything from multiple warehouses, different currencies and multiple sales channels.

3. Two-way payment sync between all channels and accounting

QuickBooks Online integrates with multiple e-commerce platforms. Whether your orders come through one or more of those channels, all of your invoices, payments and purchase orders are pushed to Quickbooks Online on a daily basis. You can then approve invoices and payments and have that information pushed automatically back to your favourite apps and then reflected on your sales channels. Regulating your cash flow has never been this easy.

QuickBooks Online integrates to automate accounting processes, so that wholesaler merchants can focus on selling their products, deepening their relationships with their customer network and finding new avenues to grow.

QuickBooks comes with purpose-built features to help wholesalers simplify and automate their backend operations. For retailers looking for an out of the box solution to sell online or for wholesalers looking to digitally transform their businesses, QuickBooks Online offers a cloud-based inventory management system that will have all your needs met.

With QuickBooks Online, you can take the plunge into the world of wholesale and swim with confidence towards growth!