Customers and ladder prices
Wholesale is not retail scaled up. Customers have grades, prices have layers, terms have length; the same SKU can price differently for A and B today. Sales often ship first, then backfill the order, then change price, then ask for terms. If the system only allows “order then ship, price from the list,” the floor will WeChat the order and Excel the receivables. We start from that reality: contract price, temporary specials, and quantity breaks can coexist; specials need approval and an expiry; ship-then-order is allowed, but the backfill must match lot and quantity and cannot hang forever.
Terms and receivables
Terms and receivables are where wholesale actually takes risk. Who may buy on account, how much, and how overdue stock is stopped cannot live in the owner’s memory. After we connect incoming payments, each customer gets a statement; overdue flags sales and finance; shipments consume credit and receipts release it. Reconciling is by order, truck, and discount—not once at month-end. Price rights split by role: a salesperson sees their own customer prices, cannot edit the company list at will, and a change keeps before/after values and an approver.
Sellable stock
Stock must split sellable, in transit, and already held. Wholesale warehouses often have several customers chasing one lot. A single “on hand” number lets sales sell the same lot twice. Physical, held-unshipped, inbound PO, and damaged must be separate; opening an order holds stock, cancel or return releases it. Purchasing should suggest from stockouts and customer orders, not a buyer’s feel. Multi-warehouse transfers, van sales, and returns into damaged stock all hit the same books or month-end counts never match.
Van sales and swaps
Van sales, placing stock, returns and swaps are the daily path, not exceptions. Goods on a salesperson’s truck are inventory and come back by lot; a refusal or spec swap must split from the original order instead of opening an unexplained payable. If promotions, rebates, and year-end kickbacks live only in a PDF contract, finance computes them in December and in-year margin is fiction. We put what can go into unit price into unit price and the rest into expense lines—both hang on the customer and the period.
Price policy first
Go-live order is usually customer files and price policy first, then order and ship, then receivables and purchase suggestions. Historical arrears must migrate and be checked—not only items. Training is sales, order clerks, and warehouse—if any of the three stay outside the system, the books split again. The goal is specific: same customer, same SKU, same terms, sales, warehouse, and finance see the same fact.