Logistics & Distribution · Wholesale Distribution
A trade account should never wait on a rep to know its own price
We build the order desk that reads every account's tier pricing, credit limit, and terms the moment an order comes in, so a buyer's reorder, a price question, and a backorder are all answered from the same live ledger without a phone call to the office.
Ridgeline Hardware Co.
Buyer asked for case pricing on hex bolts → agent quoted the Preferred-tier rate → order confirmed, backorder flagged separately
Which account on your books would this screen be reading from?
Where an order stalls
Six terms a distributor relearns the hard way
Each of these is a fact the business already holds and can't get to the person who needs it. Account pricing, credit status and stock position all exist somewhere; what's missing is a path from that record to the moment an order is being taken.
TRM-01
Pricing per account is a lookup, never a memory
A rep retyping tier prices into every quote is one distraction away from a price that doesn't match the invoice.
TRM-02
Credit holds surface too late
An order gets picked and packed before anyone notices the account is already over its limit.
TRM-03
Backorders are a guessing game
A buyer usually finds out a line is short when the box arrives light.
TRM-04
A reorder still starts from a blank form
The buyer's last order sits in someone's inbox when it should be in front of whoever takes the next one.
TRM-05
The price list drifts between channels
What a rep quotes on the phone and what the portal shows don't always agree by the time the invoice prints.
TRM-06
A trading partner waits on a person
An EDI order sits in a queue until someone keys it into the ERP by hand.
None of these are rare. They're the six places a trade account most often loses time waiting on a person when the ledger already has the answer.
The counter, now unattended
The trade counter, without the counter
Every order line below is a real shape of what comes across the counter: an account, an item, a quantity, and a status the buyer can see without calling to ask.
PO-3312
40×
14mm hex bolts, case
Ridgeline Hardware Co.
PO-3325
120×
Nitrile gloves, box
Corvus Industrial Parts
PO-3341
25×
Shop rags, bale
Bramwell Supply Co.
PO-3358
60×
Zinc washers, case
Fenmore Trade Goods
Items, accounts, and prices above are illustrative: the shape of a real order line, not a live account of yours.
Price tiers
One price list, three ways an account can sit on it
Standard
New accounts, under $10k annual
List price on every SKU, invoiced Net 15 until a payment history builds.
Preferred
$10k–$75k annual, 6+ months on file
Tiered case pricing on core lines, Net 30 terms, priority backorder allocation.
Volume
$75k+ annual or a standing PO
Contract pricing locked per SKU, Net 45 terms, a dedicated reorder schedule.
An account moves tiers on its own order history. Nobody has to remember to re-quote it.
The repeat order
A buyer's next order should start from their last one
A buyer reorders what they always order, asks about a line that's running short, and gets both answers from the account's live tier and stock. No rep pulling up last month's invoice to check.
- Takes a reorder from a buyer's own order history
- Quotes the account's tier price and checks stock before promising a date
- Flags a short line and offers a partial ship with a real date
- Applies the account's credit limit and terms automatically, with no manual review for a routine order
Separately: Fenmore Trade Goods' credit hold cleared on its own once their last invoice posted paid.
Accounts, items, and the exchange shown here are illustrative; the pricing and credit logic behind them is what ships.
Run one account's price list through the desk
Point the same order-taking, pricing, and credit logic at a real account on your books, and watch a reorder confirm itself the way it would for a buyer calling in this afternoon.
Credit and terms
What's on the list, and what it takes to buy it
On the price list
How credit and terms apply
Net terms
Net 15, 30, or 45 apply by tier automatically, with no manual override needed for a standard order.
Credit limits
Each account carries a live limit; an order that would cross it is held before it ships.
Backorder policy
A short line ships partial and reships the balance, with the buyer told the date up front.
Credit memos
A pricing or shortage correction posts straight to the account, matched to the original order.
Getting the desk live
Four stamps from a price sheet to a working ledger
Read the price list
We pull your ERP price book, account tiers, and current stock into one place the desk reads from.
Wire credit and terms
Credit limits, terms, and hold rules apply themselves the same way a controller would, order by order.
Launch order taking
Buyers and the reorder agent both work from one live catalog and one set of account data.
Automate backorders and reorders
Short lines get flagged on their own, and standing orders run on schedule instead of on memory.
We build on top of the ERP and accounting system you already run. No rip-and-replace.
What changes on the desk
A ledger that stops running on memory
Fewer mispriced orders
Every quote pulls the account's actual tier, never a rep's memory of the last one.
Credit holds catch themselves
An over-limit account is flagged before an order is ever picked.
Backorders stop being a surprise
A short line is flagged and offered as a partial ship long before delivery.
Reorders take a minute, not a form
A buyer's last order is the starting point for the next one.
Bars above are illustrative of what a live order desk can show once every account reports in. They aren't a margin or order-value result we're claiming.
Questions
What accounts ask first
Does every buyer see their own price?–+
Yes. The price shown is always the account's own tier and any account-specific pricing, so nothing has to be corrected at invoicing.
What happens when an account is over its credit limit?–+
The order is held before it's picked, with the reason shown plainly, instead of surfacing as a surprise once it's already on a truck.
How are backorders handled?–+
A short line is flagged automatically, and the buyer is offered a partial ship with a real date for the rest, well before the box arrives light.
Can it take a reorder without a rep on the phone?–+
Yes. A buyer's own order history is the starting point, and the agent quotes tier pricing and checks stock before confirming anything.
Does it replace our ERP?–+
No. It reads your price book, accounts, and stock from the ERP you already run, so pricing and credit rules stay in one place.
Related services
What else goes into a distribution build
Every distribution build we ship connects to the wider service work above where it makes sense.
Elsewhere in logistics
More of Logistics & Distribution
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