By industry: Retail and wholesale
Retail and wholesale automation, built around how you sell.
Trade orders that arrive in one place. Stock that agrees across the shop, the website and the warehouse. Reorders raised before a best seller runs out, and customers told where their order is without anyone picking up the phone.
- First workflow live
- WhatsApp trade order capture, usually inside the first sprint
- Usually owned by
- Owners and managing directors
- Built on
- Shopify, WooCommerce, QuickBooks
- Judged on
- Order entry time and Oversells and stockouts
In short
Retail and wholesale automation means trade orders captured once from WhatsApp, email or a portal, stock kept in step across shop, website and warehouse, reorders raised from sales, and invoices and customer updates sent from one event. SBD builds this around your POS, ecommerce and accounting systems, starting with a $500 audit credited to the build.
Who this is for
Who brings us in, in retail and wholesale.
- Owners and managing directors
- Operations and warehouse managers
- Buyers and merchandisers
- Sales and trade account managers
Is this you?
If three of these sound like your week, this page is about your business.
- Trade orders are retyped from WhatsApp or email
- The website has sold something the shop did not have
- Reorders are made from memory or a shelf walk
- Staff answer where-is-my-order all day
- Overdue trade accounts still get new orders shipped
What it costs today
Where retail and wholesale loses the hours.
Trade orders arrive everywhere
Retailers and stockists order by WhatsApp, phone, email and in person. Someone retypes each one, and the order that came in at 9pm is found the next afternoon.
Stock disagrees between channels
The shop, the website and the marketplace each think they hold a different number, so items sell twice or sit hidden while customers are told they are out.
Reordering is a guess
Buyers reorder from memory or a weekly walk round the shelves. Best sellers run out and slow lines tie up cash.
Customers chase for updates
Where is my order, is it in stock, when will it ship. The same questions answered by hand, all day, by the people who should be packing.
Price lists and catalogues drift
Trade prices, retail prices and the catalogue live in separate files. A change in one is missed in another, and margin leaks quietly.
Credit and collections run on memory
Trade accounts buy on terms, but overdue balances are chased when someone remembers, and new orders ship to accounts that are already over their limit.
By company size
Retail and wholesale at 10 people, and at 1,000.
- 1 to 10
The owner takes orders on their phone, counts stock by eye and does the books at the weekend.
- 11 to 50
A shop, a website and a few trade accounts, each with its own stock number and its own spreadsheet.
- 51 to 200
Several stores or a warehouse, a buying team working from exports, and customer service answering the same questions all day.
- 201 to 1,000
Many branches and channels, central buying, and a reporting team reconciling numbers that never quite agree.
What we build
What we build for retail and wholesale teams.
- 01
One order inbox for trade customers
Orders from WhatsApp, email, phone notes and a trade portal read, matched to the customer and products, and written to one queue, with anything unclear sent to a person to check.
- 02
Stock sync across channels
Shop, website, marketplaces and warehouse kept in step from the same stock record, so a sale anywhere updates everywhere.
- 03
Reorder flags from real sales
Sales velocity and lead times turned into a reorder list per supplier, with purchase orders drafted for a buyer to approve.
- 04
Trade catalogue and order portal
Approved retailers browse live stock at their own prices, place orders and see status, without a sales call.
- 05
Customer updates that send themselves
Confirmation, dispatch and delivery messages by WhatsApp or email, triggered by the order moving, not by someone remembering.
- 06
Credit limits and payment reminders
Overdue balances chased on a schedule you set, and orders from accounts over their limit held for approval before they ship.
The workflows
The retail and wholesale workflows, and what sets each one off.
- 01 WhatsApp trade order capture
When a retailer sends an order by message
ThenProducts and prices matched, order created in the queue, unclear lines sent to a person
- 02 Multi-channel stock sync
When an item sells in any channel
ThenStock updated in the shop, website, marketplace and warehouse
- 03 Reorder suggestions
When stock falls below its reorder point
ThenPurchase order drafted for the supplier and sent to a buyer to approve
- 04 Order status updates
When an order is packed or dispatched
ThenThe customer told by WhatsApp or email with tracking
- 05 Trade payment reminders
When an invoice passes its terms
ThenReminder sent on schedule, account flagged, new orders held for approval
The numbers we move
How a retail and wholesale build is judged.
Every build has a number written into the blueprint. These are the ones retail and wholesale builds are measured by, and how we measure them.
| Metric | Before | After | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Order entry time | Every order retyped | Captured once, exceptions checked | Minutes from order received to order in the system |
| Oversells and stockouts | Found by the customer | Flagged before they happen | Orders cancelled for no stock, and best sellers out of stock, per month |
| Status enquiries | Answered by hand | Mostly answered by the update | Where-is-my-order messages per week |
| Overdue trade balances | Chased when remembered | Chased on schedule | Value of trade debt past terms, per month |
Documents and records
The paperwork that generates itself.
Names and tax rules differ by country. We build for the ones you file under, whether that is VAT, sales tax or GST.
Systems we connect in retail and wholesale
What is usually already there, and what we add.
Anything with an API or a database we can read works the same way. Each tool links to its page in the integrations directory.
- Your POS system
- Shopify
-
WooCommerce - QuickBooks
-
Xero -
Zoho Books -
WhatsApp Business API -
Google Workspace -
Supabase -
Retool -
n8n
Proof
Proof from builds like this.
- Customer story
Retailer catalogue and order portal
A gated catalogue and order portal for a wholesale jeweller, with WhatsApp updates replacing manual customer messages. This is wholesale work we have shipped.
Read the story - Customer story
Sales channel inventory sync
Inventory kept in step across sales channels, the same pattern that stops a shop and a website selling the same item twice.
Read the story
The offer
The order desk starter
Thirty days to trade orders captured once, stock that agrees across channels, and customers who stop chasing.
- Week 1 to 2audit of orders, stock, reordering and customer messages with hours and stockouts measured
- Week 3blueprint, first build chosen by payback, usually the order inbox or stock sync
- Week 4 onorder capture, stock sync, reorder flags, customer updates, payment reminders
- Accounts in your name, training for the team, sixty days of hypercare
What this does not do
So the scope is clear before the call.
- Replacing your POS, ecommerce platform or accounting system. We build around them.
- Pricing strategy or demand forecasting models. We use your sales history to flag reorders, not to set prices.
Terms, defined
Retail and wholesale terms, in plain English.
- Reorder point
- The stock level at which a new order should be placed, set from typical sales and the supplier lead time.
- Oversell
- Selling an item that is no longer in stock, usually because two channels hold different stock numbers.
- Trade portal
- A gated site where approved business customers see their own prices, live stock and order status, and place orders.
Questions
What people ask about retail and wholesale automation.
Do you work with our POS and ecommerce platform?
We connect to systems with an API or a supported integration route, such as Shopify, WooCommerce and most modern POS and accounting tools. Where a system has no API, we work from its exports and imports. Your existing systems stay the record.
Can retailers keep ordering on WhatsApp?
Yes. Most trade customers will not change how they order, so we read orders where they arrive, match them to products and prices, and put them in one queue. A portal is offered beside it, not forced on anyone.
Will the system place purchase orders on its own?
Only if you want it to. By default it drafts reorders from sales and lead times, and a buyer approves them. You decide which suppliers or products, if any, can reorder without a check.
Does this work for a single shop as well as a wholesaler?
Yes. A single shop usually starts with stock sync and customer updates. A wholesaler usually starts with the order inbox and the trade portal. The audit shows which one pays back first.
How long until the first part is live?
Customer updates and the order inbox are usually live inside the first two-week sprint, because they sit beside your systems rather than replacing them.
Reading
- Strategy
Automation vs AI systems: what moves the number
Stacking task automations stalls at around twenty. The difference between a task and a system, the five layers that make a system hold, and which workflow to rebuild first.
- Operations
Who noticed when the workflow stopped?
Most automation failures are silent. The run shows green, the trigger is armed, and nothing happens for six weeks. How silent failure works in Zapier and n8n, what it costs, and the four checks we put on every build.
Related
- Industry
Distribution and logistics
Collections on a schedule, proof of delivery the same day, one stock count across every channel, and customers who hear before they ask.
- Industry
Service and e-commerce
One product record on every channel, stock that cannot oversell, orders that reach fulfilment without re-typing, and customers who hear first.
- Function
Operations
The order moves through the business without anyone re-typing it, and everyone who needs to know, knows.
- Function
Finance and accounting
Close faster, chase less, and see the numbers without waiting for month end.
By industry: Manufacturing, Distribution and logistics, Consulting and agencies, Service and e-commerce, Healthcare, Real estate, SaaS, Professional services, Construction and trades, Lending, insurance and financial services, Nonprofits and charities, Education and training, Hospitality and travel
Retail and wholesale
Talk to us about the order desk starter.
Bring the one retail and wholesale workflow your team still runs by hand. You leave the call with a yes or no on fit and the first thing we would build.
Book the call