The Complete Guide to Wholesale Order Management

Wholesale order management software is a type of order management system designed specifically for businesses selling wholesale, catering to large-volume orders. 

With more stock to track and higher costs associated with wholesale orders versus smaller retail sales, using software to automate the process can be a significant advantage. Real-time inventory visibility, multiple sales channel integrations and predictive analytics can save time and money.

Any business that manages wholesale B2B orders can benefit from wholesale order management software, such as warehouse operators and 3PLs (Third-Party Logistics providers). Wholesale order management offers greater control over inventory for businesses fulfilling retail as well as wholesale orders too, making it easier to prioritise orders. 

Direct-to-wholesale manufacturers can also reap the rewards of integrating wholesale order management software with their project management software. The best wholesale order management software will offer multiple API integrations with marketplace platforms, couriers, accounting software and warehouse management systems for a joined-up process.

A wholesale order management system streamlines the entire process from when a wholesale order is placed to the packaging and delivery of stock, reducing manual tasks and speeding up delivery. While end-to-end visibility into inventory levels and the fulfilment process means there’s less likelihood of overstocking, and large orders can be fulfilled more efficiently. 

Stock management is a significant problem for wholesale sellers and distributors. Without clear oversight into wholesale inventory, companies risk being unable to fulfil large-scale orders or, equally problematic, holding too much stock that they cannot shift. 

The importance of intuitive inventory management has grown in recent years as companies have faced sustained supply chain disruption resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and other global events. In the last year, the average percentage of excess stock in a company’s inventory has grown, while relative overstocking has increased from 40% of total inventory to 44%. 

Given the large amounts of stock and money changing hands in wholesale fulfilment, even a small increase in excess represents a significant amount of lost money. 

It’s no surprise that an increasing number of logistics companies and wholesalers say they’re investing in information systems - a rise from 26% in 2024 to 43% in 2025, with tools including wholesale order management systems being considered. 

A comprehensive solution will go beyond features such as stock tracking and shipping management. It will put you in control of every aspect of wholesale order management all in one place and with the insights you need to make more informed decisions. 

In particular, these are the features you should look out for if you’re considering investing in wholesale order management software for your business.

Order management

Order management is the core of an effective wholesale order management system. These tools automate gathering orders from multiple sales channels so your team can see all incoming and outgoing orders in one place. Plus, they have the flexibility to input manual orders.

Key order management features:

•    Multichannel order management
•    E-commerce integrations
•    Order progress tracking

Inbound inventory management

If you’re not responsible for manufacturing the products you sell wholesale, it’s vital that you have clear, up-to-date communication with your suppliers. A wholesale order management system can pull in ASN information and adjust the timing of order fulfilments according to existing stock information. 

It will also automatically manage stock rotation, for example, with FIFO (First In, First Out) and FEFO (First Expired, First Out) methods, eliminating the need for manual stock evaluation. 

Key inbound inventory management features:

•    Stock level monitoring
•    Low stock notifications
•    Automatic reordering
•    Demand forecasting

Stock allocation

Wholesale order management software can intelligently manage stock allocation, for example, by monitoring stock levels in real-time, notifying you when stock is low and allocating in-stock items when purchase orders arrive. 

Given the wholesale industry’s reliance on back orders, it helps to have specialist software to organise the fulfilment of these orders when stock has been received, reducing customer waiting times. 

Key stock allocation features:

•    Unified view of current and on-order stock
•    Automatic rules for ordering and batch scheduling 
•    Integrations with inventory management systems

Order fulfilment

The picking process is one of the most time and labour-intensive wholesale processes. Order-picking technologies guide employees to the right products at the right time and find ways to reduce picking times by prioritising a multi-batch order-picking system. 

Key fulfilment features:

•    Subscription rules for products
•    Barcode generation
•    Set up and track dropship orders

Shipping management

Communication with couriers and/or 3PLs to ship stock is crucial. A comprehensive wholesale order management system offers integrations with standard couriers, including DHL, Amazon and Parcelforce. 

Key shipping management features:

•    Integrations with 3PLs, couriers and carriers
•    Shipping tracking and notifications
•    Automatic label printing 

Traceability 

Intelligent wholesale order management software tracks products in the event of a product recall, giving you and your customers confidence that errors can be resolved faster. 

Key traceability features: 

•    Batch code and SKU tracking across channels
•    Stock flow data 
•    Barcode scanning 

Reporting

Real-time reporting across the entire fulfilment cycle offers insights into top-performing SKUs, low stock notifications and total inventory value. While integration with warehouse management systems identifies productivity KPIs and optimises storage. 

Key reporting features:

•    Track business KPIs
•    Identify sales opportunities 
•    Align multiple data sources in one system

As we’ve seen, wholesale order management software offers various features to make wholesale order management and fulfilment faster and more efficient. 

These features improve productivity and efficiency for manufacturers, warehouse operators, wholesale suppliers and distributors.

1. Optimise warehouse space

Accurate insights into wholesale inventory movement enable wholesalers to better organise warehouse space through more efficient distribution based on order picking data and by reducing handling times and improving accuracy.

2. Save time

An efficient wholesale order management system can reduce order picking times, ensuring your wholesale customers – typically making higher-value orders – get their orders faster. Additionally, accurate inventory analysis, with intelligent stock repurchasing, can reduce waiting times and help companies fulfil more orders sooner.

3. Improve efficiency

With key data all in one place, spotting opportunities for improving efficiency is quicker and easier. KPIs such as inventory turnover, order fulfilment rate and delivery times are pulled from every source to provide accurate, up-to-date data you can rely on to make business-critical decisions. 

4. Reduce errors

Nearly two-thirds of inventory or fulfilment issues result from human error in manual processes. Automated inventory processing eliminates the subsequent operational costs on high-value wholesale orders. Wholesale order management software also ensures all employees can access consistent, accurate data, ensuring optimised processes across the board.

5. Better inventory control

Nearly 80% of SMBs suffer from a combination of insufficient forward planning and being overstocked.
(Netstock , Inventory Management Benchmark Report, 2024)

Based on data from wholesale order management software, wholesalers can set up automatic restock triggers for the highest-selling products while reducing the supply of low-selling items, reducing the likelihood of over or under-stocking. At the same time, intelligent demand forecasting based on historical sales data makes planning for predicted future orders easier, resulting in a fully-optimised supply chain. 

Managing a hybrid warehouse where wholesale and retail orders ship from the same place can be fraught with risk. 

An all-in-one wholesale order management system brings together both processes to streamline B2B and DTC order management. A single fulfilment process means orders are managed in the same system and flexibly to ensure stock availability and faster shipping. While collated data such as inventory levels and fulfilment activity reduces the risk of manual errors and tells you all you need to know to keep both sales strategies delivering. 

Mintsoft’s order management system is built for wholesalers and includes all the features we’ve highlighted above as crucial for effective wholesale order management. 

Our wholesale order management software gives you complete visibility across your inventory, whether you operate solely on a wholesale model or combine DTC with B2B. From order processing to picking and shipping, our software offers extensive integrations and comprehensive reporting to make managing even the largest wholesale orders easier. 

Want to optimise your wholesale order management? To learn more about Mintsoft’s solutions, speak to an expert today.