How Wholesale Suppliers Can Win Back Time and Customers
The 5 AM Monday ritual is familiar to most wholesale suppliers: clearing the weekend backlog of voicemails, texts, and emails. Each order needs to be manually transcribed, checked for accuracy, and entered into your system. By the time you're done, it's nearly lunch and your sales team hasn't even started their actual work.
This scenario plays out across thousands of wholesale businesses every week, but it doesn't have to. B2B order management software like Orderlion can help to capture, process and sync orders automatically from every channel. This means you can turn hours of repetitive admin into minutes of streamlined workflow.
The Real Cost of "How We've Always Done It"
Take Keith Mawby, a Yorkshire-based fresh produce wholesaler that built their reputation on personal service and quality products. For decades, they thrived on phone orders and personal relationships. But as their customer base grew from local restaurants to regional chains, their trusted voicemail system became a bottleneck.
"We were spending over 20 hours a week just transcribing orders," explains Oliver Mawby, their Field Sales Manager. "Every hour spent on admin was an hour we couldn't spend growing the business or solving customer problems."
The mathematics of manual processing are stark:
- Average order entry time: 6-8 minutes per order
- Weekly orders for mid-sized supplier: 200-500 orders
- Monthly admin burden: 80-160 hours
- Annual cost approx.: £24,000-£48,000
But the hidden costs cut deeper. Transcription errors lead to delivery errors, missed orders damage customer relationships. Not to mention that valuable sales and customer data gets lost in scattered spreadsheets and sticky notes.
Beyond Digitisation: The Strategic Advantage
Modern B2B order management software doesn't just convert your paper process to digital, it changes what's possible. Consider what happened at WDS Group, a northwest England distributor with over 2,000 different products.
Before implementing their ordering system, customers struggled with a "clunky" website and resorted to calling or texting orders. The result? Lost information, processing delays and missed upselling opportunities.
"As soon as our customers could see the images of the products on the online platform and see the live prices - we started to increase our sales," notes Samuel Evans from WDS Group.
The transformation delivered measurable results:
- Average basket size increased by over 25%
- 30% more orders per customer
- 90% customer adoption rate within months
The Ripple Effect: How Efficiency Drives Growth
The most successful wholesale suppliers understand that order management software creates opportunities beyond simple time savings:
Intelligent Upselling: When Mare Terra, a London restaurant wholesaler, moved from phone orders to an integrated system, something unexpected happened. Customers began discovering products they'd never heard of before. "The customer sees the new items that maybe no one mentioned to them on the phone because time is always short, but in the app they browse through it at home on the couch in the evening," explains their management team.
Data-Driven Decisions: Instead of gut feelings about what to stock, wholesalers gain access to purchasing patterns, seasonal trends and customer preferences. This intelligence helps optimise inventory, plan promotions and identify growth opportunities.
Customer Retention: The efficiency gains translate directly to customer experience. Faster processing, fewer errors and consistent availability create the reliability that keeps customers loyal. As one WDS Group customer noted, "The customers using the system seem more loyal because it's so efficient."
Implementation Reality Check
The transition from manual to automated order management to a B2B order management system requires thoughtful planning. Here's what successful suppliers focus on:
Start with Your Biggest Pain Point: Whether it's weekend voicemail backlogs, pricing errors, or inventory confusion, identify the problem that costs you the most time or money.
Integration Is Everything: Your order management software needs to work with your existing ERP system. Companies who connect to their ERP see immediate benefits because orders flowed directly into their warehouse management system without manual intervention.
Change Management Matters: Many wholesale businesses worry about resistance from long-tenured staff who've perfected their existing workflows over decades. However, modern B2B order management systems are designed with simplicity in mind. The best platforms require minimal training and this helps ensure smooth adoption across teams of all skill levels.
The Compound Effect
The most compelling argument for B2B order management software isn't any single benefit. It's how the benefits build over time. Putzkartell, a German beverage distributor, discovered this firsthand:
- Error reduction freed up customer service time for relationship building.
- Automated processing allowed staff to focus on sales rather than administration.
- Product visibility led to discovery purchases and higher order values.
- Digital communication strengthened customer relationships through built-in chat features.
Conclusion
The wholesale industry is at an inflection point. Customer expectations continue to rise while margins remain under pressure. The suppliers who survive and thrive will be those who use technology to its fullest potential.
B2B order management software creates space for what wholesale suppliers do best: building relationships, solving complex logistics challenges and growing their businesses. The question isn't whether to modernise your order process…it's how quickly you can make the transition.
As Jacob Mawby from Keith Mawby Limited puts it: "It's been absolutely revolutionary in what we do. The system freed up so much time for myself and other people in management to actually focus on growing the business."
The voicemail backlog doesn't have to define your Monday mornings. The choice is yours.
Want to see how modern order management could transform your wholesale operation? Book a demo to explore how leading suppliers are winning back time and strengthening customer relationships.
Hear what some of our customers think about Orderlion.
Find out how JB Foods (Scotland) Ltd cut order processing time by 50% and boosted customer spending by up to 50% during campaigns using Orderlion's comprehensive order management system.
