Custom wholesale software development

Warehouse management system (WMS)

The heart of your warehouse operation. A WMS manages locations, receipt of incoming goods (GRN), picking routes, pick and pack instructions and loading. Unlike the warehouse module of an ERP, a dedicated WMS is designed for the movement of goods: from dock-to-stock through to ship-confirm. Features we typically build in include slotting optimisation (placing each item in its most efficient location), FIFO/FEFO picking for perishable products, batch picking for several orders at once, and handheld scanner integration (Zebra, Honeywell) for paperless processing.

For smaller warehouses, a lightweight WMS module can be integrated into a broader operational application. For complex multi-site warehouses with several storage zones, we build a standalone WMS with its own API layer towards your ERP.

Order management system (OMS)

An OMS orchestrates the full order lifecycle: from receipt (via EDI, B2B portal, email parsing or API) through order confirmation, (partial) delivery, short-shipment handling and invoice triggering. Essential for wholesalers working with several fulfilment methods: warehouse delivery, dropshipping direct from the supplier, or cross-docking.

A good OMS makes it possible to set back-order policies per customer group, generate supplier reliability reports, and send automatic customer communication when delays are expected. Integration with your carrier (DPD, DHL, in-house drivers) for track and trace is standard in the design.

B2B ordering portal

Your business customers expect a self-service portal where they can order around the clock, check their orders, download invoices and register returns. A portal is not a consumer webshop — it has different functionality: customer-specific price lists and volume discounts, role and permission management (buyer vs. viewer vs. manager), item favourites and standing order lists, delivery address management per order and spending limit alerts.

A good B2B portal significantly reduces the pressure on your back office. Customers who can check their order status themselves no longer need to call. You can read more about how we approach this technically on our page about e-commerce development.

Procurement automation

Manual purchasing processes are error-prone and time-consuming. Purchasing automation links your sales data, stock management and supplier lead-time information to a set of rules that automatically generates purchase orders based on min/max levels or forecast demand. Integration with supplier portals or EDI channels ensures purchase orders land directly in the supplier's system, without email.

Additional features include lead time monitoring with escalation when deadlines are exceeded, price variance detection during invoice processing, and supplier scoring based on historical delivery reliability. Procurement automation does not just save time — it also improves the predictability of your stock positions.

EDI integrations and data standards

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is the standard for communicating with large suppliers or retail customers in many wholesale sectors. EDIFACT messages such as ORDERS (purchase order), ORDRSP (order confirmation), DESADV (despatch advice) and INVOIC (invoice) are exchanged via AS2, SFTP or a VAN provider. Building and maintaining EDI integrations is specialist work that is separate from standard API development.

We build an EDI layer as an isolated service that receives messages, validates them, converts them to internal data models and reports errors. Errors in an EDIFACT message must be immediately visible to your back office — not only when a customer calls to say their order never arrived. You can read more about our integration approach at smart API integrations.

Dropship management

Wholesalers that use dropshipping, where orders are shipped directly from the supplier to the end customer without passing through their own warehouse, face specific software challenges. Which orders go via dropship? How do you confirm shipment to your customer when the supplier provides the track & trace? How do you link the purchase invoice to the sales order?

A dropship module within your OMS automates this process: automatic routing rules based on item availability, supplier instructions per customer order, status updates from the supplier and automatic customer communication. All financial flows remain traceable per order.

In pharmaceutical wholesale, traceability is not optional — it is a legal requirement. Every item that passes through the warehouse must be traceable by batch number, expiry date and receipt date. In the event of a recall, you must be able to report within hours which batches were delivered to which customers and whether any stock remains in the warehouse.

Custom software builds batch tracking in as a core WMS function: every pick line records the batch number, and every delivery line is traceable. Recall queries that once took hours of manual searching are reduced to a matter of seconds.

A technical wholesaler sells products with detailed specifications: dimensions, material grades, standards (ISO, NEN, DIN), substitute products and drawing management. Customers order based on technical criteria, not an EAN code. A standard order module doesn't understand that logic.

We build a product search module that filters on technical parameters, with substitute suggestions when items are unavailable and PDF drawing downloads from within the ordering process. B2B customers can thus find the right products independently, without repeatedly consulting the back office.

Fresh products place unique demands on software: short lead times, FEFO picking based on use-by date, dynamic pricing based on the day's supply and quality grade, and rapid handling of quality complaints. An order received at 18:00 must be ready for loading early the next morning.

See also our specialised page on software for fresh produce wholesalers for a detailed description of the functionality relevant to this sector.

Construction wholesalers often work on a project basis: multiple partial deliveries to different addresses and at different times, all linked to a single contractor project code. Some merchants also manage a rental fleet of scaffolding, fencing or tools, with their own returns management, damage recording and invoicing logic.

A project module in the OMS keeps track of all partial deliveries per project, generates overviews per contractor and automatically links to the customer's project accounting. The rental module monitors rental periods, sends automatic renewal reminders and records damage on return.