Wholesale & Distribution Consultants Melbourne
Australian wholesale and distribution businesses operate in an environment of compressed margins, demanding customers, and increasing operational complexity.
Success depends on getting the fundamentals right: inventory management, warehouse efficiency, customer service, and technology that ties it all together.
As a business consultant specialising in wholesale and distribution, I help Melbourne wholesalers and distributors optimise their operations, select the right technology platforms, and build the processes needed for sustainable, profitable growth.
Challenges Facing Wholesale & Distribution Businesses
After working with wholesalers and distributors across Australia, I've seen the same challenges surface repeatedly.
Understanding these patterns is the first step toward addressing them.
Inventory Management Complexity
Carrying too much stock ties up capital and risks obsolescence. Carrying too little means stockouts, lost sales, and damaged customer relationships. Getting the balance right requires accurate demand forecasting, efficient replenishment processes, and visibility across multiple warehouse locations.
Many wholesalers operate with systems that can't provide this visibility, leading to decisions based on gut feel rather than data.
Margin Pressure
Wholesale margins have been squeezed from multiple directions: customers demanding lower prices, suppliers increasing costs, and online competitors reshaping expectations. In this environment, operational efficiency becomes critical. Every dollar saved in warehouse operations, freight costs, or administrative overhead flows directly to the bottom line.
Customer Expectations
B2B customers increasingly expect B2C-style experiences: online ordering, real-time stock visibility, accurate delivery promises, and easy returns. Meeting these expectations requires integration between your ERP, ecommerce platform, warehouse management, and logistics systems. Disconnected systems create friction that frustrates customers and burdens staff.
Technology Fragmentation
Many wholesalers have accumulated multiple systems over time: an accounting package here, a warehouse system there, spreadsheets filling the gaps. This fragmentation creates data silos, manual workarounds, and limited visibility. Staff spend hours reconciling information that should flow automatically.
How We Help Wholesale & Distribution Businesses
We work with wholesalers and distributors typically focuses on three areas: operational improvement, technology enablement, and sales effectiveness.
Operational Improvement
We work with your team to identify and address operational bottlenecks:
Inventory optimisation: Analysing stock levels, turn rates, and demand patterns to right-size inventory and improve cash flow
Warehouse efficiency: Reviewing layouts, picking processes, and workflows to reduce handling time and errors
Order processing: Streamlining the quote-to-cash cycle to reduce manual handling and speed up fulfilment
Landed cost management: Ensuring true product costs are captured and reflected in pricing decisions
Technology Enablement
For wholesalers considering new systems or looking to get more from existing investments:
ERP selection: Independent, vendor-neutral guidance on choosing systems like NetSuite, MYOB Acumatica, SAP Business One, or industry-specific platforms
B2B ecommerce integration: Connecting your online ordering to back-end systems for real-time inventory and pricing
EDI and integration: Automating data exchange with major customers and suppliers
Implementation oversight: Ensuring system projects deliver promised benefits without scope creep or budget blowouts
Sales Effectiveness
Growing revenue in competitive markets requires disciplined sales processes:
Sales process development: Creating structured approaches to new customer acquisition and account growth
CRM implementation: Getting sales teams using CRM effectively to manage relationships and pipeline
Pricing strategy: Developing pricing structures that protect margins while remaining competitive
Why Work with a Specialist
Wholesale and distribution businesses have specific requirements that generalist consultants often miss. Multi-warehouse inventory, landed cost calculations, customer-specific pricing, B2B ordering workflows, and integration with logistics partners all require domain knowledge to address effectively.
My background includes over 20 years at Oracle and Adobe, where I worked extensively with wholesale and distribution clients on enterprise software implementations. This experience means I understand both the technology landscape and the operational realities of the industry.
As an independent consultant, I'm not aligned with any particular software vendor. My recommendations are based solely on what's right for your business, not on partnership revenues or sales commissions.
Start with a Conversation
If you're an Australian-based wholesaler or distributor looking to improve operations, select new technology, or grow sales more effectively, I'd welcome the opportunity to discuss your situation. The initial conversation is without obligation.