How to manage wholesale orders as a small consumer goods brand

Updated 2 November 2026 · DELLI

Wholesale orders arrive however suits the stockist: an email, a PDF purchase order, a WhatsApp message, a phone call, a marketplace notification. Every one of them needs the same few steps before it becomes a parcel on its way and an invoice that gets paid. This guide covers where orders come from, what has to happen to each one, where it usually goes wrong, and how to set up a process that still works when you have three times as many stockists.

1. Where wholesale orders come from

A small brand with twenty stockists can easily be taking orders through six different channels. Each has its own habits.

• Email. Free text in the body, or a list in an attachment. Shop owners often reply to an old thread, so a new order can sit under a subject line from last spring.
• PDF purchase orders. Pharmacies, garden centres, department stores and small chains tend to send a formal PO with a PO number they expect to see on your invoice.
• WhatsApp and text. Common with owners you know well. "Same as last time plus 6 of the lavender" is a complete order to them.
• Phone and in person. Taken at a trade show, on a delivery run or over the phone. Nothing is written down unless you write it down.
• Wholesale marketplaces. Faire and Ankorstore are wholesale marketplaces. Orders come through the platform, which has its own steps for accepting and shipping.
• EDI and buyer portals. Larger retailers and distributors send orders as structured data, or ask you to log in to their portal to collect them.

You won't get every stockist to order the same way, and it isn't worth trying. The rule that matters is that every order, whatever the channel, ends up in one list the same day it arrives.

2. What has to happen to every order

Whether it's a case of chilli sauce for a deli or 48 tubes of hand cream for a gift shop, the steps are the same.

1. Log it. Customer, date received, channel, their PO number if they gave one, and each line with product and quantity.
2. Check prices and terms. Compare the prices on the order with your current trade price list and with anything agreed for that customer: a discount, a minimum order, free delivery over a threshold, payment terms. Check you have the stock.
3. Confirm with the buyer. Reply with what you're sending, when it will arrive, any substitutions or short items, and the total.
4. Raise the invoice. Correct prices, their PO number, your payment terms, a due date and your bank details.
5. Send it to the warehouse or 3PL. Or print a pick list if you pack it yourself. Include the delivery address and any notes, such as "deliveries before 10am" or "use the side door".
6. Track it. Dispatched, delivered, paid. An order isn't finished until the money is in.

The price check is the easiest step to skip, and it costs real money when a buyer orders from an old trade sheet.

3. Where it goes wrong

These problems come up for small brands whatever they make.

Rekeying

The order is typed into a reply, then into Xero or QuickBooks, then into the 3PL's portal. Each retype is another chance to put 21 instead of 12, or pick the 50ml when they wanted the 100ml.

Missed orders

An email lands in the promotions tab. A WhatsApp message gets read on your phone at a market stall and forgotten. A phone order goes on the back of a receipt. You usually find out when the shop chases a delivery you never sent.

Wrong prices

An invoice goes out at the old price, or a one-off discount for a launch order carries into every order after it because nobody wrote down that it was a one-off.

Missing PO numbers

Some buyers can't pay an invoice that doesn't quote their PO number. The invoice sits in their accounts team until someone notices, and you get paid weeks late.

No single view of where an order is

A buyer asks whether their order has gone out, and the answer means checking your email, your accounting software and the 3PL's portal.

4. Start with a spreadsheet that does the job

A well-kept spreadsheet is enough for a brand with a handful of stockists. Set it up with three tabs.

Tab 1: Orders

One row per order, with these columns:

• Date received, channel, customer, their PO number
• Products and quantities (or a link to the order email)
• Order total, and whether prices were checked
• Confirmed (date), invoiced (invoice number), sent to warehouse (date)
• Dispatched, delivered, due date, paid (date)

Tab 2: Price list

Every product with its SKU, trade price, RRP and case size, plus the date the prices last changed. When you put prices up, record the old price and the date of the change so you can tell which orders were placed before it.

Tab 3: Customer terms

One row per stockist: contact name, email, delivery address, delivery notes, payment terms, any agreed discount and whether it's permanent, and whether they need a PO number on invoices.

Rules that keep it working

• Every order goes in the sheet the day it arrives, before anything else happens to it.
• One person owns the sheet. Others can add orders, but one person checks it.
• Check it at a fixed time each day, for example 9am, and work every row that isn't finished.
• Phone and in-person orders get a confirmation email, so there is a written record for both of you.

5. When to automate, and what to automate first

A spreadsheet starts to struggle when the number of channels grows faster than the time you have to watch them. Signs you have reached that point:

• You check more than three places for orders every day.
• Orders wait overnight or over a weekend because the person who handles them is away.
• You have sent the wrong price or quantity more than once.
• You type the same order into your accounting software and your 3PL's system.

Automate in this order

1. Capture. Get orders from every channel read into one list automatically. This removes missed orders, the most expensive mistake.
2. Hand-offs. Once an order is approved, send it to accounting, inventory and fulfilment from that one list. This removes rekeying.
3. Follow-through. Invoices raised from the approved order, reminders when payment is due, and flags when a stockist is due to reorder.

Keep a person in the loop. Let software read and prepare each order, then check and approve it yourself before anything reaches a customer or a warehouse.

Tidy your product codes first

Before you connect systems, make sure each product has one SKU that is the same in your price list, accounting software, inventory system and 3PL. If the codes don't match, connected systems can send the wrong item.

Questions brands ask

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