ERP for distribution businesses
Distributors make their money by filling orders in full, and lose it to expired stock, schemes applied unevenly and credit that runs overdue. ERPNext keeps track of all of it, from the warehouse to the outlet.
Problem and fix
What usually goes wrong, and what fixes it.
01
Stock expires in the back of the godown
Pickers grab the nearest carton instead of the oldest batch, and near-expiry stock only turns up at the audit.
Batch expiry and pick lists
ERPNext stock
02
Schemes get missed on invoices
Someone applies a buy-ten-get-one scheme by hand on some invoices and forgets it on others, so your claim to the principal never reconciles.
Pricing rules and promotional schemes
ERPNext selling
03
Supplies keep going to outlets that owe you
Outlets keep getting supplies even after their dues are more than ninety days old.
Customer credit limits
ERPNext selling
04
Dispatch is planned on WhatsApp
Who went where, with which invoices, and what came back gets pieced together the next morning.
Delivery trips
ERPNext stock
The modules
The Frappe apps and modules we use.

ERPNext stockWarehouses and putaway rules, Batch expiry, Pick lists, Delivery trips
- Warehouses and putaway rules
- A warehouse for each godown, rack or van, with putaway rules that say where received stock should go.
- Batch expiry
- Items carry batch numbers and expiry dates. Stock settings can pick batches by expiry date instead of by arrival, so whatever expires first goes out first.
- Pick lists
- Made from sales orders and grouped for the picker, with the batch to pick already chosen.
- Delivery trips
- Group delivery notes into a trip with a vehicle, a driver and its stops.
ERPNext sellingPricing rules and promotional schemes, Customer credit limits, Sales partners and territories, Returns
- Pricing rules and promotional schemes
- The system applies quantity slabs, free items and discounts on every invoice, so your scheme claim matches what you actually sold.
- Customer credit limits
- If an order would take an outlet over its limit, it waits for approval.
- Sales partners and territories
- Commission and targets by sales partner and territory, worked out from actual invoices.
- Returns
- Returns are booked against the original invoice and batch, with the credit note and the stock movement linked to them.
Compliance
India compliance notes.
- E-way bills from the invoice or delivery note
- E-invoicing with IRN and QR code
- GSTR-2B matching and GSTR-1
- Stock transfers between states
The detail on eachThresholds, returns and how we set each one up.
- E-way bills from the invoice or delivery note
- Most goods movements above Rs 50,000 in consignment value need an e-way bill. India Compliance generates it from the sales invoice or delivery note, with the transporter and vehicle details filled in.
- E-invoicing with IRN and QR code
- If your turnover is above the notified threshold, you need to issue e-invoices. The India Compliance app generates the IRN and signed QR code from the sales invoice through the NIC portal.
- GSTR-2B matching and GSTR-1
- The input tax credit you can claim depends on what your suppliers file. India Compliance matches your purchase invoices against GSTR-2B and GSTR-2A, and it prepares your GSTR-1.
- Stock transfers between states
- Moving stock between your own warehouses in different states counts as a taxable supply under GST, so during the build we set up the GSTIN and the transfer steps for each state.
Engagement
How a project with us runs.
01
A call
30 minutes, no charge
02
Discovery
1 to 2 weeks, paid
03
Blueprint
Included in discovery
04
Build
3 to 8 weeks
05
Acceptance
1 to 2 weeks
06
Go-live and run
Ongoing
We explain the full method, and why we charge for discovery, on the services page.
Evidence
Our work in this sector.
No case study yet
We haven't published a distribution case study yet, so the problems and features above come from how we scope a distributor and what ERPNext does, rather than from a past client.
So far we've published case studies in Education and IT services. You can read all of them on the work page.
Questions buyers actually ask.
Yes. Once an item has batch tracking and expiry dates, stock settings can pick batches by expiry, and the pick list tells the picker which batch to take.
Yes. Pricing rules and promotional schemes put quantity discounts and free items on the order and invoice for you. We test them against your real invoices during acceptance.
Yes, with the India Compliance app. It generates the e-way bill from the sales invoice or delivery note, with the transporter and vehicle details.
Yes, sales orders work in the phone's browser. A dedicated field app would be a separate build, and we only scope one if the browser turns out not to be enough.
Services for this sector.
- ERPNext implementationAccounts, stock, buying, selling and manufacturing, with your setup kept in code.
- Tally to ERPNext migrationWe move your masters, opening balances and open documents across, then reconcile them.
- ERP discovery and blueprintA paid, signed requirements document you can take to any implementer.
- Frappe CRM implementationPipelines that match how your team actually sells or admits.
Let's start with a call.
Thirty minutes, free of charge, and you won't sit through a sales deck.