AI agents for wholesale distributors

A wholesale distributor buys from manufacturers and sells to retailers, restaurants, contractors and other businesses on net terms. Outside reps visit accounts and take orders, inside reps and order clerks enter and verify orders, and a buyer reorders from dozens of vendors with very different lead times and minimums. The warehouse receives, picks, packs and ships, and accounts receivable matches remittances and chases short payments.

The paper flow is heavy. Purchase orders arrive by email and get retyped. A vendor pushes a delivery back and nobody tells the customers waiting on it. Receivers note shortages on a packing slip that accounts payable never sees, so the full invoice gets paid. Retail customers pay short with deductions that are easier to write off than research. Vendor price increases need passing on, resale certificates expire, and reps' visit notes stay in their heads.

An agent works from your inventory system, email and accounting exports, and hands every draft to a person.

• Turns emailed purchase orders into draft sales orders for the order desk to check.
• Tells customers about backorders early when a delivery slips, with substitutes you have approved.
• Matches what arrived to the PO and invoice, and drafts vendor claims for shortages and damage.
• Researches short payments and retailer deductions, pulling the proof before anyone decides to dispute.
• Drafts purchase orders that respect each vendor's lead time and minimum, for the buyer to approve.
• Gives reps a weekly list of accounts that stopped ordering on rhythm, and turns their visit notes into account updates and follow-ups.
• Turns vendor price increases into customer price-change notices for review.

Prices, credit limits and terms stay with the owner, and so does any customer-specific price change. Whether to dispute or accept a deduction, what gets bought and whether a customer accepts a substitute are decisions for people. Sales tax exemption is the owner's and their accountant's call; the agent can show which customers lack a valid resale certificate, but it does not decide what is taxable. Forklift evaluations are done by a qualified evaluator under OSHA's operator rules. Customer pricing is confidential, so it goes only into tools you have approved and never onto shared links. Card details stay with the payment processor, and at the start every message to a customer is drafted by the agent and sent by a person.