Technology

5 Things Every Wholesale Business Should Automate Before Their Next Growth Stage

Tim Demetriou

Author

July 08, 2025

Published

Wholesale businesses live and die by their operations. When you’re fulfilling dozens or even hundreds of B2B orders each week, efficiency isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s a growth multiplier.

But here’s the truth: most wholesalers are trying to scale on outdated systems, manual credit processes, clunky onboarding, reactive collections, and admin-heavy workflows.

The result? Growth becomes painful. Bottlenecks appear. Cash gets tight. Staff get overwhelmed.

If you’re planning to grow, whether that means onboarding more retail stockists, expanding into new regions, or launching new products, you need to automate key parts of your operation now, not later.

Here are the five most important areas to get right before you scale.

1: Customer Onboarding & Credit Applications

The problem:
Many wholesalers still use PDF credit forms, emailed applications, or even handwritten forms. These outdated processes slow everything down and create data entry errors. Your sales team hates it, your admin staff wastes time chasing paperwork, and your customers don’t enjoy the experience.

What to automate:

  • Digital credit applications
  • Instant credit checks
  • Approval workflows
  • Pre-loaded customer data into your ERP or inventory system


Why it matters:
Getting new stockists active faster means faster revenue. An automated onboarding workflow also makes you look more professional – especially when selling into national retailers or chains.

2: Payment Collection & Payment Methods

The problem:
When payments are manual, late, or unpredictable, cashflow suffers. If you’re taking credit card details over the phone, or still sending “please pay this” emails, you’re at the mercy of your customer’s mood—or memory.

What to automate:

  • Secure digital payment authorisation
  • Recurring payments
  • Split payments or instalment plans
  • Card and bank account tokenisation

Why it matters:
Automated billing creates a consistent cashflow cycle and reduces bad debt. It also frees your team from chasing payments—so they can focus on sales and service instead.

 

3: Trade Credit Management

The problem:
Offering terms without structure leads to late payments and cashflow crunches. And many businesses manage trade credit manually—with spreadsheets and post-it notes.

What to automate:

  • Credit limit rules per customer
  • Overdue alerts and payment escalations
  • Auto-suspension for overdue accounts
  • Payment plans for customers with outstanding debt

Why it matters:
 You get paid faster, reduce risk, and protect relationships with your customers by offering flexible, fair and consistent terms—without lifting a finger.

 

4: Accounts Receivable Workflows

The problem:
 In growing businesses, the accounts team often becomes a bottleneck. Manual reconciliation, emailing invoices, chasing debtors, updating CRM notes—it’s inefficient and error-prone.

What to automate:

  • Auto-generated invoices on order dispatch
  • Payment reminders (email/SMS)
  • Reconciliation of payments to your accounting software
  • Notes and status updates in one system

Why it matters:
 The less your accounts team needs to touch each transaction, the more scale-ready your business becomes. You’ll also reduce errors and improve customer communication.

 

5: Integration Between Systems

The problem:
Your ERP doesn’t talk to your payment platform. Your CRM doesn’t talk to your accounting software. Sales doesn’t know when accounts are overdue. Welcome to silo hell.

What to automate:

  • Syncing of customer onboarding data across systems
  • Real-time credit and payment status in your ERP
  • Triggering actions (e.g. sales hold) based on payment or account status
  • Single source of truth across finance, sales, and operations

Why it matters:
You can’t scale what you can’t see. Integrated systems reduce double-handling and give every department the visibility they need to make faster, smarter decisions.

 

Ready to Scale? Automation is the Launchpad

Scaling a wholesale business isn’t just about selling more. It’s about handling more with less friction—less paperwork, fewer admin hours, fewer payment delays.

The right automations free your people up to focus on growth, not grunt work. And with a tool like PencilPay, you can plug these automations directly into your existing ERP, accounting platform, or inventory system.

If you’re ready to modernise your back office and future-proof your growth, book a free trial with PencilPay today.