3 Signs That You Have Outgrown Spreadsheets in Your Distribution Business

The truth is, while manual spreadsheets might be working for now, they’re slowly draining your business of time, resources, and money. Like a ship with small leaks. Small holes may seem harmless, but over time they bring everything down, including the money and reputation you’ve worked so hard to build.

More orders. More stock lines. More delivery runs. More staff updating “the sheet” that could be overwritten or accidentally deleted at any point. Suddenly, the system that once felt manageable starts costing you money, time, and customers as service starts to suffer.

If you’ve ever:

• Spent hours trying to figure out which spreadsheet is the “latest version”
• Had a driver turn up to collect stock that wasn’t actually there
• Or scrambled to explain to a customer why their invoice doesn’t match the agreed price

…then you’ve already seen the risks of running your business on spreadsheets or notebooks. As your business grows, these issues only mount. Here’s what we hear most often from distributors in your shoes.

Stockouts and Wrong Deliveries

Your spreadsheet says there are 10 boxes in the warehouse. A customer places an order, you promise delivery, only for your driver to find there are none left. Or worse, someone didn’t press ‘Save’ or didn’t fully fill in the line item when the sheet was updated so one order gets fulfilled twice while another gets missed. That’s not just lost sales, it’s wasted time, wasted fuel, and a frustrated customer who might think twice before ordering again.

Missed Reorders That Stop Sales Cold

Every distributor has those key lines that keep customers coming back. But when reorder levels are buried in a spreadsheet, notebook or email, it’s too easy to miss. That means the line sells out, suppliers take time to replenish stock, and your customers look elsewhere in the meantime.

Pricing and Invoicing Errors That Eat into Margin

Margins in distribution are often razor-thin. Yet small mistakes in spreadsheets can erode them fast. Outdated price lists sent out, discounts applied incorrectly, or invoices duplicated or missed altogether. Every mistake either eats into profit or damages your reputation.

Finance and Reporting Headaches

Stock in one spreadsheet. Orders in another. Finance in a separate system. At the end of the week/month you spend hours trying to reconcile them. By the time a report is pulled together, the numbers are already out of date. Decisions get made on guesswork instead of data, and cash flow becomes a constant worry.

How distributors can move beyond spreadsheets

If spreadsheets are putting your business at risk, the next step is moving to a system that works for the way distributors actually operate. It’s not about adopting the most complex ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning: one system that brings all your day-to-day work together) on the market, it’s about finding something simple, fast to set up, and designed to streamline your day-to-day processes.

Follow these five key steps to move beyond spreadsheets:

• Centralise your data – Bring stock, orders, invoices, delivery notes, and payments into a single system so you’re no longer juggling multiple files or diary notes.
• Automate key processes – Set up automatic reorder alerts, stock updates, and invoice generation to prevent mistakes and save time.
• Use real-time reporting – Access live information about stock levels, sales, and cash flow to make decisions with confidence.
• Keep it simple – Choose a solution that’s intuitive and quick for your team to learn. A system that can be up and running in days means less disruption and faster results.
• Protect margins and customers – Accurate pricing, automatic invoicing, and clear order tracking ensure you maintain profit and keep customers happy.

These steps create a clear picture of what life can look like when you move beyond spreadsheets. This is what your day-to-day operations look like before and after implementing an ERP designed just for distributors:

Before vs After: No more relying on spreadsheets

Before (Spreadsheets):

• Stockouts because figures weren’t updated
• Orders missed or duplicated
• Reorders forgotten until it’s too late
• Customers invoiced incorrectly
• Hours wasted reconciling sales, stock, and finance
• Decisions based on old or incomplete data

After (ERP Go):

• Real-time stock control - no more missing or double-counted items
• Automatic reorder alerts - never lose sales because you ran out
• One system for everything - orders, invoices, delivery notes, payments all connected
• Accurate pricing and invoicing - protect margins and customer trust
• Simple reporting - live, accurate data at your fingertips
• Quick setup - running in days, not months

With the right system, you spend less time firefighting errors and more time growing sales, looking after customers, and keeping the business running smoothly.

Time to move on from spreadsheets

If your business is still run on diary notes, disconnected spreadsheets, or a generic ERP that doesn’t fit how distributors actually work, you’ve outgrown your current setup.

Read the guide, ‘The Distributor’s Guide to Getting Off Spreadsheets’, and see how distributors, like you, are making the switch to systems built for them. Simple to set up, easy to use, and designed for distribution.

Read the Guide Now