ERP guide by industry
Distribution
ERP decisions in distribution must protect product availability, order speed, warehouse execution, pricing and margin across channels and sites.
Structure a distribution ERP selectionDemonstration
The scenarios the ERP must prove
- Allocate scarce stock across competing customer orders.
- Process a return while preserving inventory and margin visibility.
- Handle EDI, warehouse and e-commerce activity without duplicate manual entry.
Decision criteria
What matters most in the selection
- Inventory availability
- WMS and fulfillment
- Pricing and rebates
- EDI and commerce integrations
- Multi-site margin visibility
Operating risks
What the ERP must avoid making worse
Inventory errors, slow order processing, disconnected WMS flows and opaque pricing logic create direct customer and margin risk.
Integrations
The flows to validate before choosing
- WMS and warehouse automation
- Customer and supplier EDI
- Ecommerce and marketplaces
- TMS, carriers and shipping
- CRM, pricing and rebates
Selection questions
Questions to answer before the shortlist
- Does the ERP provide reliable availability by site and channel?
- How does it handle pricing, contracts, rebates and exceptions?
- Can it support EDI volume without manual workarounds?
- Which functions truly belong in ERP versus WMS or ecommerce?
PlanAxion perspective
In distribution, ERP fit is often proven through exceptions: scarce inventory, complex pricing, returns, transfers and delivery promises. Those scenarios should drive the shortlist.
Client-side decision
Compare ERP systems using real scenarios
PlanAxion structures criteria, demos and evidence so solutions and implementation partners can be compared on the same decision baseline.