What we automate
We build systems that integrate with the operational reality of Australian businesses in this sector. Common workflows we automate end to end:
- Three-way matching of purchase order, receipt and supplier invoice
- Stock forecasting by line, accounting for lead time and seasonality
- Backorder and short-supply management with customer communication
- Supplier rebate and settlement discount claims, tracked and claimed
- Freight and landed cost allocation across lines rather than averaged
- Customer credit exposure and payment behaviour monitoring
- Price file and cost change ingestion from supplier documents
The realities we build around
Gross margin per line is small, so an uncaught price increase or an unclaimed rebate is a material share of the profit on that line.
Cost is not the invoice. Freight, duty and handling decide whether a line is actually profitable, and they are usually spread as an average.
Supplier price files arrive as spreadsheets and PDFs on no schedule and in no consistent format.
Working capital is stock, so a forecast that is wrong in either direction costs money immediately.
Why work with us
Distribution work built around where the margin actually leaks in an Australian wholesale business: uncaught cost increases, unclaimed rebates, averaged freight, and stock that is either dead or short. These are document and matching problems, which is exactly what this technology is good at.
Where most AI in this sector goes wrong
Most AI sold into distribution is a demand forecast presented in isolation, disconnected from purchasing, supplier terms and working capital. The fragmented patterns: forecasting that ignores supplier lead time and minimum order quantity, so the recommendation cannot be acted on; invoice automation that codes to a GL account without matching to the purchase order and receipt, which is the control that matters; rebate tracking kept in a spreadsheet by one person who knows the deals; landed cost averaged across a shipment so genuinely unprofitable lines stay hidden; and price file updates keyed by hand weeks after the cost changed. The value is in the matching and the cost accuracy, not in the forecast graph.
Systems we integrate against
Distribution engagements integrate against whatever you run: your inventory system or ERP, your accounting platform, your customer ordering and trade portals, and the freight and third-party logistics systems carrying the movement data. We do not publish a supported-vendor list: line of business applications, online software, on premise or in the cloud, current or long abandoned by its vendor. If it holds the data, we integrate with it, and if it is not named here that is not a limitation. Most AU distributors run one ERP or inventory system and receive supplier pricing as unstructured documents. Integration is the value: turning supplier documents into structured cost data that reaches the system before the next order goes out.
If your stack isn’t listed above, reach out anyway. The systems vary by industry but the integration patterns don’t. We can usually work with whatever you’re running. Tell us your stack.
Regulatory and compliance landscape
Australian wholesale and distribution operates under the Australian Consumer Law including the consumer guarantee regime that flows back through the supply chain, product safety standards and mandatory recall obligations, the Food Standards Code for food and beverage distribution, biosecurity and import permit requirements, dangerous goods transport rules where applicable, and GST and customs duty treatment on imports. The Modern Slavery Act applies above the revenue threshold. Payment terms with small business suppliers attract increasing scrutiny. We design workflows so product, batch and supplier traceability is captured as stock moves, which is what a recall actually depends on.
Operational outcomes we move
Defensible outcomes on distribution engagements: supplier cost increases caught before they are absorbed into a sell price; rebates and settlement discounts claimed rather than forgotten; three-way match applied to every invoice so overbilling is caught before payment; landed cost allocated properly so unprofitable lines become visible; stock holding reduced without increasing short supply; and customer credit exposure watched continuously rather than after a default.
Common deployment patterns
Common deployment patterns for AU distributors: a matching agent that reconciles purchase order, receipt and invoice and flags every discrepancy; a price file ingestion agent that reads supplier spreadsheets and PDFs and lands structured cost changes; a rebate tracker that knows each supplier agreement and claims against it; landed cost allocation across lines; and a stock assistant that forecasts against lead time and minimum order quantity so the recommendation is actionable.
Related Bedstone services
Distributors typically pair this with AI accounts for supplier invoice coding, matching and verification, margin and reconciliation systems, and our logistics work. Or look at Bedstone OS for one workspace across stock, suppliers, customers and cost.
How we engage
Five-step delivery, scoped to fit. Audit, scope sprint, proof of concept, verification, rollout. Wrapped as a fixed-scope sprint, monthly retainer, fractional engagement, or one-off audit. See services for the full process and commercial structures.
Common questions
Does it replace our ERP?
No. Your ERP or inventory system stays the system of record. We build the document, matching and cost-accuracy layer around it and push structured results back through its API.
How does it handle supplier price files that arrive as PDFs?
It reads them, extracts the line-level cost changes, compares them against your current costs, and presents the differences for approval before anything updates. Silent cost updates are how margin disappears, so approval is deliberate.
Can it do a proper three-way match?
Yes, and it is usually the highest-value module. Purchase order, goods receipt and supplier invoice are matched line by line, with quantity and price discrepancies flagged rather than absorbed. A person approves payment.
What about landed cost?
Freight, duty and handling are allocated across lines on a basis you set rather than averaged across the shipment, which is what makes genuinely unprofitable lines visible for the first time in most businesses we see.
Across Australia
We work with operators in this sector across the country. See city-specific context: AI agency Australia, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth.