A distributor should configure its ERP first when the ERP already has the missing step, buy a packaged order tool when its orders follow a standard path, and build a custom order system on top of the ERP when its own pricing, margin rules or branch workflows are what packaged tools keep missing. Start with a smaller question: is the problem retyping orders, or what happens after they are entered?
The Gnar Company builds custom order management systems on top of the ERP a distributor keeps, so this guide is written by a firm that builds them. It also says when not to call us. If a setting in your ERP or a packaged tool solves the problem, take that.
What is an order management system for a distributor?#
On Gnar's order management page, an order system takes one order from the email, PDF or phone call that brings it in to the sales order that syncs back to the ERP, in five steps: order in, order check, delivery, customer updates and back to your ERP.
Check where each of those five steps lives in your company today: the ERP, an inbox, a spreadsheet or an add-on tool. The Census Bureau counts a sale as e-commerce when the buyer places the order over the internet, EDI or electronic mail, among other online systems. By that measure, U.S. merchant wholesalers made about $4.22 trillion in e-commerce sales in 2024. Under that definition, an order that arrives as an email attachment counts as e-commerce, and a rep may still type every line of it into the ERP by hand.
What are your three options?#
You can configure the ERP you already run, buy a packaged order tool, or build a custom order system on top of that ERP. Each one fits a different problem. You can also use two of them together, for example ERP settings for pricing plus a packaged tool that reads emailed orders.
| Option | Fits when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Configure your ERP | The ERP already has the step and nobody turned it on | ERP seats for everyone who only enters orders |
| Buy a packaged order tool | Orders follow a standard path and the main pain is retyping | A new monthly bill, and rules the tool cannot express |
| Build on top of your ERP | Your pricing, margin checks or branch workflows set you apart | A build to scope, own and maintain |
Before you pick, write down the exact steps a rep takes for one real order, from the email arriving to the invoice going out. The option that removes the most of those steps, with the least new software to run, is usually the right one.
Is your problem order entry or order management?#
Order entry is getting the order into the ERP correctly: reading the email or PDF, finding the customer, matching the items and typing the lines. Order management is the whole path, including what happens after entry: checking price and margin, choosing the branch, scheduling the delivery and telling the customer. Fixing the first is a smaller job than fixing both. Gnar's order management page lists five costs to check: ERP licenses for order entry, add-on software that does not fit, spreadsheets and retyped orders, months to train new team members and orders that go out under your margin.
Ask which of these sounds like your week. If your real order system is a spreadsheet, read turning the spreadsheet nobody trusts into real software.
- Mostly entry. Reps spend hours retyping emails and PDFs. Once an order is in the ERP, it flows fine.
- Mostly management. Orders get in, but then someone checks margins by hand, moves stock between branches in a spreadsheet, and calls customers with updates.
- Both. Reps retype orders, and the steps after entry also live in inboxes, spreadsheets and add-on tools that do not talk to each other.
If it is mostly entry, check first whether your ERP can take the orders in, then look at packaged tools that read emailed orders. If it is management, or both, read the sections on configuring your ERP and on a custom order system.
When is configuring your ERP enough?#
Configuring the ERP is enough when the step you are missing already exists in the system you pay for and nobody turned it on or set it up. There is no new software to buy. It falls short when the ERP's screens are the problem, or when every person who touches an order needs a full ERP seat.
Two costs tell you configuring is not enough. The first is licenses: Gnar's order management page lists ERP licenses for people who only enter or look up orders as a cost to check. The second is training. If a new rep has to learn a long list of workarounds before taking orders alone, the ERP is not doing its job.
Ask your ERP partner one direct question first: which of the steps on your list can the ERP do today, and what would it take to turn each one on?
When should you buy a packaged order tool?#
Buy a packaged tool when your orders follow a standard path and the main cost is time spent retyping. Good signs are standard pricing and an ERP the tool already connects to. With a packaged tool, someone else maintains the software.
Buying is the better choice when all of these are true:
- Your rules are common ones. Price lists, customer discounts and credit holds work the way the tool expects.
- The tool connects to your ERP. It already writes orders into your ERP version, without a custom connection.
- Your customers will not change how they order. The tool reads the emails, PDFs and spreadsheets they send today.
- You can live with its screens. Reps can do their whole job in it without a second tool on the side.
Watch the add-ons. The distributor in the example further down was paying for two tools on top of its ERP, one for delivery routes and one for customer messages. Neither fit how the team worked, so staff filled the gaps by hand.
When does a custom order system make sense?#
A custom order system makes sense when the way you price, check and route orders is part of how you compete, and packaged tools keep forcing you to work around them. It sits on top of the ERP you keep, gives reps screens built around their real work, and writes every order back to the ERP.
Look for these signs:
- Your margin rules live in people's heads. Nothing checks the price before an order saves, so low-margin orders slip through.
- You run several branches. Orders have to be split, moved between branches or scheduled for delivery in ways no tool you tried could follow.
- Order-entry staff hold ERP seats. People who only enter or look up orders often still need a full ERP license.
- Add-on tools keep piling up. Each one solves part of the job, sends its own bill and needs someone to copy data between it and the ERP.
- Reps work around the ERP. The fastest people on your team keep their own spreadsheets because the ERP screens slow them down.
Gnar's order management page says AI can draft orders from emails and PDFs for your reps to check, and nothing reaches your ERP until it passes your order check and a rep approves it.
Building it yourself is also an option. If your own engineers have the capacity and the direction, do it internally and we will say so on the call.
What it looked like for a US insulation distributor#
A US insulation distributor was paying for two add-on tools on top of its ERP, one for delivery routes and one for customer messages. Gnar interviewed people across its branches, then replaced both with one system for orders and deliveries that pulls sales, transfer and purchase orders from the ERP. Gnar's order management page lists $280K a year in software replaced.
Every order runs a five-step check before it saves, including a minimum margin, according to the case on Gnar's order management page. The page also walks through a separate example order: a contractor emails a purchase order for 40 rolls of insulation. In that example, a line priced under the minimum margin gets flagged, delivery is recorded with proof of delivery, the customer gets updates, and the sales order syncs back to the ERP.
Gnar's page also says the code lives in your company's account, so your own engineers or another firm can pick it up and keep it running.
How is a custom order system priced?#
A custom order system from Gnar is priced in two steps: a diagnosis at a fixed price, given on the call, then a build price that comes out of the diagnosis. In the diagnosis, Gnar looks at your ERP, your data and how your team takes orders, then says whether new screens on top of the ERP will do the job or a rebuild of the old system is the better call. It ends in a build plan and a build price, then you decide whether to build. Do not accept a build price from anyone, including us, before the steps your orders take have been mapped.
Compare the build price to what the current setup costs you each year, over the years you expect to run the system: add-on tool bills, ERP seats for people who only enter orders, the hours spent retyping, and the orders that went out under margin. Put the build's running costs on the other side too. If the build costs more than the problem, configure or buy instead.
Questions to answer before you decide#
Answer these with the people who take orders every day, and bring IT in too. Write each answer down next to the three options and see which one it supports.
- How do orders arrive? Count a normal week by channel: email, PDF, phone, portal, EDI.
- Where does each order get retyped? List every system a rep types the same order into.
- What gets checked by hand? Margin, credit, stock, delivery dates. Note who checks each one.
- Which add-on tools do you pay for? Write the annual cost next to each one.
- How many people hold an ERP seat only to enter or look up orders?
- How long does it take a new rep to take orders alone?
- What would you lose if you switched to a packaged tool's way of working?
Start with the last question. If the honest answer is "nothing important", configure your ERP or buy a packaged tool. If it is your pricing, your margin rules or how your branches work together, that is the part worth building on top of the ERP you keep.
