Oracle helps wholesale distributors boost revenue and optimize their workforces

As wholesale distributors continue to navigate a wide range of ongoing global supply chain issues – including supply shortages, longer lead times, higher logistics costs, global trade compliance issues, and a shrinking labor pool – they are understandably eager to pursue opportunities to drive company growth. However, wholesale distributors face several challenges as they aim to capitalize on new revenue opportunities and more effectively manage their workforces.

Since supplier rebate programs in the wholesale distribution industry are highly complex, manual, and time-intensive, distributors often struggle to maximize the profitability of their programs. In addition, many distributors are lacking automation in their organizations’ billing, order fulfillment, and warehousing processes, and need to improve the effectiveness of their planning function to ensure the right inventory is at the right location at the right time. Meanwhile, the shift towards remote and hybrid sales forces has created workforce management challenges for distributors, as they attempt to manage employee recruitment, retention, and training, as well as payrolls and budget allocations.

These diverse challenges are magnified by the fact that many wholesale distributors’ legacy IT systems are homegrown and outdated. As a result, distributors are increasingly seeking a unified cloud platform for supply chain, finance, and HR that enables them to maximize profitability and more effectively manage their workforces for continued business growth.

Oracle offers a wide range of capabilities within Oracle Fusion Cloud Supply Chain & Manufacturing (SCM) and the broader Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite to help our wholesale distribution customers reach these goals. With Oracle Cloud SCM, our wholesale distribution customers can:

• Maximize Profitability with Supplier Rebate Management: In order to maximize business profitability, wholesale distributors need visibility into their supplier rebate programs. With the new Supplier Rebate Management capability in Oracle Fusion Cloud Channel Revenue Management, distributors gain real-time visibility into their supplier rebate programs to help them better track and absorb the funds owed in a more collaborative manner. With the new feature, Oracle provides a complete solution to help distributors manage the entire supplier rebate lifecycle from rebate contract, program management, and tracking to performance analysis.
• Generate New Revenue Streams Via Products, Services, and Channels: Wholesale distributors are aiming to generate new revenue streams by introducing value-add services, omnichannel fulfillment, and subscription management. By integrating business applications across the enterprise, Oracle Fusion Cloud Order Management helps customers enhance their order-to-cash processes to improve customer satisfaction, customer acquisition and retention and revenue management.
• Increase Profit Margins with Enhanced Operational Efficiency: Amidst ongoing global supply chain disruptions, wholesale distributors are challenged to maintain the right level of supply with the right inventory in the right warehouse location. By helping distributors predict consumption and accurately plan restocking, the backlog management capabilities in Oracle Fusion Cloud Demand Management allows them to fulfill highest-revenue orders and orders for the most critical customers and channels. In addition, Oracle Fusion Cloud Warehouse Management and Oracle Fusion Cloud Transportation Management enable customers to run their logistics operations more efficiently, which helps them enhance delivery performance. 
• Scale the Business with Intelligent Process Automation: Many wholesale distributors are operating outdated systems that use time-intensive, manual processes for supplier rebate management, order fulfillment, and warehouse management. By automating these functions and connecting them to Oracle Fusion Cloud Financials – part of Oracle Fusion Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) – Oracle helps distributors increase productivity, improve order-to-cash cycle time, and reduce operational errors to drive profitable growth. The automated processes allow distributors to proactively manage their complex mix of channels, products, pricing, rebate agreements, fulfillment methods, stocking locations, and customer returns, while gaining real-time visibility across their supply chains.

In addition to maximizing profitability via Oracle Cloud SCM, wholesale distributors can leverage Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM) to improve employee recruitment, retention, and training. With a single employee record across HR and finance, distributors can streamline processes and increase productivity across many functions that span both areas – including workforce planning, payroll, time and labor, procurement, and accounting.

With Oracle Cloud SCM and the broader Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite, wholesale distributors can navigate their supply chain and HR challenges to maximize profitability and optimize workforce management – and ultimately, continue growing their businesses.

Learn more here: Oracle for Wholesale Distribution, Oracle Cloud SCM, Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications Suite.