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FMCG DISTRIBUTION

Retailer purchase orders, allocation tables and strict GRV reconciliation, without the re-typing.

Retail chains send long purchase orders as PDFs and spreadsheets, with allocation tables across stores and PO numbers that repeat. Weeva splits them into one order per store, matches every line to your catalogue and posts them to your ERP.

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Illustrative example: a fictional purchase order from Letsitele Value Stores, matched to the catalogue.

What does order automation look like for FMCG distribution?

Order automation for an FMCG distributor reads retailer purchase orders and allocation spreadsheets, splits a single document into one order per store, matches retailer article numbers to your SKUs, checks cases and prices against each chain's price list, catches repeated PO numbers, and creates the sales orders in the ERP ready for picking.

How do orders arrive in FMCG distribution?

Long retailer POs, allocation tables across stores and blanket PO numbers.

  • Retailer PDF purchase orders
  • Allocation spreadsheets
  • CSV exports
  • Blanket PO numbers

One order, start to finish.

Highveld Brands Distribution is a fictional FMCG distributor in Pretoria supplying regional grocery chains and wholesalers.

  1. 01 · Highveld Brands Distribution

    An allocation order arrives.

    Letsitele Value Stores emails one PDF at 06:58: products down the side, 23 store columns across, in the chain's own article numbers.

    Illustrative example: a fictional purchase order from Letsitele Value Stores, as it arrived.
  2. 02 · Highveld Brands Distribution

    Weeva splits and matches it.

    The table becomes 23 store orders. Known articles resolve from this retailer's past orders, a reused PO number is checked against the lines, and one new article waits for confirmation.

    Illustrative example: a fictional purchase order from Letsitele Value Stores, matched to the catalogue.
  3. 03 · Highveld Brands Distribution

    23 sales orders in SAP Business One.

    Thandeka Mokoena confirms the beans at 08:03 and all 23 orders sync by 08:11, each with its delivery address and the retailer's PO reference.

    Illustrative example: an audit log of fictional users showing who changed what, and the value before and after.

Receiving in FMCG distribution.

Retailers reconcile your deliveries strictly against their own paperwork, and your own inbound deliveries need the same discipline. Short deliveries and pack size variances from principals must be named before the supplier invoice is paid.

Products and features for FMCG distribution.

Read the guideGRV vs GRN vs goods receipt: what South African businesses need to know

Integrations common in FMCG distribution.

Common questions in FMCG distribution.

Can Weeva split a retailer allocation table into store orders?

Yes. An allocation table with products down one side and stores across the top becomes one order per store, each with its own delivery address. A long PDF with separate store sections is split the same way. Nothing is merged that should be separate, and nothing separate is merged.

What about retailers who reuse PO numbers?

Blanket and re-used PO numbers are common, so Weeva never treats a PO number alone as proof of a duplicate. It compares the customer, dates, totals and lines against recent orders. A likely duplicate is held for a person to confirm; a genuinely new order with an old number goes through.

Can it match retailer article numbers to our SKUs?

Yes. The first time a person confirms that a retailer's article number means your SKU, the mapping is kept for that retailer and applied automatically on every later order. Each chain's numbers are learned separately, so there is no cross-reference sheet to maintain.

How does receiving work for our own inbound stock?

With Goods Receiving Automation, your receivers photograph the principal's delivery note at the bay. Weeva matches it to the open purchase order, names short deliveries, pack size variances and substitutions, and creates the GRV when the receiver confirms, so the supplier invoice is checked against what arrived.

See Weeva on your own orders.

Bring three of your own retailer purchase orders and we'll process them live.

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