Setting up a distribution center and trade counter

Distribution and warehousing · checked 2026-11-08

This guide takes a distribution center and its trade counter from the first conversation to a live day. An iVendNext partner in your region usually runs these steps with you. A team with its own developers can run them itself. iVendNext gives the product, the apps and a guide at every step.

Check the fit

Put your own list of requirements against What iVendNext offers a distributor. What the table meets unchanged is ready. The rest is set-up or an extension.

Set up the company, the warehouses and the trade counter

Set up the company, the distribution center as a warehouse, any branch warehouses, the trade counter's till and its profile, users and roles. Give the distribution center a POS Profile, so the Handheld can sign in to it, and give each person who works on the Handheld the right to use it. See Setting up the Handheld.

Link your ERP and web store

iVendNext connects to SAP Business One, SAP S/4HANA, Acumatica, NetSuite and Sage X3, and to WooCommerce for your web store. Any other ERP, your partner connects with the partner kit. For Acumatica and WooCommerce, see the Integration Core guide.

Install the apps

Install the apps your distribution center needs: Bin locations, which adds a default bin field to items, so install it before you load the range; Pick route, if you assign picks from sales orders in Desk, which is separate from the Handheld's pick; and Required sale details for a trade account's purchase order number.

Set the sales tax

Set the tax rate for each warehouse that sells, and a tax category for the customers who need one. The rate is set on the warehouse; see Important Retail Settings and Tax Category.

Load the range, the customers and the opening stock

Load items with their units and pack sizes: each, box, case and pallet. See Unit of Measure. Give each unit its own barcode; see Track Items Using Barcode. Mark the items that carry lots or serial numbers. Then load your suppliers and your customers, with their groups, and bring in the opening stock. See Stock Reconciliation.

Set the customers' prices, credit and terms

1. Make a price list for trade customers and set it on the customer or the customer group. See Price Lists.
2. Set a credit limit on each account customer, or on the customer group. See Credit Limit.
3. Set the payment terms, such as Net 30. See Payment Terms.

A customer with no credit limit at any level buys on account only up to the credit they have, so set a limit on every account customer or on their group.

Set where stock goes

Make a Putaway Rule for the items that go to a set warehouse. It is applied to purchase receipts written in Desk. See Putaway Rule.

Set up the pick

Picks start in iVendNext Desk, on a Pick List. See Pick List. Make one Pick List for each delivery address, because the Handheld delivers one address at a time. Keep Reserve Stock for Orders off in Retail Setting, a setting for the whole site, because an order with reserved stock cannot be made into a pick list. The picker then follows Pick, pack and deliver on the Handheld.

Set up shipments and delivery trips

When you ship by a carrier, make a Shipment from the delivery note that the Handheld posted, and type in the carrier and the tracking number. Group a vehicle's deliveries in a Delivery Trip. See Shipment and Delivery Trip.

Set up collections

Set up dunning for overdue invoices; see Dunning. To match payments from your bank, import the bank's statement; see Bank Reconciliation, section 3.2.1.

Set up the hardware

Put scanners, cash drawers and receipt printers at the counter and in the warehouse (see Counter hardware). Give goods-in, picking and counts a handheld.

Train your staff and go live

Go live in this order: the warehouse on the Handheld, the order desk and the credit clerk in Desk, and then the trade counter at the till.

Day to day

Your partner supports what it delivers. iVendNext supports the product. The daily work at the counter is in iVendNext POS, starting with Starting your day. The daily work in the warehouse is in iVendNext Handheld.