What a modern ERP should do for a distribution business, and how to get there.
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Run stock, orders, warehouse and finance in one system. Advantage implements Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for UK distributors, with AI and Copilot built in from day one.
See how Dynamics 365 Business Central gives distribution businesses a live view of stock, orders and margin across every site, and how Advantage tailors it to the way your warehouse actually works
When stock lives in one system, orders in another and finance in a third, nobody trusts the numbers. Teams re-key orders, chase stock by hand and wait days for month-end.
Dynamics 365 Business Central puts it all in one place. Every order, receipt and shipment updates stock and the ledger instantly, so sales, the warehouse and finance work from the same live figures.
See what's on hand, reserved and on order at every location. Set reorder points and lead times per item, and Business Central suggests purchase orders automatically, so you stop over-ordering slow lines and running out of fast ones.
For AI-driven forecasting, we add AGR, which plans purchasing around seasonality, trends and supplier lead times.
Orders from sales, e-commerce and EDI land in one queue, with stock allocated automatically. In the warehouse, bin locations and handheld scanners replace paper pick lists for receiving, put-away, picking, packing and shipping.
Operations managers get a live view of throughput instead of waiting for end-of-day reports.
Importing and exporting adds currencies, customs paperwork and freight costs that standard systems struggle with. HB SmartTrade is a Business Central extension built for cross-border distributors.
It handles multi-currency purchasing, import and export documents and landed costs inside Business Central, so you see true margins without spreadsheets or bespoke development.
Business Central connects to Shopify, WooCommerce and Amazon, to carriers and 3PLs, and to retailers through EDI. Orders flow in automatically, stock levels sync back to your sales channels, and shipping updates reach customers without anyone re-keying them.
Copilot in Business Central helps your team work faster, from answering questions about your data to drafting item descriptions. Power BI dashboards show fill rates, stock accuracy and margin by customer and product line, updated as it happens.
Leadership stops waiting for the weekly spreadsheet and starts acting on live numbers.
If your current ERP is on-premise, heavily customised or can't connect to modern sales channels, it's costing you more than it looks. Advantage moves distributors from Sage 200, Dynamics NAV, GP and bespoke systems to Business Central, migrating your data and planning go-live around your trading calendar.
Want a faster, fixed-scope route? See our QuickStart Solutions.
We've helped numerous UK distribution and wholesale businesses move to Microsoft Dynamics. We start with how goods actually move through your business, then build Business Central around it, and we stay with you after go-live.
Book a free ERP review and we'll show you how Business Central would handle your stock, orders and finance, with a clear view of scope and timeline.
Common questions from distributors and wholesalers considering Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, and how Advantage implements it.
For most UK SME distributors and wholesalers, yes. Dynamics 365 Business Central handles multi-site stock, purchasing, sales orders, warehouse processes and finance in one system, and it grows with you as you add sites, products and channels.
Very large distributors running many distribution centres with complex warehouse automation may be better suited to Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management. Advantage will tell you honestly which fits during a free ERP review.
A typical distribution implementation takes three to six months. Simpler single-site projects with clean data can go live in around 12 weeks, while multi-site operations with warehouse scanning, EDI and several integrations sit at the upper end. Advantage’s QuickStart Solutions offer a faster, fixed-scope route.
Advantage's QuickStart Solutions offer a faster, fixed-scope route.
The cost has two parts: Microsoft licences, charged per user per month, and implementation services. Licence tiers differ by user type, so warehouse and occasional users can cost less than full finance and operations users.
Implementation cost depends on scope, integrations and data migration. Advantage provides a fixed-price proposal after the discovery stage, so you know the full investment before you commit.
Yes — ERP migration is one of Advantage's core strengths in distribution. The most common scenario is a business running an older on-premise ERP, such as Sage 200, Dynamics NAV, Dynamics GP or a bespoke platform, that can't integrate with e-commerce platforms, 3PLs or real-time reporting.
Advantage manages the full move to Business Central: data migration, process redesign to use Business Central's standard features, integration with your existing tools and a go-live plan built around your trading calendar. Read our Sage 200 migration guide or Dynamics NAV migration guide.
Yes. Business Central's API and the Microsoft Power Platform connect it to the systems distributors rely on:
Advantage assesses integration needs during discovery and chooses the simplest reliable option, whether a standard connector, a Power Automate flow or custom middleware. See our Shopify integration guide.
Yes. Business Central supports bin locations, receiving, put-away, picking, packing and shipping, and works with handheld barcode scanners through warehouse apps. That replaces paper pick lists and keeps stock levels accurate in real time.
Advantage configures the warehouse setup to match how your sites actually operate. Find out more about warehouse and operations management.
The technology you use should help you move faster, not hold you back. At Advantage, we help SMEs unlock the full power of Microsoft - from cloud and security to AI and automation. Whether you're modernising systems or exploring Copilot, we'll help you transform the way you work. Let's build something smarter. Together.
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