The verdict in three sentences
For a food wholesaler with 4 depots and 900 trade customers in the Amsterdam area, a 6% inventory discrepancy costs more every year than the software that would bring it below 1.5%. The right answer is custom inventory software that traces transfers between depots, enforces customer credit terms of 14 to 30 days and keeps handheld scanners working offline in cold rooms and yards where Wi-Fi drops. Plan around 4 months of work and a Kolonell budget within our custom application grid, from 3,810 to 22,870+ EUR depending on complexity, with the details set in the quote.
Where the 6% gap comes from in a multi-depot wholesaler
With 1,800 SKUs (dry goods, oils, dairy, frozen, beverages, world food ranges), small leaks add up. A single annual stocktake in late December tells you the size of the hole, never when it opened. The table shows a typical breakdown for this kind of business (2026 order of magnitude).
| Source of discrepancy | Estimated share | What happens on the floor | Software response |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unconfirmed depot transfers | 30% | Van leaves Westpoort for Zaandam without a signed note | Two-step transfer: dispatch scan, then receipt scan |
| Unit-of-measure errors | 20% | Case of 24 booked as a single unit | Automatic conversion between pallet, case, pack and unit |
| Sales during outages | 18% | Scanner offline, paper picking slip never keyed in | Offline mode with sync when the network returns |
| Undeclared breakage and expiry | 15% | Dairy past date binned without a record | Write-off with photo and batch expiry tracking |
| Unknown shrinkage | 12% | Goods leave without an invoice at closing time | Cycle counts and role-based permissions |
| Supplier receiving errors | 5% | Short delivery accepted at the dock | Quantity check against the purchase order |
The first two lines account for half the problem and are the easiest to fix. A transfer becomes a document with a sender, a driver and a receiver, and any gap shows up the same day instead of six months later.
Customer credit: the second leak, this time in cash
The 900 customers do not all pay upfront. Corner shops take 14 days, restaurants and hotels 30 days, institutional kitchens follow their contract. Dutch law sets a default B2B payment term of 30 days and caps contractual terms at 60 days, yet without enforcement rules a sales rep keeps serving a customer with three overdue invoices. The software applies rules per segment and records payments by bank transfer, iDEAL or direct debit.
| Customer segment | Count | Indicative credit limit | Payment term | Automatic rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corner shops and toko stores | 520 | 2,000 to 6,000 EUR | 14 days | Block if an invoice is 3 days overdue |
| Market traders | 90 | 1,500 to 5,000 EUR | 7 days | Alert to the rep on day 1 overdue |
| Small supermarkets | 160 | 8,000 to 25,000 EUR | 21 days | Manager approval above the limit |
| Restaurants and hotels | 110 | 5,000 to 20,000 EUR | 30 days | Email reminder at day -2 and day +5 |
| Institutional kitchens | 20 | Per contract | 30 days | Tracked against purchase orders |
When picking or invoicing, staff see the customer's balance, limit and overdue items. The decision stays human, but it is made with the right numbers.
Which solution, at what cost
The choice is between three families: an off-the-shelf wholesale SaaS, an ERP configured by an integrator, or a custom application. Market prices below are 2026 orders of magnitude; Kolonell figures come from our published grid.
| Option | Indicative cost | Offline scanning | Credit rules per segment | Multi-depot transfers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheets and paper | Close to zero | Yes, without control | No | No |
| Wholesale SaaS module | 100 to 400 EUR per month plus add-ons (market) | Partial | Basic | Often limited |
| ERP configured by an integrator | Per-user licences plus 900 to 1,300 EUR per consultant day (market) | Weak | Yes | Yes |
| Kolonell custom, simple | 3,810 to 6,100 EUR | Yes | Yes | 1 to 2 depots |
| Kolonell custom, medium | 6,100 to 10,670 EUR | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Kolonell custom, complex | 10,670 to 22,870+ EUR | Yes | Yes, with scoring | Yes, with transfers and batches |
A 4-depot wholesaler with offline scanners and segmented credit usually sits in the medium or complex band. Maintenance then runs at 53, 114 or 183 EUR per month depending on the service level; hosting and specific integrations, such as your accounting package, are quoted separately.
A typical 4-month plan: one month of scoping and mock-ups with depot managers, two months of development in lots (stock and transfers, then offline scanning, then credit control), and one month of pilot on one depot before rolling out to the other three.
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Mini case study
Daan runs a food wholesaler in Amsterdam with average stock worth 1,200,000 EUR. A 6% discrepancy equals 72,000 EUR a year. Bringing it to 1.5% with confirmed transfers and cycle counts cuts the loss to 18,000 EUR, a gain of 54,000 EUR per year.
On credit, receivables stand at 650,000 EUR, with 12% more than 30 days overdue, or 78,000 EUR. Bringing that rate to 5% frees 45,500 EUR of cash. Even at the top of the complex band, 22,870 EUR, the project pays for itself in about five months on shrinkage alone.
FAQ
Do the scanners really work without a network?
Yes, each handheld stores its scans locally and syncs as soon as the connection returns. A 30-minute dead zone in a freezer aisle loses no movement, and stock conflicts are flagged to the depot manager.
How long does a cycle count take?
Counting 60 to 80 SKUs per day per depot covers all 1,800 SKUs roughly once a month. Each count takes 30 to 45 minutes without closing the depot.
Can it connect to our accounting software?
Yes, invoices and payments can be pushed to your accounting package through its API. The scope of that integration, typically 1 to 3 weeks of work, is set in the quote.
Who owns the code and data?
You do. CSV exports of the 1,800 items, 900 customers and all movements are available at any time.
How much training is needed?
Half a day for a picker, one full day for a depot manager. Expect about 25 people trained across the 4 depots during the pilot.
Let's scope your project. A multi-depot inventory system with customer credit control and offline scanning is scoped in two workshops and delivered in about four months. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
