Learn how to streamline sales order management, reduce errors and get paid faster with tools like Buddy—built for wholesale consumer brands.
Tracking sales orders and payments might sound like basic back-office hygiene, but for consumer brands selling wholesale, it’s mission-critical. You’re managing dozens or hundreds of retailer relationships, each with its own purchase order format, payment terms and communication preferences.
Without a reliable way to track what was sold, what’s been paid and what’s overdue, things slip through the cracks. Cash gets tied up in unpaid invoices. Sales reps lose visibility into their accounts. Operations teams waste time reconciling data across spreadsheets, email threads and accounting tools.
Whether you're just getting started or scaling into new retail channels, having a clear system for tracking sales and payments helps you stay on top of your cash flow, improve customer satisfaction and reduce costly mistakes.
This guide walks through how to set up a basic tracker, what systems can help and how Buddy makes the entire sales order process easier to manage—all in one place.
The Risk of Not Tracking Properly
Let’s say you sell beverages into 50 regional grocery chains. Each retailer submits a purchase order differently. Some email spreadsheets. Others send PDFs. Some send via EDI. Without a consistent way to track the full sales cycle, you risk:
Data entry error
Missing overdue payments
Shipping orders twice
Losing track of shipping documents and communication
Making decisions with outdated customer data
Manual Tracking with a Spreadsheet
Set Up Your Tracker
The easiest way to start is with a spreadsheet. It doesn’t require new software and gives you control. At minimum, you’ll want to include:
Retailer name
Order date
Customer’s purchase order number
Product details, quantities and pricing
Link to Sales order forms
Total sales amount
Planned delivery date
Order status (created, confirmed, pick and pack, shipped etc.)
Payment terms
Invoice date and amount
Date payment is due
Date customer pays
Notes or contact person
This basic structure helps you track sales orders and monitor whether a customer pays immediately or on terms. You download our free wholesale order tracker template here.
Tips to Keep It Useful
To avoid common data entry issues, stick to a consistent naming structure for each retailer. Color code overdue invoices. Use filters to find outstanding balances. And link to sales documents like invoices or shipping receipts stored in the cloud.
Spreadsheets can support light inventory management too. Add a column for available inventory and use simple formulas to track what’s promised to each customer.
Where It Breaks Down
Spreadsheets work until they don’t. Once you’re running dozens of orders a week, this system gets fragile.
You start relying on tribal knowledge. Data entry errors creep in. You lose track of who followed up on what. There’s no clear audit trail and customer communication starts to lag.
Systems That Improve Visibility
Accounting Tools
Apps like QuickBooks or Xero help you issue invoices and match payments. They’re great at showing what money has hit your account. But they’re not built for sales order processing workflows.
They don’t track the delivery information or the customer’s original purchase order details. They don’t update inventory levels or sales rep activity. You can’t track shipping costs or generate shipping labels. And they don’t help with the back-and-forth of creating sales orders and confirming details with the buyer.
ERP or OMS Platforms
Full-scale enterprise systems like NetSuite or Brightpearl do offer robust order management software features. They can:
Track the entire sales order management process
Update inventory in real time
Connect sales, fulfillment and accounting
Improve demand forecasting and reduce supply chain missteps
But the downside is cost and complexity. For many growing consumer brands, these systems require a lengthy setup and dedicated admin time. You may end up paying for features you don’t need.
Custom Dashboards and Reports
Some teams use business intelligence tools to build sales dashboards. These show high-level data across orders, payments and customer segments.
They’re helpful for spotting trends, but they’re not operational tools. They won’t help your sales teams with creating sales orders or tracking customer communication. They won’t tell you if a particular invoice is overdue. They’re lagging indicators, not active systems.
How Buddy Simplifies Sales and Payment Tracking
What Buddy Tracks
Buddy is purpose-built for consumer brands selling wholesale. It works out of the box to track:
Automated PO data entry
Shipping status and order fulfillment process
Sales invoice creation and payment tracking
Customer communication and order history
Order document management for auditing and collections
How the Workflow Looks in Buddy
Step 1: Order Creation
Purchase orders are automatically fed into Buddy via email auto-forwarding rule or EDI integration. The system automatically generates a clean sales order template, ready for your review
Step 2: Order Confirmation
Once product availability is verified, a coordinator acknowledges the order that outlines pricing, delivery information and accepted payment methods.
Step 3: Fulfillment and Shipping
Buddy can send email or Slack order notification to your third party logistics (3PL) partner for fulfillment. If an appropriate setup, Buddy can read data from your warehouse's system and automatically track status.
Step 4: Invoicing and Payment
The sales invoice and tracking information is sent to the customer, along with the expected payment terms. Buddy tracks when the customer pays and flags any overdue items.
A Real-World Example
A snack brand selling to numerous independent retailers was juggling Google Sheets, email and accounting software. They missed three payments in one quarter because their team couldn’t keep up with follow-ups.
After switching to Buddy, they decreased time spent by 75% in six months. Ops team stopped chasing down paperwork. Finance had a clear view of what was owed. And the brand was able to forecast more accurately going into each quarter.
The Value of a Unified System
Here’s what happens when you move your sales order management process into a modern system like Buddy:
Benefit | Why It Matters |
|---|---|
Fewer errors | Data is entered and tracked automatically |
Shorter sales cycle | Faster processing and approvals |
Better customer relationships | Clear, accurate communication |
More reliable forecasting | Real-time data on orders and payments |
Less back-and-forth | Fewer manual touchpoints and reminders |
Conclusion
Wholesale brands need more than an invoice and a spreadsheet to manage their sales. As your customer base grows, the risk of errors and missed payments multiplies.
From creating sales orders to confirming purchase order details to tracking payments and fulfillment, every step of the workflow matters. Your sales order process should help and not hinder your ability to scale.
With tools like Buddy, you can manage your entire sales order management process in one place. You’ll reduce manual effort, close gaps in customer communication and collect payments faster.
FAQ
1. What is sales order management in wholesale B2B, and why does it matter?
Sales order management in wholesale B2B involves tracking the full sales cycle—from purchase order to payment. It’s essential for consumer brands selling to retailers because each account may use different formats, terms and communication styles. Without a clear process, brands risk missed payments, duplicated shipments and unhappy customers.
2. How can I track wholesale sales orders and payments effectively?
Start with a structured spreadsheet that includes key fields like retailer name, order status, invoice details and payment due dates. As your business grows, consider moving to an automated system like Buddy, which tracks sales orders, invoices, shipments and payments in one place for better visibility and fewer errors.
3. What are the risks of managing wholesale orders manually with spreadsheets?
Spreadsheets work for small volumes but quickly break down at scale. Common issues include data entry errors, missed payment follow-ups, lack of inventory visibility and poor communication between teams. These problems lead to slower payments, operational headaches and unhappy retail partners.
4. What tools can help improve wholesale order and payment tracking?
Accounting platforms like QuickBooks help with invoicing but don’t support the full sales order workflow. ERPs like NetSuite are powerful but expensive and complex. Purpose-built tools like Buddy combine sales order management, payment tracking and customer communication in a single, easy-to-use system.
5. How does Buddy streamline the sales order process for consumer brands?
Buddy automates the end-to-end workflow: sales reps create orders from retailer POs, fulfillment is triggered, invoices are generated and payments are tracked. It gives teams real-time insight into what’s sold, what’s shipped and what’s unpaid—without the hassle of juggling spreadsheets and multiple apps.
