Distributors: invoice the day it ships, and keep the big accounts.
A wholesaler’s margin is thin, so small leaks add up. An invoice goes out three weeks after the goods did. An order gets keyed with the wrong product code. Then a national customer says it will only trade electronically from next quarter. We connect ordering, stock and invoicing so orders and invoices move between systems without anyone retyping them.
Goods out today, invoice out next month
Goods leave the counter or the warehouse. The paperwork follows later, sometimes much later. Every day between the two is a day you are lending the customer money, and some invoices never get raised at all.
Contractors ordering against a project budget add another risk: materials go out for a job that has already overspent, and you find out when the invoice is disputed.
When a big customer wants EDI by a date
National merchants, retailers and contractors increasingly insist that suppliers send and receive orders and invoices in their own electronic format, by a fixed date. Miss it and the account goes to someone who can.
Other providers often start with months of discovery. We start on day one, deliver the part that must work by the deadline, and add the rest after.
| Where it leaks | What it costs | What we change | Proof |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gap between dispatch and invoice | Days or weeks of unpaid goods; some invoices missed | Invoices raised within 24 hours of each order, reviewed before sending | Miranda |
| Orders over a contractor’s budget | Disputes and bad debt months later | Budget and account checked at the counter before goods leave | Miranda |
| Customer demands EDI | The account, if the deadline is missed | Electronic ordering and invoicing in the customer’s format | Everything Boxed |
| Rejected electronic invoices | A rejected invoice is an unpaid invoice | TRADACOMS files built from sales data, in the merchant’s exact layout | Miranda and Huws Gray |
Source: Miranda, TRADACOMS EDI and Everything Boxed case studies.
How Miranda kept its contract
Miranda sells glazing materials from a trade counter in Kent. Its customers include Huws Gray, one of the largest builders’ merchants in the UK.
Miranda
When the contract came up for renewal, the client wanted orders and invoices handled automatically. Miranda had it working in time and kept the contract.
Everything Boxed
The operations team can answer a customer query about any order or invoice in minutes, from one screen.
The first things we measure
- 1
Days from dispatch to invoice
We measure the gap across a month of orders. It is usually the quickest cash to win back.
- 2
Customer trading demands
Which customers want EDI, by when, and in what format, before it becomes a deadline.
- 3
Order entry
How orders arrive, who types them and how often codes are wrong. AI can read emailed orders for a person to confirm.
Questions
- Which EDI formats do you work with?
- TRADACOMS, used across UK retail and builders’ merchants, and EDIFACT among others. We also connect customers who send orders by other electronic routes.
- How fast can you get us trading electronically?
- We deliver the part that must work by the customer’s deadline first and test it against their real specifications before go-live.
- Will invoices go out without anyone checking?
- Only if you want that. At Miranda the operations team reviews and approves each day’s invoices before anything is sent.
- Do we need a new ERP?
- Usually not. We connect the systems you already run, so an order or an invoice is typed once.
How long is your dispatch-to-invoice gap?
An integration scope measures it across a month of orders and gives you a fixed quote for closing it.
Max RevittFounder and Director