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AI is everywhere right now — but for those in wholesale distribution, the opportunity goes beyond the hype. With tight margins, high operational costs, and increasingly complex customer demands, many distributors are looking for AI to do what spreadsheets and manual processes no longer can: streamline operations, reduce waste, and unlock growth.
The good news? AI doesn’t have to be intimidating or futuristic. Some of its most powerful use cases are already transforming the way distributors plan, forecast, sell, and deliver.
Here’s six practical ways AI is reshaping wholesale distribution in 2025, as well as some example prompts you can start testing today.
1. Smarter demand forecasting
Forecasting demand has always been a challenge. Too much stock ties up capital; too little leads to missed sales. AI can analyse historical sales, seasonal trends, customer behaviours and even external market data to provide far more accurate projections than manual methods.
Example prompt to try: "Based on our past 12 months of sales data and current market trends, forecast demand for Product X in Q3."
What you’ll need: Historical sales data by product, seasonality patterns, recent marketing campaigns, and external market factors (if available).
2. Inventory optimisation
AI can balance supply and demand by identifying slow-moving stock, predicting reorder points, and flagging products at risk of overstock or stockout. This improves cash flow and frees up warehouse space.
Example prompt to try: "Which products in our warehouse are overstocked or understocked based on sales velocity over the past six months?"
What you’ll need: Stock levels, product turnover rates, and average lead times.
3. Streamlined sales order processing
Manual order entry is a bottleneck. AI tools can help automate the sales order process by reading emails, digitising purchase orders, validating stock availability, and even predicting potential order issues.
Example prompt to try: "Automatically extract product, quantity, and shipping info from these customer emails and flag any stock shortages."
What you’ll need: Customer communications, current stock data, and order templates or formats.
4. Enhanced customer insights
AI can segment customers by behaviour, identify at-risk clients, or recommend upsell and cross-sell opportunities. This helps sales teams focus on the right conversations at the right time.
Example prompt to try: "List customers whose order frequency has dropped significantly in the past 90 days and suggest potential reasons."
What you’ll need: Customer order history, engagement data, and CRM notes if available.
5. Route optimisation and delivery automation
For distributors managing their own fleets or logistics, AI tools can optimise delivery routes, reduce fuel costs, and increase on-time delivery rates. Some are even exploring autonomous delivery vehicles for last-mile efficiency.
Example prompt to try: "Suggest the most fuel-efficient delivery routes for these 50 orders scheduled tomorrow, factoring in traffic patterns."
What you’ll need: Order locations, delivery windows, driver capacity, and traffic data.
6. Preparing for AI-enabled ERP
While generative AI tools already offer exciting possibilities — like generating emails, pulling reports, or answering simple prompts (as outlined above) — there’s still one big hurdle: they often rely on manually uploaded data. That means toggling between systems, copying and pasting spreadsheets, or uploading documents just to get a useful answer.
But this will change in the future for users of MYOB Acumatica?
Over the long term, we will be rolling out new AI-powered features to help you make more informed and timely business decisions based on your operational data. So instead of feeding the system your business information, it’s already there. Ask a question like “Who are our top five customers in NSW?” and the AI will be able to scan your real-time business data to provide context, insights, and suggested actions. Watch this space and follow our socials for future updates about AI enhancements coming to MYOB Acumatica.
It’s not just a smarter way to work — it’s a more powerful way to run your business. More insight and automation means faster decisions, better margins, and fewer blind spots.
Key Takeaway
AI isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a tool that, when applied practically, can drive serious impact in wholesale distribution. From predicting stock needs to freeing up sales teams and improving delivery accuracy, it’s already reshaping the way the industry works.
The prompts in this post are just a few ideas — try them with your data to see what insights emerge. For wholesale distributors navigating a competitive and complex landscape, AI can be the difference between keeping up and getting ahead.
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