Häufig gestellte Fragen
What does an ERP for wholesale cost?
Realistic implementation costs for a wholesale ERP in the mid-market typically range between roughly 150,000 and 950,000 euros over the first three to five years, depending on user count, number of sites and depth of customisation. Wholesalers with high inventory turnover, EDI connections to several major customers and automated material planning often sit in the middle range of around 300,000 to 500,000 euros. On-premises models additionally incur annual maintenance and update fees, which are customarily around 18 to 22 percent of the licence costs, or alternatively a cloud subscription per user per month. A detailed breakdown is available in our guide ERP costs.
Cloud or on-premises — which fits wholesale better?
Both operating models are widespread in wholesale, and the choice depends above all on the need for individualisation and the IT strategy. Cloud solutions are gaining ground for smaller and mid-sized deployments because they are faster to implement, offer predictable running costs and leave maintenance and updates with the provider. On-premises remains the first choice where highly individual processes, deep interface customisation or special requirements for data sovereignty and latency in the warehouse exist. A detailed weighing of pros and cons can be found under Cloud vs. on-premises.
How long does implementing a wholesale ERP take?
In wholesale, mid-market ERP implementations typically take around 8 to 16 months, while larger multi-site or group projects can well take 24 to 48 months. Migrating stock data from legacy systems is usually the most time-critical factor, because large item master files with batch, serial number and best-before-date logic have to be cleansed and transferred. A substantial part of the project duration goes into design, customising and data migration, with the rest spent on testing, training and the productive rollout. Our ERP implementation checklist offers a structured approach.
What distinguishes a wholesale ERP from standard ERP software?
A wholesale ERP is designed for high document volumes, large item master files and differentiated customer terms, going beyond generic functionality. Characteristic features are a powerful pricing and terms engine with volume scales, promotional prices, discounts and bonuses, multi-warehouse and inventory management with batches, serial numbers and best-before dates, and support for drop shipping and consignment stock. Added to this are automated material planning, EDI connections to industrial customers and suppliers, and the integration of B2B web shops and marketplaces for multichannel sales. A plain standard ERP often covers these trade- and distribution-specific processes only with considerable extra effort.
What role do EDI and EDIFACT play in a wholesale ERP?
Electronic data interchange (EDI) is central in wholesale because orders, order confirmations, dispatch notifications and invoices are exchanged with industrial customers and suppliers automatically and without manual entry. EDIFACT is the EDI standard maintained by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE) and the most widespread outside North America, while ANSI ASC X12 predominates in North America; in the German-speaking region, partners additionally use IDoc or OCI/cXML depending on the constellation. An ERP with a native EDI pipeline can create incoming messages directly as orders and synchronise stock levels and prices promptly, which significantly reduces error rates and lead times. During system selection, the specific message types and industry standards of the main partners should be clarified early.
Does a wholesale ERP have to support the e-invoicing mandate?
Yes, because in Germany the obligation to be able to receive and process structured e-invoices for domestic B2B transactions has applied since 1 January 2025. Staggered transitional rules apply to issuing: from 1 January 2027, companies with a prior-year turnover of more than 800,000 euros must send e-invoices, while companies with a turnover of at most 800,000 euros have a grace period until the end of 2027, and the obligation applies to everyone without exception from 1 January 2028. E-invoices are structured formats compliant with the European standard EN 16931 — in Germany in particular XRechnung and ZUGFeRD from version 2.0.1 (with the exception of the MINIMUM and BASIC-WL profiles, which do not meet the standard). A contemporary wholesale ERP should cover these formats for inbound and outbound invoices; the specific implementation should be coordinated with your tax advisor.