More orders.
More admin—why?
When every order needs re-entry, busy sales create more back-office work. Capturing clear information once is the starting point.
Coco / Solutions / Wholesale Sales & Ordering
A DIFFERENT KIND OF WHOLESALE SOFTWARE
The sale happens
in the aisle.
Not back at the office.
A rep walks into a store, checks the shelves, listens to the owner, then agrees what to order and at what price. Only then should that decision become an order in finance. We build custom software for this reality—not force trade relationships into a retail checkout.
Informed by Australian wholesale client work: Hansford · Victoria's Magic
‹ Field sales ● 09:41
ILLUSTRATIVE FIELD VISIT / NOT A CLIENT SCREENSHOT
Retailer visit
◈ Store conversation ● Draft
Frozen snack · 500 g Stock & expiry information available
1.5 units New range · trial order Agreed price recorded for this order
$ · · · Order notes Special requirements discussed in store
↗ FIELD NOTES / 01
✓ Shelf checked
✓ Quantities discussed
✓ Deal price agreed
Next → Order handoff
RELATIONSHIP-LED SALES · CUSTOM-BUILT SYSTEMS
01 / A STORE VISIT, NOT A FEATURE LIST
Before we talk software,
walk into a store.
This is an illustrative, composite visit based on documented wholesale workflows—not an actual client transaction. The key is to understand what the rep and owner must decide, together, on site.
MOMENT 01 / THE SHELF
The owner doesn't ask
how many SKUs you have.
RETAILER / ILLUSTRATIVE DIALOGUE “We're almost out of this one. That one barely moved last week. How much of the new range should I try?”
The rep isn't reading from a catalogue. They're reading the shelf, interpreting demand and helping the retailer shape a sensible order. A useful tool brings product and stock information into this conversation—not hours after it.
COCO INSIGHT → Support the decision before the data entry.
STORE SHELF / COMPOSITE ILLUSTRATION
FROZEN
SNACK
500 g
SNACK
500 g
LOW STOCK
FAMILY
PACK
800 g
PACK
800 g
SLOW
NEW
RANGE
400 g
RANGE
400 g
TRIAL?
The shelf is where the order starts. ↗
MOMENT 02 / THE DEAL
Wholesale isn't always
list price × quantity.
REP / ILLUSTRATIVE DIALOGUE “Let's start with a smaller trial order. I'll record the price we agreed today.”
Accounts differ, promotions differ, and the terms of one deal may differ from the next. Software should let the rep capture the agreed transaction clearly—not assume every buyer follows a consumer price list. Some wholesale lines also require fractional quantities.
COCO INSIGHT → Record commercial judgment, don't replace it.
AGREED ORDER / ILLUSTRATIVE UI
TRADE ORDER / IN-STORE
Agreed in-store order
Frozen snack · 500 g
Fractional order quantity 1.5 units
Fractional order quantity 1.5 units
New range · trial order
Price for this deal $ · · ·
Price for this deal $ · · ·
Order status Draft
Concept UI. No unverified approval or price-floor rules implied.
MOMENT 03 / NO SIGNAL
No reception?
The visit still matters.
REP / ILLUSTRATIVE DIALOGUE “I'll save the order here and send it through when I'm back online.”
Connectivity is not something a rep can negotiate with. A later Hansford implementation supports offline order capture, local saving and synchronisation when the connection returns. This is a client-specific capability—not a default feature of every project.
COCO INSIGHT → Design for real field constraints, not perfect networks.
LOCAL DRAFT / LATER HANSFORD CAPABILITY
● OFFLINE
Store order · Saved on device
Agreed quantities & prices ✓
Order draft Saved locally
Upload status Awaiting connection
Illustrative states only, not real data transfer or sync logic.
MOMENT 04 / THE HANDOFF
Don't remove the rep.
Remove the second entry.
BUSINESS OWNER / ILLUSTRATIVE DIALOGUE “Why does the team have to type in a deal that was already agreed at the store?”
Many wholesalers already have finance software they rely on. The gap is between how orders are captured in the field and how they enter formal processing. At Hansford, the approach was integration—not a rip-and-replace. Downstream fulfilment and invoicing remain in the client's existing process.
COCO INSIGHT → Keep what works; connect the decision to what happens next.
FROM THE STORE FLOOR TO FINANCE
Field order Sales conversation
→ Order layer Captured once
→ Finance Existing workflow
Before: paper / Excel → back to the office → re-key into finance.
Now: sales-ready orders can flow into the established finance process.
Now: sales-ready orders can flow into the established finance process.
02 / WHAT THE BUSINESS OWNER SEES
For the owner,
the problem isn't just
slow order entry.
As the business grows, an order passes through sales, administration, finance and fulfilment. The bigger risk isn't a few lost minutes; it's losing clarity between hand-offs and depending on a handful of people to hold the process together.
More orders.
The price was agreed.
Will context survive?
Commercial terms are often agreed face-to-face. The context of a deal shouldn't disappear into a separate note or message.
Finance works.
Why replace it?
What you need may be a sales-friendly layer and a dependable hand-off. Preserve existing systems instead of introducing yet another isolated workflow.
We are not turning reps into data-entry clerks—or replacing relationships with a self-service checkout.
We make the outcome of a sales conversation clear enough for the rest of the business to act on.
We make the outcome of a sales conversation clear enough for the rest of the business to act on.
03 / KNOWING WHAT MATTERS IN WHOLESALE
Wholesale isn't retail
with a different label.
Some screens may look familiar. The underlying decisions are not. Four distinctions matter before a single workflow is designed.
01 / RELATIONSHIPS
The rep isn't an unnecessary middleman.
In rep-led wholesale, relationships, product knowledge and negotiations are part of the sale. Digitisation should reduce administrative friction so the rep can spend more time with customers.
02 / TRADE PRICING
A quoted price is a decision, not just a field.
A launch promotion, negotiated offer or account-specific need may change the price for a deal. Permissions and approvals must follow each client's actual trade rules, not a pre-packaged template.
03 / FOOD REALITY
Stock is more than a quantity.
For food distribution, batch and expiry information informs selling decisions and the wider traceability context. Surfacing that data does not imply automated picking, allocation or a complete compliance system.
04 / OPERATIONS
Simple for the rep. Reliable for finance.
The rep shouldn't wrestle with accounting screens in-store. Finance shouldn't receive ambiguous order details. The goal is a workflow each side can trust without forcing them to use the same interface.
Industry context: FSANZ food traceability guidance. This does not claim Coco delivered a complete traceability or warehouse system. FSANZ ↗
04 / PROOF FROM REAL CLIENT WORK
Same industry.
Different business briefs.
These are not two subscriptions to one product. They are separate custom software engagements shaped by different operations. That difference is exactly the point.
CASE 01 / FOOD DISTRIBUTION
⇄
Hansford.
From store visit
to finance handoff.
Field reps previously recorded store orders on paper or Excel before re-keying them into finance. We built around field selling and existing finance, later adding offline capture and reconnection sync. An approximately eight-year relationship.
Explore Hansford ↗CASE 02 / FROZEN FOOD WHOLESALE
✳
Victoria’s Magic.
A public brand.
A separate trade process.
Public brand and product discovery serve a different audience from wholesale ordering. The two experiences can coexist while keeping trade pricing distinct. We do not assume Victoria's Magic has every Hansford capability.
Explore Victoria’s Magic ↗Project details are based on client interviews and prior case records. Visuals and dialogue are illustrative, not client screenshots. No unsupported efficiency or revenue metrics are presented.
05 / A CUSTOM SOFTWARE PARTNER
Don't start with
a feature checklist.
Show us one real order.
We start with how a rep visits an account, negotiates a price, captures an order and hands it to administration or finance. Where are details repeated, clarified or lost? Only then do we decide what to preserve, connect or build.
Follow an order, end to end
What do sales, the retailer, admin and finance each do?
Find the costly handoffs
Where are details re-entered, delayed or miscommunicated?
Preserve what already works
Finance may stay; the field-sales experience may change.
Build, integrate and evolve
Every engagement is scoped individually, not sold as a SaaS package.
START WITH YOUR EXISTING BUSINESS
How does an order
travel through your business?
You don't need a software specification. Tell us how your reps visit, record and hand off orders—and what the office must do afterwards. We'll help identify the steps worth improving.