For FMCG distributors and B2B wholesalers, landing a contract with modern trade giants like AEON, Tesco, Giant, or Fairprice is a massive win. But behind the scenes, fulfilling those accounts often introduces a massive operational headache: portal fatigue. If you supply to modern trade and general trade customers, you know the daily struggle of manual order management. Here's why the current system is broken — and how AI can fix it.
The Modern Trade Challenge: Portal Overload
To do business with major supermarkets and hypermarkets like Sheng Siong, Coles, Woolworths, Jaya Grocer, and 99 Speedmart, suppliers are forced to use their buyers' preferred B2B procurement portals.
That means your sales and admin teams are constantly logging into platforms like Radiant Global, B2B Commerce, PracBiz, Ariba, EzyProcure, Supplycart, and Adam. Instead of focusing on sales velocity and account growth, your team is stuck doing manual data entry — logging in, downloading the purchase orders, deciphering the items, and keying them into your accounting system one by one. It's inconvenient, slow, and prone to human error.
The General Trade Chaos: WhatsApp and Email
While modern trade relies on rigid portals, general trade customers — hotels, restaurants, cafes, and independent retail — sit on the opposite end of the spectrum. They send orders through unstructured channels like WhatsApp, Telegram, or email.
Deciphering a messy WhatsApp text from a restaurant manager and manually keying it into an ERP requires just as much manual labour as downloading a PO from an Ariba portal. Two extremes, same result: your team buried in data entry instead of selling.
The Solution: Automate Every Channel with FlowGo
At FlowGo, our mission is simple: automate the paperwork, not the relationship. You shouldn't have to hire a fleet of data-entry clerks just to process orders from PracBiz or WhatsApp. That's why we built Rich, an AI agent designed specifically for sales order automation.
Here's how FlowGo transforms your operations:
- Omnichannel capture: Whether the order is sitting in a modern trade portal like Radiant Global or EzyProcure, or arrives as a WhatsApp text from a hotel chef, FlowGo captures it automatically.
- Intelligent item mapping: Supplier SKU codes rarely match the buyer's internal codes. FlowGo's AI automatically converts and maps requested items to the exact right item in your inventory.
- Direct ERP integration: Once the order is captured and mapped, it's pushed instantly into your ERP or accounting system — whether you use AutoCount, SQL Account, SAP Business One, or others.
You secured your modern and general trade accounts by building great relationships and offering great products. Don't let the administrative burden of B2B portals and WhatsApp messages slow you down.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can FlowGo pull orders from procurement portals like Ariba, EzyProcure, or PracBiz?
Yes. Rich captures purchase orders regardless of where they originate — modern trade portals such as Radiant Global, B2B Commerce, PracBiz, Ariba, EzyProcure, Supplycart, and Adam, as well as unstructured channels like WhatsApp, Telegram, and email. Your team stops logging into each portal to download and re-key POs one at a time.
How does Rich handle SKU codes that don't match between buyer and supplier?
Modern trade buyers use their own internal item codes that rarely match your inventory codes. Rich's AI maps each requested line item to the correct product in your catalogue — handling code mismatches, shorthand names, and unit variations. When it can't confidently match a line, it flags it for human review instead of guessing, and confirmed matches teach it your catalogue over time.
Which accounting systems and ERPs does FlowGo push orders into?
FlowGo integrates with AutoCount Cloud, AutoCount On-premise, SQL Account, QuickBooks, SAP Business One, Xero, and Biztory. Once Rich captures and maps an order, it creates the sales order directly in your system using your existing product codes, tax settings, and customer records. Oracle NetSuite integration is on the roadmap.
Do my customers have to change how they order?
No. That's the point of automating the paperwork, not the relationship. Modern trade buyers keep using their procurement portals, and general trade customers keep sending WhatsApp and email orders exactly as they do today. FlowGo adapts to your customers' channels — not the other way around.
Ready to eliminate manual data entry? Reach out to Anthony at [email protected], or chat with us now.
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