Illustrative example — replace with a real engagement before launch
Sixty independent store owners were each negotiating alone and paying distributor rates. We designed the aggregation model, proved it manually with a twelve-store pilot, then built the shared ordering and settlement platform that now runs the network.
Modelled the group discount, platform cost and per-store benefit before building anything. If the math had not worked, the project should not have existed.
Twelve stores, spreadsheet-run, for eight weeks. It exposed the real failure mode — settlement timing, not pricing — which shaped the whole platform.
Common catalogue, consolidated ordering, transparent per-store allocation and automated settlement with escrow-style clearing.
Written rules for pricing, dispute resolution and exit, agreed before onboarding rather than after the first argument.
“The pilot on spreadsheets is what convinced us. He proved it worked before asking anyone to pay for software.”
A four-branch pharma distributor ran inventory in one system, billing in another and accounts in spreadsheets. Batch and expiry tracking existed only in a storekeeper's memory. We consolidated onto a single ERP with batch-level traceability and automated the reconciliation that three people were doing by hand.
Selling on its own website plus four marketplaces, the brand was overselling roughly 4% of orders and eating cancellation penalties and rating damage. We built a single inventory truth with near-real-time propagation to every channel, plus automated settlement reconciliation.
Production planning ran on a whiteboard, job cards were paper, and quality data was typed into Excel twice. We digitised the shop floor flow and automated the reporting layer above it, without replacing the ERP the company had already invested in.
Most of these started with a 30-minute call and an honest diagnosis.