PowerSupporter
Big8 is a wholesale-focused online grocery and food-warehouse business. PowerSupporter built three things for it: a custom ERP, an online shop at shop.big8.com.au, and a shop management (admin) system. Shop orders go straight into the ERP and share its data, sales reps can place orders in the shop on behalf of customers, and the ERP controls which products are listed in the shop and other page content. The ERP is also connected to our delivery software, PowerRoute. The ERP tracks stock in batches with expiry dates, and data from a separate wholesale system and a separate retail system was merged into one.
The situation
Big8 is an Asian-grocery and food warehouse that sells to wholesale buyers and also to retail customers. Groceries carry expiry dates, so stock has to be tracked by delivery, not only by quantity. Wholesale and retail sales had been held in two separate systems, which meant separate product, customer and invoice records for the same business.
What we built
- Online shop and shop management system — the storefront at shop.big8.com.au, which serves wholesale buyers and retail customers, and an admin system used to manage the shop. Sales reps can place orders in the shop directly on behalf of customers.
- Custom ERP back office — orders, stock, stock movements, invoices, suppliers, purchase orders and deliveries. Stock is held in batches with expiry dates and goes out first-expired-first-out (FIFO by shelf life). Invoices can be edited after creation (change quantities, add or remove lines) and stock adjusts automatically. Product, customer and supplier pickers use server-side search, so a large catalogue does not lose items.
- Shop and ERP on shared data — an order placed in the shop goes directly into the ERP, and the shop and the ERP share the same information. From the ERP, staff control which products are listed or hidden in the shop and manage other page content. In the public ERP demo, this menu covers categories, products, tax types, banners and site settings.
- PowerRoute delivery integration — the ERP is connected to PowerRoute, our delivery route optimisation and tracking software. A business on a custom ERP can use PowerRoute with it without a PowerERP subscription; PowerRoute's own fees still apply.
- One merged wholesale and retail dataset — data from the two separate systems was combined into a single system. Duplicates were removed by barcode (products) and phone number (customers), and retail invoices carry an RT- prefix so they stay distinguishable.
How the parts connect
| Part | What it does | Connects to |
|---|---|---|
| Online shop | Customers order; sales reps can order on a customer's behalf | Orders go directly into the ERP |
| ERP | Orders, stock, invoices, suppliers, purchase orders, deliveries | Shares its data with the shop |
| Shop management | Listing products on and off, and managing page content | Controlled from the ERP |
| PowerRoute | Delivery route optimisation and tracking | Connected to the ERP |
Before vs After
| Area | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Systems | Two separate systems, one wholesale and one retail | One system |
| Products and customers | Held separately in each system | One merged set, de-duplicated by barcode and phone number |
| Retail invoices | In the separate retail system | In the same system, distinguished by an RT- prefix |
The system behind Big8 belongs to the same product family as our public demos. You can look at the ERP demo and the shop demo. For the reasoning behind batch tracking, read how an online wholesale grocer tracks expiry dates and stock batches, and for the merged data, whether one system can run both wholesale and retail sales. To discuss a similar project, contact us.
PowerSupporter Editorial Team
Based in Melbourne, PowerSupporter builds custom software for Australian businesses — from warehouse management and inventory systems to web apps, mobile apps and internal business tools.