Landed cost decides whether the margin is real
The company invoice is not what the stock cost you. Freight, loading, unloading and any shortage on delivery are real, and in bulk material they are a meaningful share. Recording those against the purchase gives a landed cost that is higher and more honest than the invoice value, and that is the figure your dealer rate should be set from. Distributors pricing off the invoice value alone frequently find at year end that their best-moving line was their thinnest, and by then a year has gone.
Dealer-wise rates, credit and ageing
Every dealer has their own rate and their own terms, and the difference between a dealer who settles in fifteen days and one who takes ninety is the whole margin on the account. Rates are held per party, credit limits warn at billing time, and the outstanding report ranks by age so attention goes where the exposure is growing. Payments allocate to specific invoices, so a dealer statement shows which bills are actually open rather than one number nobody can break down.
Stock across godowns, and what is not moving
Distribution stock sits in more than one place and moves between them, so godown-wise quantities with recorded transfers keep both figures honest. The movement report over any period separates lines that are genuinely seasonal from lines that were over-ordered once and have not shifted since — and in distribution the second category is usually where a surprising share of the working capital has quietly gone. Low-stock alerts handle the other end, so a fast line does not run dry between company deliveries.
Purchase against sale, per item
Because both sides are in one system, you can see what each item was bought at against what it is being sold at. Company rates move, dealer rates are sticky, and the gap closes without anyone noticing until the comparison is put in front of them. Running that report monthly is the single most useful habit in distribution, and it takes a minute because the data was already there.