Automating email order intake at a wholesaler in 2026

Updated: September 2026

At a wholesaler a large share of orders arrives by email, and every customer does it their own way: a PDF from the purchasing system, an Excel list, a few lines in the email itself or a photo of a handwritten list. Inside sales retypes it into the ERP, looks up article numbers and calls when in doubt. AI can take over that retyping, provided you agree clearly what does and does not go through automatically. Below you read what an assistant does, what you keep doing yourself, what you need and how to start.

The short answer

An assistant reads an order in whatever format it arrives, matches every line to your article file, applies that customer's price agreement and prepares the order as a draft in your ERP. Lines it is not sure about it flags or checks with the customer. Inside sales only sees the exceptions and releases the order. What never goes through automatically: an uncertain line, a new customer without agreements, a deviating price and an order above the credit limit.

Why order intake takes so much time

The problem is not the number of orders but the number of formats. A PDF from a purchasing system has neat lines with article numbers; a photo of a list from the building site has crossings-out and the customer's own names. Every order needs the same work: read, look up articles, check quantities and units, determine the customer price, enter, confirm. At twenty orders a day that is half a day of an inside sales employee, and every retyping error becomes a replacement delivery or a credit note.

What AI takes over

An order intake assistant does six things, in this order:

Reading: it extracts customer, lines, quantities, units and requested delivery date from the PDF, the Excel, the email text or the photo.
Matching: it links every line to your article file, even when the customer uses their own name or the manufacturer's number.
Applying the price: it takes the customer price, volume tier or discount as recorded in your system.
Preparing the draft: the order appears as a draft in your ERP or in an import file your system reads. Never as a final order.
Asking for what is missing: with a missing quantity, an unknown article or an unreadable line it asks the customer one targeted question, or flags the line for inside sales.
Confirming: once inside sales releases the order, the customer gets a confirmation with lines and delivery time.

What you never let through automatically

The gain is in the preparation, not in automating away the decision. Five situations that always pass a person:

A line the assistant is not sure about. It does not guess; an order with an uncertain line waits for inside sales.
A new customer without price agreements or without an account. That order is a sales opportunity, not a data entry task.
A price that deviates from what is in the system, for example because the customer quotes an old offer.
An order above the credit limit or from a customer with outstanding invoices.
A rush order with a delivery date that affects planning. The assistant puts it at the top; the planner decides.

You set these rules beforehand in plain language, per customer group. A regular customer with neat PDF orders may go further than a new customer with a photo of a list.

What it looks like

Picture this: an installer sends a photo of their list from the building site through WhatsApp at seven in the morning. Twelve lines, two crossed out, one line just says 'the one from last time'. The assistant reads the ten valid lines, recognises nine articles from the names and the article file, and finds the tenth through this customer's last order. It sends the installer one question back: 'By "the one from last time" do you mean the 60x40 cable trunking from your order of 28 August? And how many?' The installer replies 'yes, 12'. At quarter past seven the order is a draft in the ERP, with the customer price and tomorrow's delivery date. At eight, inside sales releases it in twenty seconds.

The same pattern works for the PDF from a purchasing system (faster, because it contains article numbers), for a regular customer's Excel list and for the email with three lines of text. The form differs, the steps are the same.

What you need

Automating order intake starts with what you already have. Four things determine how fast it runs:

An article file with your own numbers, the manufacturers' numbers and the names customers use. If the synonyms are missing, the assistant learns them from old orders.
Price agreements per customer in your system: customer prices, volume tiers, discounts. Agreements that only live in a salesperson's head have to be written down first.
An ERP with an integration or an import function. Exact, AFAS, SAP Business One, Unit4 and most industry packages have one; if not, an import file works.
Fifty old orders in the formats you really receive, as examples and as a test.

What it costs and how to start

The price depends on the number of formats coming in, whether photos have to be read and which ERP the assistant has to talk to. At the blue thing you get a fixed price for a first, clearly scoped version after a free introductory call, for example only the PDF and Excel orders of your twenty largest customers. Maintenance and updates are optional afterwards from €195 per month, cancellable monthly.

Want to know first what the retyping costs you today? The Work Scan (€495 excluding VAT) calculates how many hours inside sales spends on order intake and what an assistant takes off that. If you then have us build it, that amount is credited in full. The calculator page has a similar sum for quote work, which you can use for orders too.

Frequently asked questions

Does this work with my ERP?

Usually, yes. Most ERP packages for wholesale have an integration or an import function for orders. If not, the assistant prepares the order in a file your system does read. The integrations page lists what is possible per type of system.

What if the customer uses different article numbers than we do?

That is the normal situation. The assistant matches on your own numbers, on manufacturer numbers and on names, and learns per customer which name belongs to which article. When in doubt it checks or flags the line.

How many mistakes does an assistant make?

Fewer than retyping, because it does not get tired and checks every line against the article file. But it does not guess: uncertain lines go to inside sales. The share of orders that goes through without a question grows in the first weeks as it gets to know more customers and names.

Our big customers order through EDI. Is this still useful?

Especially then. EDI usually covers the few largest customers; the long tail of smaller customers emails, messages and calls. That is where the retyping is, and that is where the assistant helps.

Want to know what automating order intake delivers for you?

Tell us in a short introductory call in which formats orders come in at your company and what inside sales does with them. You get an honest picture of what AI can take over and then a fixed quote.

Request an introductory call