Can I track credit and khata for every retailer?

Yes. Each retailer has a party ledger showing purchases, payments and the outstanding balance. You can filter shops that owe you beyond 30 days and send a WhatsApp reminder in a click.

How do repeat-order reminders work?

The CRM learns each shop's buying cycle from its order history and flags the ones due to reorder. Your salesman gets a call list, so shops reorder before the shelf runs empty.

Does the order become a GST bill automatically?

An order taken on the beat can turn into a GST invoice and reduce your stock in one flow, because IndiaCRM includes both GST billing and inventory. No re-typing into a separate program.

Is it free and does it work offline in the field?

The core CRM is free with no per-user fee, and it runs on the iPhone and Android app, so salesmen can log orders and visits even where the network is weak.

CRM for Distributors and Wholesalers in India

A distribution business runs on volume and memory. You serve a few hundred retailers, each buys on a cycle, most buy on credit, and your salesmen cover a beat every day. When all of that lives in a diary and a salesman's head, you lose money in three quiet ways: a retailer forgets to reorder, a credit balance goes untracked, and a salesman skips a shop and nobody notices. A CRM built for Indian distribution keeps orders, khata and beats in one place.

This guide is for FMCG distributors, wholesalers and stockists who sell to shops and want tighter control without heavy software. The idea is simple: every retailer on record, every order logged, every rupee of credit visible, and every beat covered.

The three leaks in distribution

Missed reorders. A kirana that buys every ten days goes quiet and you notice only when the month's numbers dip.
Loose credit. Half your retailers buy on udhaar, and without a clean khata your working capital is stuck in scattered balances.
Unmanaged beats. Your route salesmen visit shops off a mental list, so coverage is patchy and you cannot prove who was visited.

Track orders and repeat cycles

Start with an order history for every retailer. Once the CRM knows a shop buys roughly every ten days, it can flag the ones due for a reorder so your salesman calls before the shelf runs empty. That single nudge protects the repeat business that a distribution model depends on.

Most order confirmations already happen on WhatsApp, so keep them there and logged. With WhatsApp CRM a retailer can send his order on WhatsApp, it attaches to his record, and you send back a confirmation and the bill from the same screen.

Reorder reminders pay for themselves

Group your retailers by buying cycle: weekly, ten day, fortnightly. When the CRM surfaces "due to reorder this week", your salesmen work a call list instead of guessing, and fewer shops slip to a competing distributor.

Keep khata and credit under control

Credit is the heart of distribution and the easiest thing to lose track of. A proper party ledger, or khata, for every retailer shows what they bought, what they paid and what is still outstanding. You can filter to every shop that owes you over 30 days and send a polite WhatsApp reminder, so your money does not sit idle on other people's shelves. Recording each sale and payment against the retailer keeps the balance honest without a separate ledger book.

Get the free IndiaCRM app

IndiaCRM does billing, inventory, khata and CRM in one free app for iPhone and Android, no per-user fees. Download the app or see the features.

Diary versus a distribution CRM

Run beats and route sales with proof

Give each salesman a beat list for the day and let them mark each visit with the order taken or the reason for no order. Now you can see, shop by shop, who was covered and who was skipped, and you can compare salesmen on real numbers rather than claims. Coverage becomes a fact you can check, not a story you are told.

Daily beat plan. Each route salesman opens the app and works a clear list of shops.
Visit outcome. Every stop is marked ordered, no stock needed, or shop closed.
Salesman scorecard. Coverage and orders per salesman are visible without chasing anyone.

Tie it to billing and stock

An order should become a bill and reduce your stock without extra typing. Because IndiaCRM includes GST billing and inventory management, the order your salesman took on the beat turns into a GST invoice and updates your godown stock in one flow. Upstream, many distributors sit under a factory, so pairing this with a CRM for manufacturers keeps the supply chain on one system. It all runs on the free mobile app, so your salesmen carry it in their pocket.