From phone calls and paper books to ~300 orders a day.

In distribution, a sale isn’t finished when the order is placed. It’s finished when the money comes in. A packaged drinking water company was running its whole business on phone calls and paper books. We built one platform for orders, stock, delivery, credit and partners: an admin panel for the owner, an ordering app for shops and a delivery app for drivers. It follows every order through to payment. A team of 2 delivered the first three phases in under 45 days, and today about 300 orders a day run through it.

• ClientPackaged drinking water company (name under NDA)
• IndustryManufacturing & distribution
• Customers servedDistributors buying in bulk, shops linked through growth partners, and shops buying directly
• What we builtAdmin web panel, shop ordering app, delivery driver app, inventory and batch tracking, and a growth-partner engine
• Key rulePartner commissions are released only when the shop pays; customer credit is checked before every new order
• VolumeAbout 300 orders a day
• Team and timeline2 people; Phases 1–3 delivered in under 45 days
• TechnologyNode.js, React Native, PostgreSQL
• StatusLive and in daily use

The company produces packaged drinking water and sells it to three kinds of customers:

• DistributorsBuy in bulk
• Partner-linked shopsShops brought in and linked through growth partners, who earn a commission
• Direct shopsShops buying straight from the company

Each type has its own prices and its own credit terms. Every day, orders have to be taken, priced correctly, checked against what the customer already owes, matched to stock, dispatched, delivered and collected, and partners have to be paid for the shops they bring in.

1. 01

   Problem 1: Orders by phone, records on paper

   Every order came in by phone and was written into paper books. Stock, customer credit and partner commissions were tracked the same way.
   What it cost: slow order-taking, mistakes in writing and reading orders, and records that only one person could find.

2. 02

   Problem 2: No live view for the owner

   The owner had no live view of orders, stock or money owed. Answering a simple question (how many orders today, how much stock is left, who owes what) meant going through the books.
   What it cost: decisions made without the numbers, and no early warning when something went wrong.

3. 03

   Problem 3: Mistakes surfaced only through complaints

   With everything on paper, errors in orders, prices or deliveries were found only when a customer complained.
   What it cost: unhappy customers, and time spent fixing problems after the damage was done.

4. 04

   Problem 4: Three price lists and three sets of credit terms

   Distributors, partner-linked shops and direct shops each had different prices and credit terms. Applying the right ones to every phone order, from memory and paper, was error-prone.
   What it cost: wrong prices, and credit extended to customers who already owed too much.

5. 05

   Problem 5: Partner commissions with no link to payment

   Growth partners earned commissions for the shops they brought in. Tracking that on paper made it hard to know which commissions were truly earned, especially when a shop hadn’t paid yet.
   What it cost: commissions at risk of being paid on sales that never turned into cash.

Most order systems stop when the order is placed. In distribution, that is only the middle of the story. So the system had to follow the money, not just the order.

That insight set two rules at the heart of the platform:

1. Partner commissions are released only when the shop actually pays. No payment, no commission.
2. Every customer’s credit is checked before a new order goes through. A customer who already owes too much can’t keep adding to it unnoticed.

Three more principles shaped the build:

1. One app per role. The owner, shops and drivers each get a tool built only for the few things they do every day, so each one can be learned in minutes.
2. The right price, automatically. Each customer type’s pricing is set once in the system and applied to every order.
3. Most important parts first. Build in phases, starting with the admin panel, orders and inventory, so the business gets value early and each phase builds on a working base.

1. 01

   4.1 Admin web panel for the owner

   One web panel where the owner manages orders, customers, inventory, dispatch and partners.
   Who uses it: the owner and office staff.
   Why it matters: the whole business is visible and manageable from one screen, instead of across paper books.

2. 02

   4.2 Pricing by customer type

   Separate pricing for distributors, partner-linked shops and direct shops, applied automatically to every order.
   Who uses it: runs on every order; the owner sets the prices.
   Why it matters: every customer is charged the right price, every time, without anyone checking a list.

3. 03

   4.3 Credit checks before every order

   Each customer’s credit is checked before a new order goes through.
   Who uses it: runs automatically; the owner sees who is near or over their limit.
   Why it matters: money owed stays under control, and credit decisions are made on facts, not memory.

4. 04

   4.4 Inventory from production to dispatch

   Inventory is tracked from production through to dispatch, with batch records kept for water quality audits.
   Who uses it: production, warehouse and dispatch staff; the owner for the overall view.
   Why it matters: the business always knows what stock it has, and can trace any batch when quality is checked.

5. 05

   4.5 Shop ordering app

   Shops place orders themselves in a simple app, and can track them in real time.
   Who uses it: distributors and shops.
   Why it matters: no more phone orders to write down; orders arrive complete, correctly priced and instantly in the system.

6. 06

   4.6 Delivery driver app

   Drivers see their deliveries in their own app, with real-time order tracking.
   Who uses it: delivery drivers.
   Why it matters: drivers know exactly what to deliver and where, and the owner and shops can see delivery progress live.

7. 07

   4.7 Growth-partner engine

   Growth partners get referral codes, shops are linked to the partner who brought them in, and commissions are calculated and paid on payment.
   Who uses it: growth partners, and the owner who manages them.
   Why it matters: partners are rewarded fairly and automatically, and the company never pays a commission on a sale it hasn’t been paid for.

1. A shop places an order in the shop app, instead of calling.
2. The right price is applied automatically for that customer type.
3. The shop’s credit is checked before the order goes through.
4. The order appears in the admin panel, matched against stock.
5. The order is dispatched, and inventory updates, with the batch recorded.
6. The driver delivers it using the driver app; the shop and owner can track it in real time.
7. The shop pays.
8. If the shop was brought in by a growth partner, the partner’s commission is released only now, on payment.

1. 01

   Owner

   Before: runs the business from paper books; no live view of orders, stock or money owed.
   After: sees and manages orders, customers, stock, dispatch and partners from one screen.

2. 02

   Shop or distributor

   Before: calls to order and waits to hear back.
   After: orders in an app, at the right price, and tracks delivery in real time.

3. 03

   Delivery driver

   Before: works from verbal or paper instructions.
   After: sees every delivery in an app built only for drivers.

4. 04

   Growth partner

   Before: commissions tracked by hand.
   After: referral code, linked shops, and commissions paid automatically on payment.

5. 05

   Quality and audit

   Before: batch information hard to find.
   After: batch records kept from production to dispatch.

• Orders a day through the platformAbout 300
• Time to deliver Phases 1–3Under 45 days
• Team that built it2 people
• StatusLive and in daily use

What changed:

• Paper books replaced by one screen. Orders, stock and partners are managed from the admin panel.
• About 300 orders a day now run through the shop and driver apps, with no phone orders to write down.
• Money under control. Credit is checked before every order, and commissions are paid only on money received.
• Quality you can trace. Batch records from production to dispatch support water quality audits.

A team of 2 people built the platform in phases, starting with the admin panel, orders and inventory, so the most important parts came first. Phases 1–3 were delivered in under 45 days.

• Node.jsThe core system behind every app
• React NativeThe shop ordering app and the delivery driver app
• PostgreSQLThe database holding orders, customers, stock, credit and commissions

Next phases planned: payment gateway, WhatsApp automation, route optimisation and analytics.

1. It followed the money. Linking commissions to payment and checking credit before every order protected cash, not just orders.
2. It gave each person one simple tool. The owner, shops and drivers each got an app built only for their job, so daily use came quickly.
3. It put the right price on every order. Three customer types, three price lists, no manual checking.
4. It delivered value early. Building in phases put a working core in place within weeks.
5. It was sized for the business. A focused team of 2 and a straightforward stack, instead of an expensive ready-made system the business would have to bend to.

Many distribution businesses still run on phone calls, paper books and the owner’s memory. The first step isn’t a large, complicated system. It is one platform that takes the order, applies the right price, checks the credit, ships the stock and follows the order all the way to cash.

Track the money, not just the order.