Inventory Management Built for Distribution Companies
Distribution is not just about counting items. It is knowing what you have in each location, what is committed to customers, what is in transit from suppliers, and how much each unit actually cost when you bought it.
For Distribution
Why distribution inventory is harder than warehouse inventory
A distribution company sits between two markets. On one side, you manage inbound flows from multiple suppliers: purchase orders, partial receipts, and invoices that do not always match shipments. On the other side, you manage outbound flows to customers: orders, pick and pack, and shipments recorded after the fact.
The result is that your actual inventory picture is always lagging behind reality. Stock reserved for a customer shipment is not separated from stock available for new orders. Items received from a supplier today are not immediately visible as available. And when something goes wrong, whether a discrepancy, a return, or a damaged lot, the history to reconstruct what happened simply does not exist.
Spreadsheets make this worse by making everything asynchronous. Each team updates their own file. Transfers between locations are recorded in two separate rows, by two different people, with no link between them. The inventory number you see is rarely the one that corresponds to what you can actually commit.
Loribase was designed for exactly this kind of operation. Multi-location, multi-supplier, with full visibility of every stock movement from supplier receipt to customer shipment.
Features
What Loribase delivers for distributors
Purchase order management
Create purchase orders for each supplier. Track expected arrival, partial receipts, and final fulfillment independently. Each receipt creates an inventory lot with the exact unit cost. No estimation required.
Real-time stock visibility per location
Each warehouse, distribution center, or transit point has its own independent inventory. You see what is available, what is reserved, and what is incoming at every location simultaneously, and as a consolidated total.
In-transit stock tracking
When stock moves between locations, from a main warehouse to a distribution point, or from a supplier to storage, Loribase records an in-transit state. The stock is never double-counted or lost between systems.
Available vs. committed visibility
Loribase distinguishes between physical stock, reserved stock (committed to outbound orders), and available stock (can still be committed). You always know the real number you can sell, not the total quantity on hand.
FIFO costing per lot
As items move out to customers, Loribase applies FIFO automatically, allocating cost from the oldest available lots first. Every unit that leaves your warehouse carries an accurate cost, not an estimate.
Full audit trail per movement
Every stock event, whether receipt, reservation, outbound shipment, transfer, or return, is recorded as an immutable event. The complete history is always available for internal audits, customer disputes, or supplier reconciliation.
How It Works
How distribution inventory flows through Loribase
Receive from suppliers with lot tracking
Create a purchase order. When goods arrive, register the receipt event. Each line item creates a new inventory lot with the unit cost from the purchase order. Multiple partial receipts against the same PO are tracked independently and reconciled automatically.
Reserve stock for outbound orders
When a customer order is confirmed, the required quantity is immediately reserved. The reservation reduces available stock without reducing physical stock, preventing the same units from being committed to two orders simultaneously.
Ship and record consumption
When goods ship, the reservation converts to consumption. The specific lots that were shipped are recorded with their quantities. FIFO cost is applied automatically. The event is permanent and timestamped.
Audit and reconcile
At any point, query the full event history for any item, lot, or location. Reconcile with supplier invoices. Identify discrepancies before they grow. Generate stock reports by location for financial reporting or cycle count verification.
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