Distributor Ordering & Collection

Client type and problem

Distribution and wholesale · beverages, consumer goods, pharma, building materials

A distributor takes orders by phone, promises products that are out of stock, collects cash on delivery and spends evenings reconciling delivery rounds.

From 9 April 2027, cash payments in foreign currency are banned. Retailers who pay in dollars will have to pay another way.

What we built

• Real-time catalogue and stock, visible to every retailer
• Ordering from an Android phone, approval by the territory sales rep
• M-Pesa, Airtel Money, Orange Money collection with SMS receipt
• Automatic reconciliation of orders, payments and deliveries
• Dashboard of rounds, unpaid balances and out-of-stock products

How it holds up in the DRC

• Sales reps on the road work offline; everything syncs when the network returns
• Retailers without a smartphone receive an SMS confirmation
• Amounts in USD and CDF, day's rate entered by the distributor
• Runs on entry-level Android phones

Deployment

• Hosted in Kinshasa, Cloudflare in front of the application
• Docker containers, PostgreSQL database, Redis cache for live stock
• Encrypted nightly backup, off-country copy, restore tested

Monitoring

• Probe every 60 seconds on the application and on the payment gateway
• Tracking of failed payments and pending syncs
• WhatsApp and SMS alert to our team
• Monthly availability and incident report

Timeline and price

8 to 12 weeks · from 6,000 USD · 150 to 500 USD / month

Tech stack