What’s New in Odoo 18: A Comprehensive Guide for Wholesale and Distribution

Odoo 18 delivers a suite of updates that simplify workflows, cut down repetitive tasks, and improve the ease of daily processes across inventory, sales, purchasing, and customer management. Here’s a closer look at the specific features Odoo 18 brings to the table.

1. Smart stock management for consistent availability

In wholesale, keeping stock levels balanced is essential to ensure product availability while avoiding excess. Odoo 18 includes several features that help you achieve this balance with minimal manual oversight.

- Automated stock reordering: Odoo 18 triggers purchase orders automatically as stock approaches minimum thresholds. This ensures key items are readily available, reducing the risk of stockouts or overstocking.

- Advanced RFID and barcode tools: Upgraded RFID and barcode scanning functions speed up stock handling and reduce manual errors, whether products are in a single warehouse or spread across multiple sites.

- Unified stock updates: As stock levels update simultaneously across sales and purchasing modules, your team has consistent, accurate information, helping to avoid confusion and miscommunication in day-to-day operations.

2. More efficient sales and Order handling

Odoo 18 has been refined to make sales processes faster and more user-friendly:

- Quotations and digital signatures: Customisable templates, combined with integrated e-signature capabilities, allow teams to send quotes fast and receive approval online.

- Focused lead management: New lead scoring tools help sales teams prioritise clients with the most potential, allowing for more strategic interactions and potentially higher conversion rates.

- Customer self-service portals: Customers can now access portals to check order status, view invoices, and track deliveries, which reduces support requests and increase transparency

3. Aligned warehouse and delivery operations

Warehouse operations and timely delivery are essential in Wholesale and Distribution. Odoo 18 offers features to cut down on order processing time and make it easier to meet delivery expectations.

- Optimised picking and packing routes: Warehouse managers can create efficient picking routes, reducing the time spent navigating the warehouse. This is especially helpful in larger setups, where picking times impact overall productivity.

- Automated stock transfers: For businesses with multiple warehouses, Odoo 18 automatically shifts stock based on demand across sites, ensuring that each location has the inventory it needs without manual adjustments.

- Google maps delivery tracking: Integrated Google Maps allows teams to track delivery routes and provide customers with accurate delivery estimates, improving reliability and customer satisfaction.

4. Supplier management and automated purchasing

Managing suppliers and purchasing is crucial to maintaining steady stock levels in wholesale. Odoo 18 offers tools to ease these processes.

- Supplier performance insights: Odoo 18 tracks supplier performance on criteria like cost, timeliness, and quality, enabling informed sourcing decisions and building stronger vendor relationships over time.

- Automated purchase orders: With automatic purchase orders triggered when stock levels drop, your team doesn’t have to worry about routine reordering tasks, helping maintain essential items in stock consistently.

- Intercompany transactions made easy: For businesses operating across multiple entities, Odoo 18 simplifies intercompany transactions, reducing data errors and administrative workload across locations.

5. Comprehensive reporting and data analytics

To help businesses make informed decisions, Odoo 18’s reporting tools provide flexible ways to track key metrics and predict stock needs.

- Tailored dashboards: Managers can view key metrics - like stock turnover, order accuracy, and delivery timelines - in a single dashboard, making it easy to monitor operations without requiring extensive reports.

- Forecasting with predictive analytics: Odoo 18’s predictive tools allow businesses to anticipate stock needs based on demand trends and historical data, helping prevent both shortages and overstock.

Conclusion

Odoo 18’s features are designed to help wholesale and distribution leaders improve stock control, increase customer satisfaction, and reduce time spent on repetitive tasks. By automating key workflows and providing insightful data, Odoo 18 supports greater flexibility and precision in daily operations.