But with customer facing the same pressures in their own businesses, they remain highly price-sensitive and passing on cost increases isn’t always an option.
Margins are under pressure like never before.
For many drinks wholesalers, this is more than a temporary challenge. It’s a sign that traditional ways of managing inventory, pricing and supplier relationships may no longer be enough. To maintain profitability, businesses need greater visibility, smarter systems and a tighter grip on operational efficiency.
This blog explores how drinks wholesalers can respond – and thrive – by transforming how they manage stock, pricing, and decision-making.
1. The Problem: Supplier Costs Are Up but Customer Prices Can’t Always Follow
Wholesale purchase prices are climbing across the board, especially for imported goods. Whether it’s due to higher commodity costs, shipping delays or post-Brexit duties, your suppliers are likely to be charging more than they were 12–24 months ago.
Meanwhile, hospitality customers are still recovering from a turbulent few years post Covid, so they’re reluctant to accept price hikes. With high competition in both the on- and off-trade, wholesalers risk losing business if they pass on too much of their rising costs.
This creates a classic margin squeeze: you’re paying more but earning the same – or even less – and having to absorb the loss.
Margin protection isn’t just about raising prices. It’s about finding efficiencies and making better use of the stock, data and systems you already have.
2. Where Traditional Systems Fall Short
Many drinks wholesalers still rely on generic ERP platforms or even spreadsheets to run day-to-day operations. While these may be okay for basic order processing, they can fall short in three areas, which can be critical in a business under pressure:
- Real-time visibility: Can you see exactly where your margins are being eroded, product by product, customer by customer?
- Smart pricing logic: Are you relying on flat mark-ups, or have you got dynamic rules that account for product cost, customer value and current demand?
- Stock control and forecasting: Are you holding the right amount of each product or is excess stock tying up cash while bestsellers run short?
Standard systems weren’t built to answer these questions. And without clear answers, decision-making gets slower, less confident, less strategic and more reactive.
3. The Cost of Not Changing
Doing nothing comes at a cost. Just because it’s worked fine until now doesn’t mean it’s future-proof. Businesses that fail to adapt risk more than shrinking margins. They face:
- Stock write-offs from poor forecasting and over-ordering.
- Lost sales when high-demand lines aren’t replenished in time.
- Customer churn as service levels drop or competitors offer sharper pricing.
- Slower growth because the leadership team doesn’t have the data it needs to plan ahead.
Even well-run businesses can fall into this trap if they lack the tools to manage complexity as they grow, which makes scaling a challenge and ultimately limits the scope for you to grow.
4. How Forward-Thinking Wholesalers Are Responding
Across the industry, savvy drinks wholesalers are turning to industry-specific platforms to gain better control.
These businesses are:
- Investing in systems specifically built for bonded and non-bonded drinks operations, which understand duty implications, case formats and multi-location stock.
- Automating pricing logic so margin goals are met without manual recalculations every time costs shift.
- Using predictive stock planning which flags likely shortfalls or overstock risks before they impact operations.
- Creating custom reports to analyse profitability by client, region or segment.
And they’re doing it without huge teams or long implementation cycles. Because powerful solutions are available that are practical and efficient too.
5. What to Look for in a Solution
Not all software is created equal. When evaluating options, drinks wholesalers should look for:
- Industry fit: Is the platform built specifically for drinks distribution?
- Bonded warehouse support: Can it handle duty-paid and duty-suspended stock in one system?
- Flexible pricing and margin tools: Can you set rules that protect margins across fluctuating costs?
- Reporting and BI tools: Does it give decision-makers the insight they need, without data overload?
- Integration capability: Will it work with your existing finance, CRM or ecommerce systems?
- Supplier expertise: Does the supplier understand your business and your industry to enable them to add value beyond just the software?
You don’t need to rip everything out and start again. But you do need a solution that’s designed with your sector, its unique challenges and the challenges your business faces in mind – and a partner that can help make sure you’re set up for success.
6. The Gaina Approach
At Gaina Software, we’ve spent years working with drinks wholesalers across the UK and Ireland. Our platform is designed specifically for the needs of this industry, supporting both bonded and non-bonded operations.
More than that, we offer ongoing consultancy through a partnership approach because good software is only part of the answer. It’s how you apply it that drives real ROI. We work with our to help you maximise the benefits of using our systems – because our customers’ success is our success too.
We help our clients:
- Identify hidden margin leaks
- Automate processes that previously relied on manual effort
- Tailor pricing and stock strategies to business goals
- Build scalable systems for growth
7. Results That Matter
When done right, this isn’t just a technology upgrade, it’s a business transformation. Our clients typically find that after implementing Gaina’s systems, they experience:
- Improved cash flow through smarter stock purchasing and fewer write-offs
- Higher margins via intelligent, rules-based pricing
- Faster response times when suppliers or customers change terms
- Stronger confidence from leaders who can finally see the full picture
One client recently told us: “We knew our costs were creeping up, but until we got proper visibility, we didn’t realise just how much margin we were losing on certain lines. The system helped us take action quickly, and it paid off.”
Time to Take Control
The cost pressures facing drinks wholesalers aren’t going away any time soon. But with the right tools and the right support, they don’t have to eat away at your profits.
Now’s the time to ask yourself:
- Can I see, in real time, where my margins are going?
- Am I confident that we’re buying and pricing stock in the smartest way possible?
- Do I have the right systems in place to scale and adapt?
If not, it might be time to explore a different approach.
At Gaina Software, we help drinks wholesalers move from margin pressure to profit confidence. If that sounds like something your business needs, let’s talk.
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