Most e-commerce brands have upgraded their D2C operations with fast order processing, accurate dispatch, live tracking, and returns managed in a few clicks. But when it comes to B2B operations, they are still treated like old school wholesales. Operations are still stuck in legacy workflow, manual entries, rigid SOPs, and there is no visibility across those workflows.
Today’s B2B workflow needs to be more dynamic because it has moved far beyond just distributor orders. What used to be a straightforward bulk order has now become a web of time-sensitive, multi-channel workflows that demand far more agility.
- Brands are shipping to Quick Commerce hubs daily
- Handling warehouse-to-warehouse transfers across cities
- Managing PO-based orders from B2B marketplaces or offline retail
- Needing GST-compliant invoices and batch-level traceability.
Yet most systems still treat B2B as a bulk order with outdated manual workflows that cause delays, errors, compliance gaps, and zero traceability across the chain.
This blog explores how forward-thinking e-commerce brands are digitizing their B2B warehouse workflows to meet modern demands with greater speed, accuracy, and visibility.
What’s Missing In Current B2B Warehouse Operations
B2B warehouse operations demand large-scale visibility because a single error doesn’t just affect one or two orders; it can disrupt entire lots or partner shipments.
1. Lack of Expiry-Based Dispatch Leads to Stock Wastage
Without proper expiry-based picking (like FEFO), near-expiry products often get overlooked during dispatch.
How it Impacts
- Leads to stock wastage from returned near-expiry items
- Strains partner relationships and future orders
2. No Carton-Level Scanning Means Zero Post-Dispatch Traceability
Post-dispatch traceability gives you confidence that every shipment is accurate and accounted for, helping avoid disputes with partners and making it easier to resolve claims around shortages, damages, or returns with clear proof.
How it Impacts
- Makes it hard to track what was shipped, causing partner disputes
- Delays resolution of shortages, damages, or return claims
3. No Visibility in WH-to-WH Transfers Causes Inventory Mismatches
Warehouse-to-warehouse transfers are common in B2B to balance stock across locations, but without proper tracking, items can get lost, damaged, or miscounted in transit.
How it Impacts
- Lack of visibility often leads to inventory mismatches
- Stockouts
- Poor replenishment planning
4. Manual Invoicing Slows Down GST and E-Invoicing Compliance
In B2B, every order needs a GST-compliant invoice and often an e-invoice with an IRN (Invoice Reference Number).
How it Impacts
- Manual invoicing delays IRN generation
- Increases the chances of data entry errors
- Slows down dispatches
- leads to compliance risks
- Shipment holds or rejections from partners
5. No Split or Partial Dispatch Logic Results in Rejected Orders
Without partial dispatch logic, i.e., the ability to ship what’s available now and the rest later, you’re forced to either delay the entire order or send incomplete consignments without approval.
How it Impacts
- This often leads to order rejections
- Missed SLAs, delayed billing
- Unnecessary bottlenecks when stock isn’t fully available
6. No System-Driven Receiving Leads to Unaccounted Stock
When stock arrives at the warehouse and isn’t received through a proper system, like a GRN (Goods Receipt Note), barcode scanning, or system-based acknowledgement, there’s no way to confirm what was actually delivered. Items that are lost, damaged, or missing during transit often go unnoticed.
How it Impacts
- This leads to mismatched inventory
- Confusion in records
- Requires more manual effort to reconcile
What a Future-Ready B2B Warehouse Really Looks Like
Today’s modern B2B requires warehouses to be equipped with automated systems and processes that ensure every order is fulfilled accurately, with full visibility and no room for disputes.
Here is how you can make your warehouse operation B2B ready.
1. Shared Inventory Pools For D2C + B2B + Q-commerce
Modern warehouses need to serve multiple order types, single-piece D2C orders, bulk B2B shipments, and time-sensitive shipments for quick commerce platforms. But without a shared, system-driven inventory pool, stock gets siloed by channel, leading to overstock in one bucket and stockouts in another.
Shared inventory means all channels pull from a centralized real-time stock view, with the system deciding how to allocate based on priority, order type, and available quantity.
Why it matters:
- Avoids stock duplication across channels
- Maximizes inventory utilization and reduces dead stock
- Enables accurate order promising across D2C, Q-commerce
- Improves warehouse efficiency by eliminating channel-specific zones or confusion
2. Returns Handling with Reason Codes + Reconciliation
In B2B, returns aren’t as simple as a customer sending back a product. Partners may return entire cartons due to damages, near-expiry stock, quantity mismatches, or even incorrect dispatches. If your warehouse doesn’t have a structured returns process with reason codes, scanning at the time of return, and system-based reconciliation, you lose visibility into what came back, why it was returned, and whether it should be restocked, scrapped, or claimed for credit.
Why it matters:
- Helps identify recurring issues (e.g., damage in transit, wrong dispatches)
- Speeds up reconciliation with the original PO/invoice
- Enables accurate restocking or disposal decisions
- Builds trust with B2B partners by showing return accountability
- Reduces revenue loss from untracked or mishandled returns
Structured returns handling ensures that returns don’t become a black hole in your operations and helps you close the loop with data, not guesswork.
3. GST & E-way Bill Auto-generation
In B2B transactions, every order must be backed by accurate GST-compliant invoicing and a valid e-way bill before dispatch. Manually creating these documents slows down operations, increases the risk of errors, and can delay or block shipments altogether. Automating this process through your warehouse system ensures that invoices and e-way bills are generated instantly, with all required fields pre-filled from order data.
Why it matters:
- Prevents shipment delays due to missing or incorrect documentation
- Ensures compliance without adding manual workload on warehouse teams
4.PO-Based Order Execution
In B2B, orders are raised against a Purchase Order (PO) with predefined items, quantities, pricing, and terms. If your warehouse isn’t aligned to execute based on the original PO, it leads to mismatched dispatches, invoicing errors, and partner disputes. A system-led PO-based workflow ensures that every step, from picking to packing to billing, follows the PO exactly, with validations at each stage.
Why it matters:
- Reduces errors and rejections by aligning fulfillment with partner expectations
- Enables faster, accurate dispatches and smoother reconciliation later
5. Carton-Level Scanning & Packing
Once orders are packed and dispatched, there’s often no easy way to confirm what exactly went into each box unless you’re scanning cartons at the packing stage. Without this, tracking shipments becomes guesswork, especially when partners report short deliveries or damages. Carton-level scanning adds a layer of verification, linking every packed box to the order it belongs to and ensuring end-to-end traceability.
Why it matters:
- Helps resolve partner disputes with clear packing records
- Improves traceability and accountability for every shipment
6. Expiry or Batch-Based Picking
When multiple batches of the same product are stored together, picking the wrong one can lead to near-expiry stock being left behind. Over time, this builds up dead inventory, especially in categories like FMCG, pharma, or personal care. Using expiry or batch-based picking (like FEFO) ensures that the right stock goes out first, without relying on manual judgement.
Why it matters:
- Prevents product wastage and stock write-offs
- Helps meet partner expectations for shelf life and compliance
7. Transfer Workflows (WH-to-WH) with Scan/Receive
Moving stock between warehouses is common for balancing inventory across zones, but without a structured transfer workflow, it’s easy to lose track. When dispatches aren’t scanned at source or received at destination, stock goes missing, gets duplicated, or remains “in transit” indefinitely. With AI-driven workflow automation enhancing scan-and-receive processes, you gain clarity at both ends and keep your inventory records accurate.
Why it matters:
- Ensures stock is tracked and reconciled during internal transfers
- Prevents inventory mismatches and improves replenishment planning
8. Expiry or Batch-Based Picking
Expiry-based picking ensures that older stock is dispatched first, helping you reduce wastage and meet shelf-life expectations.
For instance, if you send near-expiry items to partners, they may reject the entire carton or return it, causing delays, losses, and damage to partner trust. With a system-led FEFO process, you make sure only fresh, compliant stock is shipped out—keeping operations smooth and relationships strong.
Why it Matters:
- Prevents losses from expiry-related returns
- Maintains stock freshness and partner confidence
Digitizing B2B Warehouse Ops for Modern Brands
Let’s say you run a growing personal care brand that sells through multiple B2B channels, Quick Commerce platforms, large-format offline retailers, and your own zonal warehouses.
Here’s how a digitized B2B warehouse system handles operations step by step:
1. Order Ingestion from B2B Platforms or Internal PO Creation
Let’s say a quick commerce platform places purchase orders (POs) for your personal care products. Through direct integrations, these POs automatically enter your warehouse system, with no manual entry required.
At the same time, your internal sales team may create POs for zonal warehouse transfers or retail partners like Health & Glow or Apollo Pharmacy. These orders, too, get recorded directly into the system.
This entire process is known as order ingestion, capturing and syncing all B2B orders, whether from external platforms or internal teams, into a centralized, validated order pool.
How it Helps-:
- Eliminates manual errors and delays in processing
- Gives your ops team a single view of all incoming B2B orders
- Ensures accurate fulfillment planning and faster dispatch turnaround
With proper order ingestion in place, your warehouse always knows what to ship, when, and to whom across all B2B channels.
2. Expiry-Led Batch Picking
An order is placed for 20 units of a face wash SKU.
You have three different batches of that SKU in stock. The system applies FEFO (First Expiry, First Out) logic and allocates the batch that’s closest to expiry, but still within acceptable limits, ensuring freshness at the storefront and reducing risk of returns.
How it Help:
- Reduces chances of returns due to short shelf life
- Ensures partner satisfaction and faster stock rotation
3. Scan-Based Carton Tracking for Error-Free Dispatch
Once the order is packed, each carton is scanned, barcoded, and digitally tagged with all the required detailed information. In multi-location dispatches, this ensures every carton is easily traceable, sorted correctly, and delivered without errors, reducing manual checks and avoiding costly mix-ups.
How it Helps:
- This creates full post-dispatch traceability
- Reduces disputes around shortages or wrong items
4. Internal Warehouse Transfers with Send-Receive Trail
Your Delhi warehouse needs to restock certain SKUs from the main Gurgaon DC.
The transfer order is system-generated, and cartons are scanned at the time of dispatch.
Once received in Delhi, the receiving team scans cartons to close the loop, updating inventory in real time and preventing mismatches or unaccounted stock.
5. Compliant Invoice Generation (GST, E-Invoicing, E-Way Bill)
As orders are confirmed, the system auto-generates:
- GST invoices
- E invoices with IRN
- E-way bills (if applicable based on threshold and distance)
This removes dependency on finance or manual Excel-based invoicing and ensures dispatch is never held up due to missing paperwork.
6. B2B Returns Linked to Original Orders for Reconciliation
Let’s say a retailer returns two cartons due to near-expiry items or damaged packaging.
The system links the return directly to the original invoice/PO, captures reason codes, and updates inventory after inspection.
How it Helps:
- Makes it easier to issue credit notes
- Restock usable products
- Flag repeat issues with transit or packaging
When all of the above is handled manually through Excel, WhatsApp, and paper, errors multiply, partner trust takes a hit, and scalability becomes a problem. But with digitized B2B warehouse operations, you make processes faster, improve partner experience, and maintain high operational efficiency.
How Unicommerce Powers Scalable, Error-Free B2B Warehouse Operations
B2B operations in e-commerce are no longer slow-moving or secondary. They’re fast, frequent, and operationally complex. Whether you’re fulfilling daily POs from Blinkit, transferring stock across warehouses, or shipping to offline retail partners, your warehouse needs to be equipped for scale and accuracy.
With Unicommerce, you don’t need separate systems or teams for B2B and D2C. One unified platform manages it all, intelligently and efficiently.
How Unicommerce helps streamline B2B warehouse operations:
- Real-time visibility into inventory, order status, and warehouse movements across all channels
- A unified dashboard to manage D2C, B2B, Q-commerce, and internal stock transfers from a single system
- Barcode-enabled workflows that offer SKU-level and item-level traceability at every stage
- Automated FIFO/FEFO-based picking for accurate, expiry-compliant dispatches
- Integrated return management with reason codes and reconciliation linked to original POs or invoices
- Plug-and-play integrations with ERPs, B2B marketplaces, and Q-commerce platforms like Blinkit and Zepto
With Unicommerce, your B2B operations can finally match the speed, accuracy, and visibility of your D2C setup without the manual chaos.
FAQs
1. What is B2B warehouse automation and how does it work?
B2B warehouse automation uses software and systems to streamline bulk order processing, inventory tracking, PO handling, dispatch, and returns, reducing manual work and errors in large-scale operations.
2. Why do B2B warehouse operations need to be automated in 2025?
Modern B2B operations involve quick commerce, retail chains, and internal transfers. Without automation, brands struggle with delays, stock mismatches, invoicing errors, and compliance issues.
3. What are the most common challenges in manual B2B warehouse workflows?
Manual B2B operations face issues like near-expiry dispatches, poor traceability, slow invoice generation, untracked stock transfers, and returns that are hard to reconcile.
4. How does FEFO (First Expiry, First Out) help in B2B warehouses?
FEFO ensures that the stock with the closest expiry date is shipped first, reducing returns, wastage, and partner disputes in sensitive categories like personal care and pharma.
5. What is the benefit of carton-level scanning during dispatch?
Carton-level scanning ensures every box is correctly tagged, traceable, and linked to the right shipment, helping resolve disputes, prevent errors, and improve post-dispatch visibility.
6. How can B2B returns be handled more efficiently?
With system-based returns linked to original POs and reason codes, you can reconcile faster, issue credit notes, restock valid products, and reduce losses from untracked returns.
7. What is PO-based order execution, and why is it important in B2B?
PO-based execution means the warehouse fulfills orders exactly as per the purchase order, ensuring quantity, pricing, and compliance are matched, reducing errors and rejections.
8. How does automation help with GST invoicing and e-way bill generation?
Automated systems instantly generate GST-compliant invoices, e-invoices with IRN, and e-way bills, preventing shipment delays and reducing manual paperwork errors.
9. Can a single system handle both D2C and B2B warehouse operations?
Yes, platforms like Unicommerce allow you to manage D2C, B2B, quick commerce, and warehouse transfers from one dashboard, eliminating the need for separate systems.
10. What features should I look for in a B2B warehouse management system?
Key features include: PO-based workflows, expiry/batch-based picking, carton scanning, automated invoicing, return reconciliation, and real-time visibility across locations.