Industries · Electrical wholesale
Electrical wholesaler stock control software for South Africa
Thousands of small, valuable lines, contractors who need stock today and branches that borrow from each other daily. VasKem gives electrical wholesalers one cloud view of stock, quotes and trade accounts.
- From R4,500/month excl. VAT
- South African company
- WhatsApp-first support
- Try the product tour without signing up
Stock control problems in electrical wholesale
Electrical wholesalers in South Africa serve electrical contractors, installers, maintenance teams, mines, factories and walk-in customers. The range is wide: cable, conduit, switchgear, distribution boards, lighting, plugs and switches, and increasingly solar and backup power equipment such as inverters, batteries and panels.
That range creates a particular set of pressures:
- High SKU counts with look-alike items. Circuit breakers, glands and lugs come in many ratings and sizes that look similar. Selling the wrong rating means a return at best.
- Cable sold by length. Cable is bought on drums and sold in cut lengths, which makes balances hard to keep accurate.
- Valuable, portable stock. Copper cable, breakers and solar equipment are attractive to theft, and losses only show up at the next count.
- Volatile costs. Copper and imported equipment prices move with markets and the exchange rate, so quotes and margins need watching.
- Contractor urgency. Contractors want to know immediately which branch has stock, and often collect partial orders over several days.
- Demand spikes. Load-shedding has driven waves of demand for inverters, batteries and related items, which can empty shelves quickly and then leave excess stock when demand eases.
- Branch borrowing. Stock moves between branches to fill urgent orders, and unrecorded moves are a common source of variance.
How VasKem maps to an electrical wholesaler
| Challenge | VasKem module | How it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Selling the right rating | Product records and barcode lookup | Hold SKU, name, barcode, category, unit of measure and dimensions per product. Scan a barcode to confirm the exact item. |
| Finding stock in crowded shelving | Bin locations | Record stock against specific bins per warehouse so staff know where to look. |
| Which branch has it | Multi-warehouse balances and stock transfers | See stock per branch and record transfers so both locations update. |
| Contractor quotes | Quotations and invoices | Quote a job, convert the accepted quote to an invoice in one click, and record partial payments as the contractor pays. |
| Counter sales | POS | Record walk-in sales so stock reduces at the right branch. |
| Trade orders | Dispatch orders and picking lists | Link each order to a customer and warehouse and pick from a list. |
| Running out of fast movers | Reorder points and low-stock alerts | Set reorder points and quantities so common breakers, cable and consumables are reordered in time. |
| Theft and shrinkage | Stock takes, adjustments and audit log | Count high-value bins regularly, review automatically calculated variances, require admin approval and see who changed what. |
Contractor relationships live in the CRM, with contacts, activity, notes, scheduled follow-ups and quotations linked to each customer. Your existing catalogue comes across by CSV import, with duplicate SKUs skipped. Ask VasKem, the read-only AI assistant, can answer questions such as which contractors have overdue invoices, with links back to the records it used.
Because VasKem is browser-based, staff at any branch with internet access can see the same stock picture. It does need a connection; there is no offline mode, so plan backup power for routers and counter devices.
Book a demo on WhatsApp Take the product tour
What VasKem does not cover
Some electrical wholesale needs are specialised. Check each one that matters to you:
- Drum and cut-length tracking. No tracking of individual drums, remaining lengths or offcuts.
- Serial numbers. No serial or lot tracking for inverters, batteries or other equipment.
- Automatic price updates. No automatic repricing when copper or supplier costs change; prices are maintained on the product record.
- Contractor price matrices. Check whether your trade discount structure can be represented before you commit.
- Kits and bills of materials. Assembling boards or kits from components is not a standard workflow.
- Supplier integrations and EDI. Not included; integrations are scoped per system depending on available APIs.
Demo checklist for electrical wholesalers
- Import look-alikes. Bring a CSV with a range of breakers in different ratings and confirm each record stays distinct.
- Scan and find. Scan a barcode and check you land on the right product, bin and branch balance.
- Handle cable. Show how you would record a cut length from a drum and decide whether the process is acceptable.
- Quote a contractor. Build a quote, accept it, convert it to an invoice and record a partial payment.
- Serve the counter. Complete a POS sale and check that stock reduces at the right branch.
- Transfer between branches. Move stock and confirm both balances and the movement history.
- Count high-value bins. Run a stock take on your solar or copper bins and walk through variance approval.
For more, read about how barcode scanning cuts picking errors and how VasKem pricing works.
Frequently asked questions
Can VasKem track cable drums and cut lengths?
Not as a dedicated feature. Each product has a unit of measure, so cable can be held in metres, but VasKem does not track individual drums, remaining length per drum or cut offcuts. Test your cable process during the demo, or discuss it as a custom requirement.
Can I quote a contractor for a full project?
Yes. Quotations move from Draft to Sent to Accepted, or Rejected or Cancelled, and an accepted quote converts to an invoice in one click. Invoices can be partially paid, so staged collections and payments are visible. Project costing and progress billing are not dedicated features.
Does VasKem track serial numbers on inverters or other equipment?
No. VasKem does not offer serial or lot tracking. If you must record serial numbers for warranty or installation records, plan a separate process or raise it as a custom software requirement.
Can I keep product approval certificates in VasKem?
VasKem has per-company document storage, so you can keep supporting documents in one place. It does not link certificates to individual products or warn when they expire, so check this carefully if it is important to you.
Can VasKem show stock at all my branches?
Yes. Each branch can be set up as a warehouse with bin locations, and stock balances show per location. Stock transfers record moves between branches so both balances update and the movement history shows who moved what.
See VasKem on your own stock and workflow
Send a WhatsApp with what you stock, how many locations you run and where things go wrong today. We’ll walk you through how VasKem would handle it and confirm your price in writing.