Trading
Trading operations with real-time landed cost and document control
Deal-level control for import-export and commodity traders: landed cost that includes every charge, shipment documents assembled automatically, and margin known before the invoice.
Per deal
Margin visible before despatch, not after settlement
-60%
Time spent assembling shipment documentation
Multi
Currency, entity and jurisdiction handling as standard
Audit
Ready VAT and customs records
Definition
What transformation means in trading
Trading operations software manages the deal lifecycle — enquiry, quotation, purchase, shipment, customs, landed costing and settlement — across currencies, entities and jurisdictions.
Challenges
What we usually find on day one
Each challenge is quantified during assessment so the roadmap is ordered by value, not by preference.
Landed cost guesswork
Freight, duty, insurance and bank charges land late, so quoted margin rarely matches realised margin.
Document assembly overhead
Invoices, packing lists, COO and LC documents are re-keyed across templates.
Currency and entity sprawl
Deals span entities and currencies with reconciliation handled in spreadsheets.
Credit exposure blind spots
Customer limits and ageing are not visible at the point of order confirmation.
Capabilities
How we solve it for trading
Deal lifecycle management
Enquiry to settlement with linked purchase, sales, shipment and cost records.
Landed cost engine
Allocate freight, duty, insurance and finance charges to each line automatically.
Trade documentation
Commercial invoice, packing list, COO, BL and LC packs generated from one dataset.
Multi-currency finance
Revaluation, hedging records, inter-company flows and consolidated reporting.
Credit control
Limits, ageing and blocking rules enforced at order confirmation.
Document AI
Extraction from supplier invoices, BLs and customs documents including Arabic.
KPIs we move
Metrics that define success
- Realised vs quoted margin
- Deal cycle time
- Days sales outstanding
- Document error rate
- Inventory holding days
- Currency exposure
Compliance
Regulatory and audit coverage
- UAE VAT and KSA e-invoicing
- Indian GST and export documentation
- Customs record retention
- AML and KYC record keeping
Implementation roadmap
How the programme is phased
Indicative timeline for a single-entity programme; groups and multi-site operations are phased per site.
- 01
Deal mapping · Week 1-2
Map deal types, cost heads, currencies and document sets.
- 02
Core trading · Week 3-8
Purchase, sales, inventory, landed costing and credit control.
- 03
Documents · Week 7-11
Template engine, LC packs and customs documentation.
- 04
Finance · Week 10-14
Multi-currency, inter-company and VAT compliance.
- 05
Automate · Ongoing
Document AI extraction and margin analytics by trader and commodity.
Comparison
Spreadsheet trading vs generic ERP vs trading-configured ERP
| Capability | Spreadsheets | Generic ERP | Trading ERP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landed cost allocation | Manual, late | Basic | Automatic per line |
| LC & customs documents | Re-keyed | Partial | Generated |
| Multi-entity, multi-currency | Painful | Supported | Native with consolidation |
| Deal margin visibility | After settlement | Month end | Live |
What you gain
- Quoted and realised margin converge because every cost head is captured
- Document assembly stops consuming senior operations time
- Credit exposure is enforced automatically rather than remembered
- Consolidated reporting across entities becomes routine
Trade-offs to plan for
- Requires agreement on cost heads and allocation rules before build
- Bank and freight-forwarder data still arrives on their timelines
- Multi-entity setups extend the finance configuration phase
Decision guide
Where should you start?
Match your situation to the recommended first phase.
| If this sounds like you | We recommend |
|---|---|
| Single entity, few commodities | Odoo with landed costing and a document template pack. |
| Group across UAE, KSA and India | Multi-company ERP with consolidation and per-country compliance. |
| High document volume from suppliers | Add document AI extraction ahead of further ERP modules. |
Case snapshot
Commodity trading house, Dubai
Challenge
Landed cost was reconciled weeks after shipment, so deal margin was unreliable.
Result
Automated cost allocation and document generation gave live per-deal margin and cut document effort 60%.
Services
Services we deliver for trading
Relevant solutions
FAQ
Trading questions, answered
Related industries
Adjacent sectors we serve
Distribution
Primary and secondary distribution on one platform — van sales, route plans, scheme settlements and warehouse accuracy, with visibility down to the retailer.
Logistics
Order to proof of delivery in one thread — dispatch planning, driver app, live tracking and customer visibility, with utilisation and cost per trip finally measurable.
Manufacturing
We connect the shop floor to the top floor — production planning, job costing, quality and maintenance in one system, so delivery dates and margins stop being estimates.
Ready to scope your trading programme?
Share your context and we will return an approach, phased timeline and indicative investment — under NDA.