Ten customers probably ordered from you this morning - a few phone calls, and several emails.
And someone on your team just keyed in every line by hand.
That cost isn't a line on your P&L, and it doesn’t get flagged in your board pack.
But it's real, and it compounds for every single order.
Most wholesalers underestimate it. Some dramatically.
And the simple reason it gets missed is it hides in everyday moments that add up fast.
When we speak with business leaders, one theme comes up again and again:
“We know we waste time… we just don’t know how much.”
Here’s a simple way to picture it.
If you take 600 orders a week at three minutes per order, that’s 120 hours a month spent just typing in orders. And that's before you even factor in errors, follow-up emails, or overtime.
You’re carrying more operational weight than you think.
It’s just hidden inside the everyday.
But time isn’t the only thing leaking — mistakes have their own cost spiral.
Mistakes happen. Everyone knows that.
But what most people don't see is the cost of fixing them:
And when 32% of customers stop buying after a single bad experience, every avoidable mistake becomes a commercial risk, not just an operational nuisance.
Whilst these costs add up every day, the real hit comes later — because they scale with you.
You know the pattern:
When sales go up, admin goes up, so headcount goes up.
And when headcount goes up, we all know it's not just the cost of the person - it's the training, the new laptop and licenses, and the potential for more human error where the cost really bites.
You're growing, but not efficiently.
Automation breaks that pattern entirely.
You grow — but your workload doesn’t.
Clena Supplies used to process all their orders manually. Phone, email, rekeying — the familiar workflow.
After moving to Apparatus, over 50% of orders now flow directly into their system with no manual entry and no duplication. Reduced error rate, happier customers, and increased order volumes didn’t require extra staff.
Sales Director, Garth Stacey, says - It not only speeds up the process, but also cuts out a layer of human input where there's potential for error. And we're able to process a larger volume of orders and deal with those larger clients, without adding the extra heads that you would have to traditionally.
That’s what operational headroom looks like.
Most businesses aren’t resisting change. They’re simply stretched.
Firefighting daily issues leaves little time to fix the underlying causes. And when you are concerned about the cost or potential disruption, these projects get pushed down the pecking order.
But waiting has a cost of its own.
Not just financial. Commercial.
In sectors like Janitorial, Packaging, Catering and Foodservice, competitors are already automating the basics. Faster ordering, fewer errors, smoother service — and in tender-driven markets, that competitive advantage compounds.
But you often don’t notice the impact until the customer leaves.
The worst bit isn’t even the admin itself.
It’s the opportunity cost.
When your best people spend their time entering orders, hunting down information, or fixing mistakes, they’re not improving margins, nurturing key accounts, or tightening operations.
That’s where the real cost is.
And it’s why the cost of inaction grows every month.
You don’t need a new website.
You need a system that stops your team drowning in manual effort.
And the truth is simple:
You’re already paying for it — just in wasted time and avoidable mistakes.
If you want clarity on what this is costing you, let’s map it out.
In 30 minutes, we’ll show you where the hidden drain sits and what to fix first.
Apparatus helps wholesale and distribution businesses streamline operations with integrated ecommerce portals and order automation. Using our Discover, Design, Deliver methodology, we build systems that scale and keep teams focused on the work that actually moves the business forward.