Special Orders and Drop Shipments Overview

GoldFinch helps organizations meet customer demand when products aren't supplied through the normal inventory process. Special orders connect a customer’s sales order with the purchasing activity needed to obtain the product, while drop shipments allow a vendor to ship the product directly to the customer.

Built natively on Salesforce, GoldFinch connects customer demand, purchasing, receiving, shipping, invoicing, and accounting information in one environment.

Special Orders

Use a special order when a product must be purchased specifically to fulfill a customer’s sales order. Depending on the business process, the vendor may deliver the product to your warehouse before shipping it to the customer.

Special orders are useful when:

• The product is not normally stocked.
• Available inventory is insufficient.
• The item is purchased only after receiving a customer order.
• The customer requires a unique product or configuration.
• The purchase must remain connected to a specific sales order.
• The organization wants to avoid maintaining unnecessary inventory.

Connecting the purchase to the customer order provides visibility into the supply required to fulfill that demand.

Drop Shipments

A drop shipment is used when a vendor ships a product directly to the customer rather than sending it through your warehouse.

Drop shipments can be helpful when:

• The vendor can deliver directly to the customer.
• Shipping through your warehouse would add unnecessary time or cost.
• The product is large, specialized, or not regularly stocked.
• The order must be fulfilled from a supplier-managed location.
• The organization wants to expand its product offering without holding every item in inventory.

Although the physical product does not pass through your warehouse, GoldFinch helps maintain the relationship among the customer order, vendor purchase, shipment, invoice, and related financial activity.

Special Order and Drop Shipment Comparison

The appropriate method depends on the product, supplier arrangement, delivery requirements, and your organization’s operating procedures.

A Connected Sales and Purchasing Process

GoldFinch can support the following workflow:

1. Record the customer’s requirements on a sales order.
2. Identify the products requiring special purchasing or direct shipment.
3. Create or connect the required purchase order.
4. Send the purchase order to the selected vendor.
5. Monitor the vendor’s fulfillment progress.
6. Record the applicable receipt or shipment activity.
7. Update the customer order.
8. Invoice the customer and process the vendor invoice.
9. Review the completed sales, purchasing, and accounting activity.

The exact workflow may vary according to the organization’s configuration and financial controls.

Linked Sales and Purchase Documents

Maintaining a relationship between the sales order and purchase order helps authorized users answer important questions:

• Which customer order created the purchasing requirement?
• Which vendor is supplying the product?
• Has the purchase order been issued?
• Has the vendor confirmed availability?
• Has the product been received or shipped?
• Is the customer order ready to be invoiced?
• What revenue and cost are associated with the transaction?

This connection reduces the need to compare unrelated records or track the process in a separate spreadsheet.

Customer and Delivery Information

For drop shipments, the vendor may need the customer’s delivery information and other relevant instructions. GoldFinch keeps this information connected to the related transaction.

Applicable information may include:

• Customer and contact
• Delivery address
• Requested delivery date
• Product and quantity
• Shipping method
• Vendor instructions
• Customer reference or purchase order number
• Shipment and tracking information
• Special handling requirements

Organizations should establish procedures to review delivery information before sending it to a vendor.

Pricing, Cost, and Margin Visibility

Special-order and drop-shipment transactions include both a customer selling price and a vendor purchase cost. Connecting the sales and purchasing records can improve visibility into the expected financial result.

Authorized users may be able to review:

• Customer selling price
• Discounts and additional charges
• Vendor purchase cost
• Freight or handling charges
• Expected or actual margin
• Customer invoice status
• Vendor invoice status

Available financial visibility depends on the modules and configuration the organization uses.

Fulfillment and Status Visibility

Sales, purchasing, and customer service teams can use connected records to monitor transaction progress. Relevant statuses may include:

• Customer order entered
• Purchase order created
• Purchase order sent to vendor
• Vendor acknowledgment received
• Product received
• Product shipped directly to customer
• Customer invoiced
• Vendor invoice processed
• Transaction completed

This visibility helps customer-facing teams provide more accurate updates without relying on disconnected email conversations.

Returns and Exceptions

Special orders and drop shipments may require additional coordination when products are delayed, damaged, rejected, or returned. GoldFinch can help maintain the relationship among the customer, vendor, product, and related transactions while the issue is resolved.

Common exceptions may include:

• Vendor delays
• Product substitutions
• Quantity differences
• Incorrect customer delivery
• Damaged products
• Customer returns
• Vendor returns
• Purchase or sales price differences
• Invoice discrepancies

Organizations should define responsibilities and approval requirements for resolving these exceptions.

Reporting and Analysis

Salesforce reports, dashboards, list views, and notifications can help users monitor:

• Open special orders
• Open drop shipments
• Customer orders awaiting vendor action
• Purchase orders connected to customer demand
• Expected and completed delivery dates
• Orders delayed by supplier availability
• Uninvoiced customer shipments
• Vendor invoices awaiting reconciliation
• Revenue, cost, and margin by transaction
• Exceptions requiring follow-up

Business Benefits

GoldFinch Special Orders and Drop Shipments can help organizations:

• Fulfill products that are not regularly stocked.
• Connect customer demand with vendor purchasing.
• Reduce unnecessary inventory investment.
• Shorten delivery time through direct vendor shipment.
• Expand the range of products offered to customers.
• Improve visibility across sales, purchasing, and customer service.
• Maintain traceability between related transactions.
• Monitor expected costs and margins.
• Reduce reliance on spreadsheets and manual follow-up.
• Keep operational and financial activity connected on Salesforce.

Learn More

GoldFinch customers can sign in to access detailed instructions for processing special orders, creating related purchase orders, managing drop shipments, and completing the associated sales and purchasing transactions.

To learn how GoldFinch can support your organization’s special-order and drop-shipment processes, please contact GoldFinch Cloud Solutions.