Selling without holding stock is appealing: no capital tied up in inventory, a catalogue that grows in a few clicks, and the risk of unsold goods shifts to someone else. As long as the business fits inside a Shopify, WooCommerce or PrestaShop back office, everything works. Then come the extra suppliers, the stock-outs that never surface, the customers asking “where is my parcel?”, and a real margin that nobody can calculate order by order.
That is the point where the e-commerce platform is no longer enough. This article compares four solutions, Odoo, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, Brightpearl and Dolibarr, on what really matters in a supplier direct-shipment model: automated purchasing, tracking, margin, VAT and cost. It is written for the founder or CFO of a growing online retailer or brand.
Method: the features described rely on vendor documentation consulted on 10 November 2026, and the prices quoted are only those the vendors publish, with their date. No market figure is given without a source.
Dropshipping: What the ERP Must Do That Your Online Store Doesn’t
An online store knows how to take an order. It does not, by itself, orchestrate what happens on the other side of the chain. In a direct-shipment model (the supplier ships to the end customer without going through your warehouse), the ERP has to cover four functions.
1. Automatic purchase orders. Every customer order must generate a purchase order to the right supplier, with the end customer’s delivery address, and no re-keying. Once you pass a few orders a day, copying addresses by hand is the first source of errors.
2. Supplier status and tracking. You need to know whether the supplier has accepted, shipped or rejected the order, and to capture the tracking number and send it back to the customer. Without that, customer support turns into an investigation unit.
3. Real margin per order. The selling price is known at order time; the purchase price depends on the chosen supplier, the shipping costs passed on, and sometimes a volume discount. Margin managed at average-catalogue level hides the lines that lose money. Our guide to managing gross margin by product line covers this management-control logic in detail.
4. Clean double invoicing. A sale produces a customer invoice, a purchase produces a supplier invoice, and the two must be matched on the same transaction so the accounts show a margin, not two disconnected flows.
The Flows to Cover, from Order to Return
Here is the typical journey as a text diagram:
Customer order (store or marketplace)
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v
Check: supplier available? supplier stock sufficient?
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v
Supplier purchase order (end customer's address)
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v
Supplier confirmation --> refusal or stock-out: reassign or cancel
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v
Direct shipment + tracking number --> status sent back to customer / marketplace
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v
Delivery --> customer invoice || supplier invoice (matched)
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v
Possible return: customer return > supplier approval > supplier credit note > refundThe two steps that e-commerce tools handle worst are reassignment (what do you do when supplier A refuses?) and the return, which involves three parties and two credit notes. An ERP does not solve them magically, but it gives you one place to trace them.
If you also sell on marketplaces, this flow overlaps with the one described in our guide to ERP and marketplace integration (Amazon, Mirakl): the marketplace imposes its own shipping deadlines and statuses, which your supplier has to meet.
The Comparison Grid
Six criteria underpin the rest of the article.
| Criterion | What we check |
|---|---|
| Native dropship flow | Does the customer order generate a linked purchase order, without custom development? |
| Supplier feeds (EDI, CSV, API) | How do stock and prices arrive: file imports, connector, API? |
| Hybrid multi-warehouse | Can you mix own-stock items and direct-shipment items in the same order? |
| Margin per order | Does the real purchase cost flow back to the customer order? |
| OSS VAT (one-stop shop) | Handling of rates by destination country and reporting |
| Cost | Published price, licensing model, integration cost |
A word on VAT. The EU One-Stop Shop (OSS) lets you declare and pay VAT on intra-EU distance sales of goods to consumers through a single electronic return, filed in your Member State of identification (European Commission OSS portal). For a seller shipping into several EU countries, the ERP must therefore apply the destination country’s rate and produce a breakdown by country. This is a selection criterion, not a configuration detail.
The Four Solutions
Odoo: The “Dropship” Route
Odoo treats dropshipping as a logistics route. According to the Odoo 17 documentation, you enable the “Dropshipping” option in the Purchase app settings, then configure each product: supplier and purchase price filled in, “Dropship” route enabled in the Inventory tab. When a customer order is confirmed, Odoo generates a request for quotation to the supplier. Once that is confirmed, a “dropship” receipt links the purchase order to the customer delivery: source location “Vendors”, destination location “Customers”.
Two points of caution emerge from that documentation. First, validating this receipt is a manual step, and it is what confirms the quantity actually delivered: without discipline (or automation through carrier tracking), orders stay open. Second, the documentation indicates that both the “Buy” and “Dropship” routes can be enabled on the same product, which opens the door to a hybrid model: own stock for fast-moving items, direct shipment for the long tail.
Published pricing: on its pricing page, consulted on 10 November 2026, Odoo lists €19.90 per user per month on annual billing for the Standard plan, and €35.90 per user per month for the Custom plan (multi-company, Studio, external API access and on-premise or Odoo.sh deployment). These are licence prices: configuration and the store and marketplace connectors are costed separately.
Best for: online retailers who want a modular tool and a transparent licence cost, with an integrator able to configure the routes and connectors. For how Odoo compares with its alternatives among distributors, see Business Central, Sage X3 and Odoo for B2B distributors.
Dynamics 365 Business Central: Drop Shipment
Business Central models direct shipment through an explicit link between a sales line and a purchase line. According to the Microsoft documentation (updated 1 April 2026), you tick “Drop Shipment” on the sales order line (or use a dedicated purchasing code). The “Create Purchase Orders” action then creates the purchase orders from the sales order, with the vendor taken from the item card. To process many orders at once, requisition or planning worksheets can batch-generate the purchases for all pending drop shipments.
The accounting treatment is a strength: posting the sales shipment automatically posts the receipt on the linked purchase order, and you can also start the flow from the purchase side. The documentation also states that a drop shipment can be cancelled (“Undo Shipment”) as long as neither the shipment nor the receipt has been invoiced. Microsoft further announces, in its 2026 release wave 1 plan, the ability to post the purchase invoice of a drop shipment before the linked sale is invoiced, a common case when the supplier invoices before you do.
One limit to keep in mind: supplier tracking remains manual entry. The documentation provides for adding a tracking number as a comment on the purchase line, not as a structured field fed automatically. For a high-volume flow you therefore need a connector or an extension.
Pricing: Microsoft publishes Business Central per-user prices on its website, by edition (Essentials or Premium) and region. Check them at the date of your decision rather than in an article, as they change.
Best for: companies from roughly €5-20M in revenue upwards, which want robust accounting and a partner ecosystem, and accept a more structured implementation project.
Brightpearl: The ERP Built for Multichannel Commerce
Brightpearl positions itself on multichannel retail and brand commerce, which explains its focus on order orchestration. On its pricing page (consulted on 10 November 2026), the vendor highlights no-code fulfilment rules that define when, where and how an order should be processed, including partial shipment and dropshipping. It also advertises unlimited users included.
However, the vendor does not publish a price list: pricing is set by quote after a consultation and demo. I therefore cannot give you a verifiable figure, and I advise against relying on the amounts found on third-party comparison sites without checking them against a quote. The points to validate in a demo: handling of direct-shipment suppliers (returns, credit notes), OSS VAT coverage, and the availability of integration teams in your market.
Best for: multichannel brands and distributors who want an out-of-the-box tool for orders and channels, and whose accounting stays in a dedicated system.
A practical point: because accounting is usually kept outside the tool, check how sales, supplier invoices and credit notes are synchronised with your accounting software, and who reconciles the two when a direct-shipment order is partly returned. Ask for a reference customer in your sector running a comparable multi-supplier flow, rather than relying on the generic demo.
Dolibarr: The Frugal Option, to Be Scoped Carefully
Dolibarr is an open source ERP widely used in small businesses. It offers a Supplier Orders module and a Shipments module. However, in the documentation pages I consulted (Dolibarr wiki, Supplier Orders module), I did not find a description of a native dropshipping flow that automatically links the customer order to the supplier order with direct delivery. Add-on modules exist on the Dolistore marketplace (for example for inter-entity orders), but their scope has to be checked case by case. Assume, then, that the flow is built through configuration, or even custom development.
The software is free, but hosting, store integration and maintenance carry a cost that depends on your service provider.
Best for: a start at very low volume, with in-house technical skills or a trusted integrator.
Before committing, run a short proof of concept on one supplier and one sales channel: create the customer order, trigger the supplier order, record the supplier’s shipment and test a return. If any of these steps requires manual re-entry or custom code, estimate that workload with your service provider and compare it with the licence cost of the paid alternatives. Free software only stays cheap if the build and maintenance effort remains small. To place Dolibarr against the other free options, see our open source ERP comparison.
Comparison Table
| Criterion | Odoo | Business Central | Brightpearl | Dolibarr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native dropship flow | Yes, “Dropship” route | Yes, “Drop Shipment” box + purchase creation | Yes, fulfilment rules (per vendor) | Not documented natively, to be built |
| Supplier feeds (stock, prices) | CSV import and connectors, external API on Custom plan | Partner extensions, Power Platform integrations | To validate in demo | Modules and imports, depending on provider |
| Hybrid own stock + dropship | Yes (stackable routes) | Yes (line by line) | Yes (rules per order) | Possible, to configure |
| Supplier tracking | Manual receipt validation | Comment on purchase line | To validate in demo | To be built |
| Margin per order | Via purchase cost of the linked order | Via linked sales/purchase entries | To validate in demo | To be built |
| OSS VAT | To configure (fiscal positions) | To configure, or extension | To validate in demo | To configure |
| Published price | €19.90 / €35.90 per user per month (annual, 10/11/2026) | Published by Microsoft, by edition | On quote | Free software, service costs |
The “margin per order” row deserves a clarification: none of the four solutions delivers a real-margin dashboard without configuration. It depends on the ability to attach to each sale the purchase cost of the linked supplier order, including shipping. That is a deliverable to demand in your requirements document.
Which Solution for Your Profile
You are starting out (a few dozen orders a day, few suppliers). Odoo is the default choice: the Dropship route is documented, the licence is published, and you can begin with a narrow scope (sales, purchasing, inventory). Plan for an integrator for the store connector. Dolibarr only makes sense if you have the technical skills in-house and accept building the flow.
You are at €5-20M in revenue, with demanding accounting. Business Central is the most coherent if your CFO wants solid accounting, closings and audit: the sales-to-purchase link is explicit, and cancelling a drop shipment is supported. Count on a partner for supplier tracking and connectors.
You sell across several marketplaces and sites. Brightpearl deserves a demo: channel-level fulfilment rules are its core business. But insist on a priced quote, proof of OSS VAT coverage and European references before committing. Odoo’s Custom plan (external API, multi-company) remains the serious alternative.
In every case, one firm recommendation: do not choose on the demo of the nominal flow. Have the vendor or partner play the “supplier out of stock after confirmation” scenario and the “return of a parcel delivered directly” scenario. Those are what set the options apart.
5 Mistakes to Avoid with Direct Shipment
1. Promising a delivery time you do not control. The trap: displaying a generic lead time on the store. The consequence: late deliveries, marketplace penalties and a drop in your seller rating. The countermeasure: carry each supplier’s lead time by item in the ERP and expose it on the store.
2. Neglecting the return circuit. The trap: the customer sends the product back to you, but the supplier refuses it. The consequence: you refund the customer out of your own pocket without a credit note. The countermeasure: define in the supplier terms who pays for the return, and create in the ERP a return > supplier credit note > refund circuit.
3. Underestimating your liability. The trap: believing that a seller who never touched the parcel is not responsible. The consequence: you bear warranty claims and conformity disputes without recourse. The countermeasure: towards the customer you remain the seller, so your supplier contract must pass these obligations on to the supplier.
4. Improvising VAT and OSS. The trap: ignoring that a supplier established in another country, or a delivery to a different country, changes the qualification of the transaction (distance sale, intra-EU supply, chain transaction). The consequence: a tax reassessment on invoices already issued. The countermeasure: have your accountant validate the scheme before configuring the ERP.
5. Trusting unreliable supplier stock feeds. The trap: a CSV file updated twice a day does not reflect real stock. The consequence: you sell what no longer exists, then cancel orders. The countermeasure: set a minimum update frequency, a safety threshold (do not display the last 2 units) and a reassignment rule to an alternative supplier.
Implementation in 5 Steps
- Map your suppliers. For each one: feed format (EDI, CSV, API), frequency, lead times, return terms, invoicing rules.
- Define the margin rule. Which costs go into the purchase cost (shipping, discount, handling fees) and which floor margin triggers an alert.
- Configure a pilot scope. One supplier, one channel, one product family. Test the full flow through to the return.
- Automate tracking. Capture tracking numbers, send statuses back to the customer and the marketplace, and alert on orders with no supplier confirmation after a set delay.
- Extend and measure. Add suppliers one by one, then track the reassignment rate, the return rate and the real margin per supplier.
Signs You Need an ERP
You do not need an ERP to sell your first ten products. The following signals show that your current tool is outgrown:
- you re-key orders into your suppliers’ portals;
- you cannot say, line by line, which order lost money last month;
- your accounting closings depend on manual exports between store, bank and supplier invoices;
- you run several channels whose statuses do not sync;
- you are crossing borders and VAT by country is becoming a risk.
If two or three of these signals apply, the question is no longer “do we need an ERP” but “which one, and when”. To place this threshold in the life of a growing company, read our article on moving to a real ERP for startups and scale-ups (in French). And for the technical connection on the store side, our guide to ERP and online store integration (Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop) details the connector options.
Conclusion
None of the four solutions “does dropshipping” on its own: Odoo and Business Central model it natively in their documentation, Brightpearl offers it through fulfilment rules, and Dolibarr requires you to build the flow. The deciding criterion is not the feature list, it is the ability to handle exceptions (stock-out, return, VAT) while keeping margin readable order by order.
To compare these options with your own shortlist, download our ERP evaluation grid: 30 criteria to benchmark three vendors side by side. And if you want to challenge your dropshipping requirements document, contact us.
