A fast-paced and business critical supply chain

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The retail sector has been on the forefront of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) adoption for decades. By nature, retail businesses are extremely vulnerable to supply chain inefficiencies as they directly affect their competitiveness and ability to offer service to customers.

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The sector also faces unique challenges as the products flow across the supply chain. Fast moving sales, the importance of availability, and the complexity of uncertain demand means that close collaboration between buyers and suppliers is paramount for success.

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How EDI helps the retail sector

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For retailers and wholesalers, EDI is now an essential part of managing their supply chains efficiently. EDI enables the secure and efficient transfer of information across the supply chain to improve operational efficiency and reduce transaction costs.

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The benefits of EDI in retail include:

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• Reduced transaction times
• Reduced errors, delays, and costs
• Streamlined order fulfillment
• Improved warehouse efficiency
• Enhanced collaboration
• Improved supplier efficiency
• Opportunities for automation across the supply chain

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EDI in retail business processes

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Procurement

The electronic procurement process often starts with a Product Catalogue sent by the supplier through EDI. This catalogue contains up-to-date information on available products, their pricing and pricing conditions, product identifiers, descriptions, and more.

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Based on the information in this catalogue, the buyer can send an electronic Purchase Order directly to the supplier (system-to-system). The supplier will respond with a Purchase Order Response – including line-item detail about the ability to meet the order’s requirements.

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Shipping and warehouse management

Retail depends on sophisticated logistics and shipping to make sure that products arrive at their destination on time. In this process, the supplier will issue an Advance Shipping Notice (ASN), also called Despatch Advice, to confirm that the products shipped correspond to the Purchase Order made by the retailer (or distributor). The electronic document includes information about what is included in each package, when it will be shipped, by who, and more.

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From a warehouse perspective, this information can be used to speed up the reception process, optimize space, and enable automation.

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Invoicing

As a final stage, the supplier will issue an electronic invoice to request payments. The electronic invoice allows for optimization and automation of the Accounts Payable process and ensures that the payment matches the purchase order and delivered goods.

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Why Logiq?

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In a sector with high volumes of orders and business critical supply chains, you depend on efficient and reliable EDI connections to your suppliers.

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Logiq is a leading digital trade network in the Nordics for businesses with high-volume supply chains. Our cloud-based platform supports all document types in the purchase-to-pay (P2P) and order-to-cash (O2C) processes. Along with our value-added services, this enables you to interact digitally with all your trading partners – regardless of their work processes and systems.

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Our goal is to offer you the best support in the market, the most reliable services, and the most skilled experts to assist you in achieving your digitalization objectives.