Retailers: Use your EDI gateway for more

Capture non-fulfillment of orders earlier

Sending an order to a supplier and not receiving the goods in time can really impact a business’ reputation and lead to loss of customers. If only there was a way to receive an EDI message of what a supplier can fulfill in an order and even when it’ll be fulfilled. There is – it’s a purchase order response (POR). The great thing is that you can easily add PORs to the EDI messages you receive through your existing EDI gateway.

Get more visibility of your order

Want to know what goods are being delivered and when? This is exactly what advanced shipping notices (ASNs) do. If you add serial shipping container code (SSCC) labels to your ASNs, you can even have suppliers tell you what’s in individual packing units. All this can improve visibility, reduce warehouse costs, reduce manual data entry and improve customer service.

More data = better decisions

EDI captures a lot of data that can be used for more informed decision making. For example, you can work out your top suppliers by getting access to supplier volumes and values. Knowing your top suppliers can help work out your key relationships.

EDI can also get your access to supplier performance by showing how long each supplier takes to deliver goods. Use this to identify relationships that need attention.

Another use is to track failed orders per supplier. Using this data can help put realistic KPIs and expectations on your suppliers.

Implement a web portal

Getting all your suppliers sending and receiving your EDI messages is critical. Some of your suppliers might not be too keen to set themselves up for EDI. The good thing is you can set up these suppliers using an inexpensive (even free with Colladium!) and simple to use web portal. The web portal connects directly into your EDI gateway and allows your suppliers to send and receive EDI messages using a web browser. This makes it easy to onboard your smaller suppliers to EDI and allows you to automate more of your procurement processes.

Want to learn more about implementing any of the topics in our blog? Request a call from one of our EDI team below.