March 1, 2016
We recently completed the integration of our Commerce EDI solution with a popular health and beauty brand. This implementation allows our Sell Thru Retail supplier to partner with a major online retail channel and is the first of many retail partnerships they have planned for this year. Commerce EDI is a new product for Ingram Micro Commerce, and is an important integration option for our customers to have, to be able to sell through more online retail channels. Onboarding new retail partners will be much faster and the supplier will be able to expand into multiple retail channels within a few weeks for our Commerce EDI customer.
What is EDI?
EDI, or electronic data interchange, is the structured transmission of data between organizations via electronic means. EDI has specific formats and replaces the need to exchange information via fax, email, phone and mail. EDI technology is the primary method of data exchange for many B2B suppliers and major retails. Over 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies are EDI capable.
The benefits of EDI
Many big box retailers require EDI connectivity before partnering with suppliers. To comply, suppliers are required to either establish an EDI solution by building it out themselves or using a third party provider. Building out an EDI solution in-house is expensive and involves multiple components; EDI software, communications software, EDI transmission methods, mapping and translating software (and specialists for the process) and a dedicated team to manage upgrades, support and maintenance. A third party solution will handle the mapping, testing, integration and on-going support. Advances in technology have driven down the cost of EDI and oftentimes, it is less expensive to go with a third party provider.
In addition to the opportunity to connect to large retailers, there are many other benefits of setting up Commerce EDI:
- Faster onboarding of retail partners
- Our cloud-based EDI solution allows more flexibility and quicker integration
- Eliminate manual order processing, speeding up order deployment
- Improved order management accuracy
- Reduced operational costs
Additional resources:
Sell Thru Retail
EDI Pricing
EDI capable retailers