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If your business offers products that can be sold in big box retail stores like Walmart and Home Depot, you can generate a huge increase to your bottom line.
Not only does it provide you with another sales channel, allowing you to reach more potential customers, but it does so in a BIG way.
Big box stores reach an enormous number of customers every day, so getting your products in those stores can be a huge win for your business.
However, doing so isn’t as easy as some other sales channels you may be using. The technology behind selling in big box stores isn’t straightforward.
They typically use EDI connections, an older technology that has proven itself over time, but one that can be costly and is often complicated to set up.
That said, if you have the opportunity to sell in a big box store, it is definitely an endeavor worth embarking on.
And there are ways to do it even if you are not a tech expert. SkuNexus has hundreds of EDI connections available, get a demo to see some for yourself.
What is Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)?
First, it’s important to understand what EDI is and how it works. According to eBridgeConnections, electronic data interchange (EDI) is “a computer to computer exchange, between two companies, of standard business documents in an electronic format. There are two key elements in basic EDI. First, electronic documents replace paper-based documents. Second, the exchange of documents takes place in a standardized format. Using these two basic concepts, any business can enter the world of EDI and take advantage of the speed and economy of eCommerce.”
EDI is a technology that dates back to the late 1960s, which says a lot about its effectiveness and efficiency.
If it didn’t work, it would have been replaced with more modern technology a long time ago.
But it does work, it’s
- an industry standard
- all electronic
- got a proven track record
EDI also has the capability to integrate with different types of systems, like accounting, enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions, retailer, and vendor systems once it is set up and ready to go.
Connecting to National Retailers
There are many national retailers* that use EDI to communicate with their suppliers.
They are companies that are well-known and easily recognized by nearly all American consumers. We’re talking about stores like Target, Walmart, Home Depot, and Nordstrom – just to name a few.
Getting your products into stores of this magnitude can grow your business by leaps and bounds.
And EDI is what you need to do so.
It is designed to streamline your data connections to retailers, and it makes your products visible to a much larger audience.
How to Connect to Businesses with EDI
You have a few options when it comes to connecting your business to others with EDI.
The first is doing it yourself.
If you choose to go this route, you will find that there are multiple steps* you have to follow to create your own connection.
Translating your files into EDI format is going to require specialized mapping expertise to define how your data is to be mapped.
If you don’t possess that expertise, you may consider the second option: using EDI translation software or an EDI translation service provider to translate your data into EDI format in preparation for transmitting to your partnering businesses.
While the second method does simplify the need for expertise that you probably don’t have, it can still be fairly complicated. Each software solution or service provider will have different standards and allow for different integrations.
Perhaps the best way to connect to other businesses with EDI, is using an order management system (OMS) that has EDI readily available.
Let’s look at this option a little more in depth.
EDI Connections in Your Order Management System
Finding an order management system that has EDI connections available and ready to turn on when you need them, is a great way to make connecting to other retailers quick and easy.
Using this method will save you the time, hassle, and expense you will likely experience if you use one of the other methods described above. There are some things to look out for as you decide on an order management system:
- Is it EDI connection ready? EDI doesn’t always connect with order management systems that are used for B2C transactions, because selling to larger retailers in a wholesale format is typically considered B2B. That means that you need to make sure that the OMS you use is EDI ready.
- Is it scalable? Often times, ecommerce businesses begin with a store website or an online marketplace and then they grow into other sales channels. One of those sales channels may be selling in a national retailer’s store if they sell quality products that are compatible with the big box store’s inventory.
It’s likely that ecommerce retailers in that situation will already have some systems in place for the operations of the business, and it’s also likely that the system they are using for order management won’t be able to keep up and maintain an EDI connection without additional expenses (sometimes rather hefty ones) or integrations.
That is why it is important to get started with an OMS that has EDI readily available, so you can turn it on when you need it, without having to invest in additional software or upgrades in the future.
EDI Integration with National Retailers
Getting your products into big box stores can be a big boost to your revenue and profits.
While the process of setting up EDI connections may seem complicated, when you utilize an order management system that has EDI connections ready to go, you will save the time and trouble that doing it yourself would entail.
At SkuNexus, we can help you with EDI connections using our order management system, getting your products seen at the big box retailers you work with.
