What Is EDI?

EDI documents are called transaction sets, and in the US they are known by three-digit numbers. You do not need to memorize them, but you will hear them in conversations with retail buyers and your warehouse.

The order of events is usually the same. The retailer sends an 850. You confirm it. Your warehouse picks and packs the order to the retailer's rules and ships it. You send an 856 describing exactly what is in each carton. Then you send an 810 to be paid. The advance ship notice is the one that most often goes wrong, because it has to match the physical shipment carton by carton.

Most brands do not build EDI themselves. They use an EDI provider that translates between the retailer's format and their own systems, and they connect that to their warehouse so orders flow in and ship notices flow out.

1. Get the retailer's vendor requirements and EDI guidelines.
2. Choose an EDI provider, or confirm your 3PL can connect to the retailer.
3. Test documents with the retailer before the first live order.
4. Map your SKUs, UPCs and pack-out rules to the retailer's requirements.
5. Run the first purchase order closely and check every document.

EDI usually travels with a routing guide, the retailer's rulebook for labels, cartons and delivery. The two together decide whether a shipment is accepted cleanly or comes back as a chargeback.

OC3PL's retail and wholesale service includes EDI integrations for major retailers, purchase order review and routing per retailer, retail-compliant and GS1-compliant labels, advance shipping notice processing and palletized shipping. Weekly reporting includes a fulfillment and service-level review so compliance issues surface early.

Retail and wholesale clients go live in under seven business days once integration and purchase order sync are complete. Direct-to-consumer orders and wholesale orders ship from the same inventory. See apparel wholesale and retail fulfillment and EDI for apparel brands.

Most EDI trouble is not technical. It comes from documents that do not match what actually happened in the warehouse.

• The ship notice lists cartons or quantities that differ from what was shipped.
• UPCs in the retailer's system do not match the barcodes on your product.
• The order acknowledgment is late or missing.
• The invoice does not match the purchase order or the shipment.
• A purchase order change from the retailer is missed.
• Prepack or size-ratio rules are ignored when cartons are packed.

The fix is to build each document from real data. The ship notice should come from what was scanned into each carton, not from what the purchase order asked for. Product barcodes should be set up once, correctly, and shared with the retailer before the first order. And someone should watch for purchase order changes, because retailers do change quantities and dates after the first order is sent.

Before your first retail order, ask your warehouse who reviews purchase orders, who builds the ship notice, and how cartons are labeled. If the answers are clear, you are in good shape.

Not every apparel brand needs EDI. If you sell online and to a handful of independent shops that order by email, you can run without it for a long time. EDI becomes necessary when a retailer requires it as a condition of doing business, which is common with department stores and large chains.

• Selling only direct to consumers: no EDI needed.
• Selling to independent boutiques and surf shops: usually no EDI.
• Selling through a wholesale marketplace: the marketplace handles the ordering.
• Selling to a department store or big-box chain: EDI is usually required.

If a large account is on the horizon, start the conversation with your warehouse early. Setup and testing take time, and it is better to have the connection ready before the first purchase order lands.