For the modern retailer/manufacturer relationship, EDI is an indispensable tool, and can offer many benefits. It streamlines efficiency, cuts down on time spent communicating about purchase details, and eliminates human error. As your organization scales its operation with more products and more complex shipment processes, EDI needs may grow as well. Read on to learn how retailers and manufacturers can implement better organizational and planning skills by upgrading to enhanced EDI software.
1. Streamline Your Communication Process
Retailers and manufacturers need many positive relationships in order to keep their operations profitable and worthwhile. By increasing the amount of products sold, manufacturers can bolster production. By purchasing more products from manufacturers, retailers can appeal to a wider audience and offer more variety. That’s why EDI focuses on limiting the amount of time these two parties spend interacting.
An enhanced EDI platform can drastically limit the amount of time that retailers and manufacturers spend communicating. With advanced translation features that convert all transactional information into an easily understandable format, everyone can benefit. Additionally, advanced EDI can also synchronize accounting systems from the two parties to be in constant contact.
Without the need to address simple, trivial errors, manufacturers and retailers can both spend more time improving their business.
2. Upgrade for Improved Efficiency
With carefully nuanced features configured to support your organization’s precise needs, EDI eliminates the need to perform mundane tasks. So, with less time spent calculating amounts owed and products needed, there is more time available to build new relationships.
By spending more time with meaningful tasks, your organization can scale its growth in a positive manner. Moving forward, other companies will be more likely to forge lasting mutually beneficial relationships.
3. Stay Up-To-Date with Compliance Requirements
When offering contracts to potential product suppliers, it’s standard for retailers to provide thorough compliance requirements. These requirements govern the way that they allow documents to be interchanged between the two parties. For example, invoices, purchase orders, and advanced shipment notices would all be sent in a predefined format.
This compliance-friendly feature is essential for manufacturers that sell to multiple retailers. Because each retailer has unique needs, compliance requirements can differ greatly. Enhanced EDI allows manufacturers to meet all of these unique needs without taking the time to prepare each transaction. This automated processing is imperative.
For example, jewelry manufacturers sell their products to many different retailers. Kate Spade jewelry can be found in many popular fashion and accessory stores, such as Kohl’s, Nordstrom, Macy’s, more. So, when Kate Spade is selling jewelry to these other stores, an enhanced EDI software will automate these processes.
When needs change and new compliance requirements become a factor, resolving these difficulties is simple.
4. Exchange More Document Types
While a basic EDI program will allow simple data interchanges, it cannot accommodate everything. To develop a fully capable network, enhanced EDI is imperative.
An advanced EDI platform can transmit information of any nature, regardless of its purpose, or the message that it seeks to convey. These are some of the documents that enhanced EDI can successfully forward between parties:
- Invoice
- Planning schedule
- Shipping schedule
- Purchase order
- Warehouse shipping order
- Advance ship notice
- Order status inquiry
Without these features, representatives from each company would be forced to manually write and send this information.
5. Upgrade to Automated Reporting and Analytics
Like technical compliance requirements, many (if not all) retailers require routine automated inventory reports from product manufacturers. This D2C approach to inventory management lifts the burden from the retailer and places it on the manufacturer.
Enhanced EDI makes this process effortless for all parties. During each transaction, enhanced EDI will regularly update the stock to account for depleted quantities. Then, at the end of each day, it will alert both the manufacturer and the retailer about these product quantities. So, this reporting feature is instrumental.
The analytics offered through an enhanced EDI software can have a major impact on decision makers as well. With detailed data about the purchases made at each retail outlet, and for which products, organizations can shape their marketing and sales strategies to maximize profits.
Because your EDI platform is fully customizable to your own needs, your business can also select specific analytics to receive each day.
6. Get Added Support
There is nothing worse than a system error that compromises your operations, and prevents EDI from working effectively. Unfortunately, this is possible for outdated EDI software that lacks the support features of more advanced programs.
With enhanced EDI, you can avoid these potential dangers with regular updates. These updates are a preventative measure, and will prevent errors from occurring.
And, with a dedicated EDI support staff at your disposal, your company can receive the technical support that it needs.
How EDI Options Can Help
At EDI Options, our team has helped retailers and product suppliers to improve their communication methods for over 25 years. We carry an unmatched technical expertise, as well as a versatile software that is vital to vendor/retail relations. With our enhanced EDI software, your business will enjoy many time-saving benefits, as well as better relationships. Contact us for more information about how we can upgrade your EDI.
