Making Positive Business Choices

Large businesses that order and fulfill a lot of products can struggle with keeping up as they grow. The sheer volume of the orders can become too much for the company to keep track of in traditional ways. The solution is to streamline the entire process using an EDI system to transmit the order and other important data between the manufacturer and retailer or supplier.

EDI Software

EDI software or electronic data interchange software is becoming the most used solution between vendors and retailers, shippers, and fulfillment centers all over the world. The software is designed to automate and simplify the process of ordering and fulfilling products, especially in the retail world. In some large stores that use EDI systems, the retailers have tied their point of sale system into the EDI system so that it tracks sales and reorders items as they are sold. 

The system allows the retailer to transmit orders to the vendor directly and eliminates the time involved with email, phone, or other traditional ways to order the stock the store needs on the shelf. It allows the store to have multiple employees in different departments ordering and restocking for their area as well. If a manager from each area of the store does their own inventory and reordering, the process will save a lot of time for the retailer. 

Tracking Shipments

Another function of the EDI system is ordered tracking or shipment tracking. This allows the retailer to order what they need and when the vendor ships it, the retailer will be able to track it in the system. The advantage is that the retailer than know where the product is and when to expect it in the store. This can help the retailer when communicating with customers about items that are out of stock and when to expect them back in the store. 

E-commerce Solutions

E-commerce has become a large part of most retailers business today. They sell as much online as they do in the store and when the order goes out to fulfillment, the retailer needs to be able to track the status of the order, when it ships to the customer, and when it arrives in the customer's hands. The EDI system can do that. It allows the retailer to enter the order and transmit it to the fulfillment center directly, eliminating the delay that previously existed with buying products online.

With many EDI systems, the order is taken on the website and transmitted through to fullfillment without any other interaction, automating the process and making it easy for the store to sell online without further strain to the system. For more information, contact a supplier for EDI warehouse fulfillment software.