EDI software for B2B trade & retail connections

EDI enables the electronic, fully automated exchange of business documents between wholesalers, suppliers and platforms, known as message partners. Documents are exchanged without any e-mails, PDFs, faxes or phone calls; instead, a B2B customer’s order appears automatically in your ERP. Shipping and invoicing work just as they do for other customers, and documents such as delivery notes and invoices are also sent to the ordering party fully automatically as EDI documents. Errors and delays caused by manual data transfer and media breaks are practically eliminated with an EDI integration.

With EDI, there are no printing, postage or manual data entry costs for each document. The effect grows with your document volume: while the effort per paper document can hardly be reduced, the cost per document with EDI keeps falling as volume rises – the more orders, delivery notes and invoices run automatically, the greater the savings compared with paper-based processes. At the same time, you are always ready to deliver to your business partners and respond faster to their requests.

Major retail chains such as REWE, EDEKA and OBI now require EDI from their suppliers as a binding standard across the industry. Without an EDI connection, a listing with these retailers is usually not possible. Violations can even result in contractual penalties.

Unlike many EDI software providers, EDI by JTL does not deliver the solution as a separate tool but natively integrated into the ERP system – including its own clearing center and more than 500 trading partners available right away, with no external service provider needed.

Yes, our EDI service is a certified GS1 Germany Solution Partner. GS1 standards ensure transparent and efficient cross-company processes along the entire value chain. This means that GS1 communication standards such as EANCOM or Web EDI can be mapped with JTL’s EDI solutions.

JTL’s EDI network includes more than 500 message partners from the EU. These include all major German furniture stores and DIY stores as well as drugstores, food retail, electronics and other industries – among them REWE, EDEKA, Amazon Vendor, XXXLutz, Poco, KHG, Bauhaus, Hornbach, Toom, Sport 2000, Adidas, Nike, Metro and Conrad Electronic.

Yes. Our EDI solution is ERP-independent and can also be connected standalone to systems such as SAP, Dynamics, Sage or Pickware – for example when you use WMS standalone. You do not have to use JTL’s ERP to use the EDI platform.

As a rule, your company’s master data and your trading partner’s requirements are enough. We take care of the technical setup, the data pool setup and onboarding; you need no EDI knowledge of your own. If needed, we also provide the right hardware.

We handle the complete EDI onboarding for you, including the connection to the message partner. This can be done within four to six weeks. For message partners that are not yet connected, it takes about four weeks longer. The exact timeframe depends on the document type and the cooperation of the message partner – our team will advise you individually.

EDI supports the following message types and EDI standards:

• Orders (ORDERS)
• Order confirmations (ORDRSP)
• Dispatch advices/delivery notes (DESADV)
• Invoices (INVOIC)
• Invoice corrections (INVOIC)
• Sales reports (SLSRPT)
• Returns (RETIN)
• Inventory reports (INVRPT).

No, you need no import/export tool such as JTL Ameise, and no workflows, CSV or XML files either. Only two services are installed on your database server; everything else runs on the server infrastructure of FOC Solutions. As an EDI user, you work exclusively in your ERP or WMS and in the self-service portal.

For faulty documents, you get a self-service portal. In this portal, you can view faulty documents (e.g. a missing EAN/GTIN or missing GLN numbers in the customer master data) and check whether documents have reached the message partner successfully. You can then correct the data of faulty documents in your ERP and reimport the document via the portal.