Widely referred to as “Eyes of Walmart” EDI technology implemented by Walmart EDI has made it more efficient with respect to business. As a result, most of the things are getting automated and easily accessible, saving a lot of time for this giant company called Walmart. The lesser human intervention and associated data errors as well as a reduction in processing time significantly benefited the company.
Since the first Walmart store started in 1962 in the United States, Walmart has always stayed dedicated to their mission of saving people’s money so that their lifestyle gets better. There are more than 11,400 outlets of Walmart worldwide, having an operating income of $20.568 billion dollars with more than 2.2 million employees. It runs a set of supermarkets, grocery stores, etc.
Walmart’s history always shows that they were very promising to the small and mid-sized businesses to sell their products in Walmart. And it will also benefit these companies to grow their business. Companies sign a contract to become EDI compliant with Walmart EDI.
What is EDI?
EDI is a data transaction platform. It is used for sharing important data and documents between departments, business partners, etc.
What is Walmart EDI?
Walmart implies EDIINT AS2 for all the businesses. EDIINT i.e. EDI over the internet uses some communication protocols for security while data transaction is taking place on the internet. AS2 (Applicability Statement 2) specifies the security points of receiving and sending data over the EDI.
Walmart’s guidelines say that if your business is doing or planning for invoices of 5500 per year then, you need to install EDI with AS2 protocol following Walmart EDI implementation guide. Companies less than 5500 invoices/year can either choose EDI or not.
There are many EDI formats available, which are as per the standards of EDI, Walmart company uses few of them, they are
- American National Standard Institute X12 (ANSI X12)
- Uniform Communications Standards (UCS)
- Voluntary Inter-Industry Commerce Standard (VICS)
The main reason for Walmart using EDI is that it trusts electronic data exchange because it has less human interference, fewer errors, less cost for storage, no physical storage, less management time and transaction time. Moreover, all the data can be stored in databases where different managers can access the file within seconds from any part of the world.
But how will be data given by EDI help the Walmart suppliers?
- The number of products in the inventory of Walmart stores can be obtained sitting in the manufacturing unit. It will help the suppliers to dispatch the products if they are less in any outlet’s inventory
- The flow of the product can be accessed with all the details attached.
Walmart EDI supports and follows specific EDI codes compulsorily, in all their outlets. Just by typing these EDI codes in the system they can access all the data embedded in the code, the codes followed are
- Invoice code – 810 EDI
- Credits and Debits claims – 812 EDI
- Organizations relationship with respect to trade and businesses – 816 EDI
- Advice related to Remittance – 820 EDI
- Purchase orders – 850 EDI
- Shipping notices on DSDC/non-DSDC/Standard Crates – 856 EDI
- Texts and business messages – 864 EDI
- FA 5010 – 997 EDI
- TXI Segment use for invoices in Walmart Canada EDI – 810 EDI
- Order acknowledgment for purchases – 855 EDI
- Walmart EDI 850
Walmart EDI 850 is a transaction set in EDI format used for purchase order transactions such as placing an order for goods, services, or both. It basically provides you information and data on
- Item’s name, cost, and quantity
- Detailed information about shipping
- Payment types and terms
- Reduction in cost, discounts, and offers
Walmart EDI requirements
Walmart EDI requirements for any kind of supplier are minimal. There are particularly 5 steps to be followed by any supplier to match Walmart EDI requirements. They are
- Obtain access to the retail link
- Read, Follow and Understand all the available documentation
- Choose a preferred computer software, install it, and complete all the internal testings
- Obtain the GEM mailbox and obtain the upload/download security certificate.
- Complete applicability statement 2 (AS2) testing
Walmart EDI benefits
- Walmart EDI is affordable and user friendly
- Walmart EDI can be configured and connected to all the trading partners
- It can integrate seamlessly with any other matching applications
- Walmart EDI specifications also have a cloud infrastructure that is easy to access data anywhere
- Rapid EDI integration and implementation can be done with security and AS2 protocols
- Walmart EDI specs give a good boost for the trading partners, especially to the newbies and small companies in the business
- There is 24×7 monitoring, support, and reliability for any kind of interruptions occurred while EDI is in progress
EDI and Walmart’s collaboration is a good gateway for all the small and new businesses to prosper in the market. It will be safer, easier, and a reliable source of trade and business for these small scales and one can bet upon that.
Wrapping up
Walmarts EDI is somewhat perfect and this perfection is delivered by MapMyEDI. It has some amazing features like EDI Tracking, B2B Trading partner management, EDI agreements, EDI error handling, EDI mapping, EDI error traceability, etc. Therefore, to achieve compliance with Walmart EDI, invest in MapMyEDI EDI Consultant Or raise a ticket at https://support.webbeeglobal.com/portal.