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Costco Tradacoms · VAN routed · Membership Wholesale
🇬🇧 UK VAN

Costco EDI,
quietly working.

Supply Lens automates the Costco supplier document cycle. Purchase orders in, invoices out, all transmitted over the VAN that Costco uses and mapped to your ERP or IMS with the right depot codes, supplier IDs and Costco tolerance rules built in.

Orders in
Purchase orders handled automatically
Every Costco PO lands in your ERP without manual intervention
VAN routed
No VAN account on your side
Supply Lens connects to the VAN that Costco uses, you connect once to us
No deductions
Invoices checked before they're sent
Validated against your agreed Costco tolerance rules before transmission
99.9%
Uptime SLA
Monitored 24/7, orders never miss their transmission window
Supply Lens · Costco Live Flow Live
Costco PO CST-2026-90217 received via VAN · 48× line A · 24× line B · DC routing resolved PO IN
EANs mapped · location resolved DC code matched · supplier code confirmed · pricing applied PROCESSING
Sales order SO-12880 created ERP / IMS · 72 units · ref CST-2026-90217 CREATED
Invoice validated Price matched against PO · agreed cost list confirmed · ready to send CHECKED
INVFIL transmitted to Costco £18,742.55 · invoice INV-12880 confirmed received SENT
Costco-Specific Requirements

Orders in, invoices out.
The detail is in the rules.

Costco's flow looks straightforward on paper. The work is in the supplier and location codes, the tolerance rules on every invoice and the format Costco expects each message to follow. Get any of it wrong and you eat a deduction. Supply Lens is configured for those rules out of the box.

VAN routed connection

Costco receives EDI through a Value Added Network rather than a direct point-to-point AS2 link. Supply Lens connects to that VAN once, on your behalf, so you don't need a VAN account, a B2B gateway or your own AS2 certificates.

Tradacoms message format

Costco uses Tradacoms, the legacy UK retail format still standard across most established UK retailers. Supply Lens generates and parses Tradacoms structures correctly so the format is invisible from your ERP's point of view, the order just arrives.

EAN to item code mapping

Costco identifies products by GS1 EAN and an internal article reference. Supply Lens maintains a cross-reference table mapping both to your own item codes, so the PO lands correctly in your ERP regardless of which identifier Costco sends.

Invoice tolerance rules

Costco applies strict invoice matching on price and quantity. Supply Lens validates the invoice against the originating PO and your agreed cost list before transmission, flagging any discrepancy for review rather than sending it and risking a deduction later.

Distribution centre routing

Each Costco PO names a destination DC by code. Supply Lens maps every active Costco location to the correct routing in your warehouse system, so the order lands against the right depot in your ERP without manual intervention.

Cost list and pricing rules

Your agreed Costco cost list is registered in Supply Lens. Promotional pricing, cost changes and tier breaks are all applied automatically when an invoice is generated, so the price Costco sees on the INVFIL always matches what was agreed.

Document Flow

Every document.
Every direction.
Automatically.

Supply Lens handles the full Costco document set inbound and outbound, so nothing is ever manually produced, rekeyed or sent late.

  • Purchase orders received and validated against your supplier profile
  • Invoices pre-validated against the PO and your agreed Costco cost list before transmission
  • Credit notes raised and transmitted when returns or adjustments occur
  • Tolerance, location and pricing rules applied per message automatically
  • All Costco-specific Tradacoms structures generated and parsed correctly without your team seeing the format
Costco document cycle
Purchase Order ORDHDR
Costco
Invoice (pre-validated) INVFIL
Costco
Credit Note OPTIONAL
Costco
What's mapped automatically
Costco reference Resolved automatically
DC location codes
Pre-loaded
Product EANs and article references
Resolved per order
Cost list and promotional pricing
Applied per line
Tax and currency
UK VAT, GBP
Configuration

Configured for Costco.
Connected to your
system.

Supply Lens holds Costco's rules and the AS2 connection so you don't have to. Your team provides credentials, product mappings and the agreed cost list. Everything else lives in the Supply Lens layer.

1

Costco supplier onboarding

Your Costco supplier code, GLN and trading partner profile registered with the VAN that Costco uses. Configured as the inbound and outbound channel without any setup on your side.

2

EAN and article cross-reference

Costco EANs and article references mapped to your item codes. Pack-size variants, promotional lines and multi-pack SKUs handled cleanly without manual maintenance.

3

DC routing and entity mapping

Each Costco DC code mapped to your correct warehouse, customer account or entity in your ERP, so orders route cleanly to the right despatch point on receipt.

4

Tolerance and pricing rules

Your agreed Costco cost list registered for invoice validation. Tolerance rules applied per supplier agreement, so price discrepancies surface your side first.

EAN → item code cross-reference
Costco reference Your item code
50130011145001 BULK-COFF-1KG
50130011145002 BULK-OIL-3L
50130011145003 BULK-RICE-5KG
art:7702248-A SUPP-CO-7702248
ORDHDR ingest
Via VAN
ON
SO creation
On PO ingest
ON
Invoice validation
PO match check
ON
INVFIL out
On despatch
ON
Cost list
Per-line pricing
CONFIG
Exception queue
Email + dashboard
CONFIG
Costco Edge Cases

The situations that
catch suppliers out.

Supply Lens handles the scenarios that typically cause invoice rejections, deductions or document mismatches in the Costco flow.

"Costco use Tradacoms but our system only speaks EDIFACT or JSON. We've been doing it manually for months."

Format never reaches your system. Supply Lens parses Costco's Tradacoms ORDHDR into a clean order payload your ERP already understands and renders your outbound invoice as INVFIL on the way back out. Your team works in their normal interface, the format conversion happens in the Supply Lens layer.

"Costco deducted against an invoice because the unit price was a few pence off the agreed cost list."

Invoice values are validated against the originating PO and your agreed Costco cost list before submission. Discrepancies are flagged before the INVFIL is sent, giving your team a chance to correct or query rather than receive a Costco deduction weeks later.

"A new Costco promotional line started arriving and our system rejected the order because the price didn't match."

Promotional pricing is held against your Costco cost list and applied per line at invoice time. New promotional EANs map to existing items where possible. Any unmapped reference goes to an exception queue immediately rather than rejecting the order outright.

"A new Costco EAN started arriving and our system rejected the order because the product wasn't mapped."

Unrecognised EANs go to an exception queue immediately. The PO is held, your team is notified with the full Costco context, the mapping is added and the order is re-triggered. No silent drop, no late invoice, no missed delivery window.

Getting Set Up

What you need to
go live with Costco.

Costco EDI onboarding involves their supplier team, the VAN registration and your internal product and pricing data. Supply Lens manages the configuration, the VAN trading partner setup and the format conversion. You provide the inputs.

  • Costco supplier code and any associated GLNs
  • Product EAN list with your internal item codes
  • Costco article reference cross-reference where used
  • Active DC routing confirmation
  • Agreed Costco cost list for invoice validation
  • Promotional pricing schedule where applicable
  • ERP or IMS credentials (Unleashed, Enterpryze or other)
  • Sample Costco POs in Tradacoms format where available
  • Tolerance rules confirmation per supplier agreement
Typical delivery timeline
Day 1

Supplier data & credentials

Costco supplier code, GLNs, ERP credentials and cost list received

Day 2–3

Mappings built

EAN cross-reference, DC routing and pricing configuration completed in staging

Day 4–5

End-to-end test

Test ORDHDR processed, INVFIL generated and validated against Costco's Tradacoms specification

Live ✓

Go live

Production enabled, first live Costco PO processed end-to-end

ERP & IMS Connections

Connect Costco to your back-office system.

Supply Lens routes Costco POs directly into Unleashed, Enterpryze or other connected ERPs with the right item codes, document series and DC routing.

Ready to automate
your Costco EDI?

Most suppliers are live within five days. No long contracts, no VAN account on your side. We handle the Costco-specific configuration, you confirm the mappings.