📄 Retail & EDI

Every retailer
has their own
rules.

Every retailer sends POs differently, expects acknowledgements in their own format and charges you if anything is wrong. Supply Lens handles the translation, compliance and delivery for every trading partner, so your team stops doing it by hand.

edi-flow — document pipeline
P
Purchase Order received
From retailer / EDI network
Inbound
U
Codes translated + validated
Retailer refs → internal refs
SL
U
Sales order in ERP + Ack
Operational + compliance outbound
Done
M
Despatch → ASN sent
Retailer-compliant format + codes
Outbound
Invoice transmitted
Tolerances enforced, mandatory fields met
Outbound
Why it's hard

Every retailer is a special case

It's not just a different file format. It's different codes, tolerances, mandatory fields, timing rules, with chargebacks for getting any of it wrong.

"Their product codes bear no relation to ours."

Every retailer uses their own product codes, depot identifiers, and supplier references. None match your internal system.

"We got a chargeback for a missing field on the invoice."

Mandatory fields, quantity tolerances, ASN timing: each retailer enforces their own rules with financial penalties.

"We need PO, ack, ASN, and invoice. All in different formats."

Four document types, each needing the right data, right format, right time, delivered via the right channel.

Document flows

Every document, automated

P

Purchase Order

Inbound from retailer

POs arrive via EDI, VAN, or file. Supply Lens validates codes, translates retailer references to your internal ones, creates a sales order in your ERP.

  • Retailer product code → internal SKU
  • Depot and location code mapping
  • Party identifier validation
U

Order Acknowledgement

Outbound to retailer

Sent back confirming PO receipt and acceptance, in their required format, with their required codes, automatically on order creation.

  • Automatic on order creation
  • Retailer-compliant format
  • Quantity and reference confirmation
M

ASN / Despatch Advice

Outbound on dispatch

When dispatch is confirmed, Supply Lens builds the ASN in the retailer's required format, including carrier codes and packing details, then transmits it.

  • Triggered by dispatch event
  • Carrier and service code mapping
  • Partial shipment support

Invoice

Outbound to retailer

Invoices generated from your operational data, formatted to the retailer's exact specification, with tolerance rules applied, mandatory fields enforced.

  • Per-retailer tolerance thresholds
  • Mandatory field enforcement
  • Peppol-ready where required
Cross-reference logic

Their codes. Your systems.
Automatically mapped.

The hard part of EDI isn't the format. It's that every retailer refers to your products, depots, and warehouses using codes that bear no relation to how you identify them internally.

Supply Lens maintains cross-reference tables for every trading partner, so retailer product codes map to your SKUs, their depot codes map to your locations, and supplier references map to your internal identifiers. All automatically, all per-partner.

Translation examples
RETAILER PRODUCT
5060123456789
YOUR SKU
PROD-001-BLK
RETAILER DEPOT
DC-NW-001
YOUR WAREHOUSE
MANCHESTER-1
RETAILER SUPPLIER
SUP-47821
YOUR ENTITY
BRAND-UK
RETAILER LOCATION
STORE-LON-042
DELIVERY ADDRESS
London South

No more chargebacks
for missing fields.

Tell us which retailers you supply. We'll show you the exact document flows, translation rules and what going live looks like.