Once you’ve spent the money, time, and effort to comply with a mega-retailer mandate to implement EDI, is your job over? Or have you just taken the first step down the path to full electronic nirvana? Let’s think about that.

There are different ways for suppliers to obtain POS data from their retail partners. Many retailers offer reports or have their own web portals. Walmart’s Retail Link offers the most detailed view. Unfortunately other retailers’ portals make it difficult to impossible to get deep dive views (e.g.: SKU and door level). Happily there is another choice: An EDI document called an 852.

When I first started in this industry I expressed surprise by the “loose” parameters of 852 POS documents at an EDI conference. I was told the standard is like our language. Yes we speak English,  yet “pop” is soda in certain parts and “tennis shoes” are sneakers to some. Further, because there is so much unstructured data in the POS document – especially when it is door level, it is harder still adhere to a standard. It is much easier when there are set fields like those in a PO or invoice.

One of the most common questions posed to us is: Why can’t we get EDI POS data for a certain retailer? Allow me to break that question down, as it is multi-faceted.