The Advantages of EDI in E-Commerce: How to Gain a Competitive Advantage Online in 2021

The past twelve months have seen an explosion in eCommerce, with the industry’s share of global trade rising from 14% in 2019 to 17% in 2020.

Whilst these trends represent a largely positive development for the industry there are some new areas for concern. eCommerce has become even more cutthroat and fast-paced than before, and in the context of increasingly globalised supply chains, a large increase in orders represents the potential for disruption and previously unforeseen challenges to business.

Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is a pivotal tool which can be used to address unique challenges in eCommerce which have been exacerbated by the recent boom and some of the more long-term obstacles the industry faces. Not all EDI solutions are the same, however, and it’s important to understand these specifics in order to take full advantage of the benefits EDI is equipped to deliver. 

Here, we are going to look at these trends in the specific context of eCommerce — helping your business make informed decisions and gain a competitive advantage in the market with the help of EDI.

The unique challenges of eCommerce

Even before the unprecedented events of 2020, eCommerce had its own list of inherent and unique challenges. These include:

  • Global supply chains: A reliance on supply chains which stretch across numerous countries can create issues for eCommerce’s business as a result of long-range logistics, delays, numerous time zones and accountability.   
  • High growth: The increase in internet access in developing countries, as well as the rise in web traffic generated by smartphones and tablets across the world, continues to drive eCommerce sales, forcing industry leaders to adapt to constant growth.
  • Complex return processes: A ‘buy online, return in store’ policy can create unexpected costs for eCommerce businesses, with physical store space and staff capacity required to process returns. Difficulties can also emerge from the development and integration of IT systems to cope with demand for online returns.

The eCommerce landscape in 2021

Following the boom within the industry during the last twelve months, which saw the UK’s eCommerce sector enjoy its highest online sales growth in 13 years, eCommerce faces a new series of challenges in 2021 and beyond:

  • A more competitive marketplace: A rise in sales and an increased scope for the industry means that fierce competition for customers and accelerated demand looks to be inevitable.
  • Increased customer demand and expectations: The recent sharp increase in eCommerce trade brings with it both higher demand and enhanced expectations, necessitating a clearer focus on maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction. 
  • Supply chain pressures: Lockdown restrictions across the world in 2020 demonstrated the need for supply chain flexibility. Moreover, the accelerated growth of eCommerce observable during the past year, coupled with a reliance on speedy production, increases the strain on supply chains.     

How EDI delivers eCommerce solutions

EDI was developed to simplify supply chain management. By automating the exchange of information, greater visibility, improved efficiency, and streamlined workflows can all be achieved. Fundamentally, effective EDI implementation is one of the most efficient ways for eCommerce businesses to mitigate and overcome many of the challenges the industry faces traditionally and those which have emerged more recently.

The advantages of EDI implementation within eCommerce include:

  • Increased speed: Business cycles can benefit hugely from EDI, as waiting times and reliance on postal services is severely reduced/eliminated.
  • Cost savings: As manual processes are scaled back post-EDI implementation there is a reduced reliance on paper documents, and as a result opportunities to reduce costs.
  • Greater accuracy: By removing the need for paper documents, electronic data interchange significantly reduces the room for human error in supply chain management.
  • Time-saving for staff: A reduction in manual processes also creates additional capacity for staff to focus on higher-value tasks within the business.   
  • Increased efficiency: The combination of enhanced speed and accuracy enables more focus to be placed on other areas of business activity. 

Using EDI to Create a Competitive Advantage

When utilised effectively, EDI is a tool which can significantly improve supply chain management. But what does EDI actually offer businesses in terms of competitive advantage in the market?

  • Visibility: Through standardisation and digitisation, businesses are able to gain better visibility over supply chains by developing a single-source-of-truth. This can add some much needed perspective, a necessity when making strategic decisions and long-term plans based on supply chains specifics.   
  • Competitive pricing: Given the implementation of an effective EDI solution enables the reduction of costs related to manual supply chain management processes, businesses have the opportunity to develop a competitive price strategy and focus on increasing profit margins.  
  • Reinvestment: Higher margins also create the possibility of reinvestment throughout the business. This then opens the door to a virtuous cycle, thereby allowing businesses to reinvest, create further effeicines and drive growth.   

Whilst the above advantages are clearly appealing to businesses across the eCommerce industry they have one common theme — they require the implementation of an effective and modern EDI solution before they can become a reality.

The deficiencies of legacy EDI

EDI has the potential to deliver meaningful outcomes for businesses in an increasingly unforgiving eCommerce market. Despite this, it is important to recognise that legacy EDI solutions may struggle to effectively manage the modern and complex supply chains which are widespread in eCommerce.

Even with the considerable benefits it offers, legacy EDI, which incurs minimal data and hosting costs, comes with its own set of challenges. Unfortunately, these challenges can considerably hinder the significant benefits EDI has to offer. These include: 

  • Numerous protocols and standards: A wide range of EDI protocols and standards represent a severe challenge to effective supply chain management, and as a result limit the ability of any single EDI systems to function across a supply chain.
  • Slow and complex onboarding: On-premise EDI solutions can significantly complicate onboarding new partners, hampering supply chain flexibility.
  • Corrupted information: Ad hoc and legacy EDI systems can result in siloed relationships as well as manual processes that can corrupt data, thereby reducing supply chain efficiency.
  • EDI protocols in the supply chain: Different methodologies, standards and levels of understanding across the supply chain can create difficulties for businesses and have a detrimental impact on flexibility, particularly when it comes to onboarding processes.

EDI-as-a-Service: a modern EDI update ready for eCommerce flexibility

The introduction of cloud-based tools and management services to the market allow the deployment of a more efficient EDI system even within the most complex global supply chains. 

Businesses looking to remain competitive in the eCommerce market are likely to seek out modern, non-static EDI solutions which allow them to react decisively to emerging trends. That’s why at Data Interchange we’ve been working to update EDI. Our solution seeks to meet the demands of twenty-first century supply chains, and deliver a solution fit for eCommerce in 2021.

The result is EDI-as-a-Service. Our flexible, hybrid EDI model, which utilises cloud-based tools and managed services to match the idiosyncrasies of complex supply chains whilst optimising EDI outcomes for your operation.

The benefits for customers who make the transition to EDI-as-a-Service are numerous, and imperative for businesses looking to stay ahead of their competitors. These include, but are not limited to: 

  1. Complete visibility: through the use of dashboards and cloud-based tools, EDI-as-a-Service is equipped to provide a one-source focus to digitisation.
  2. Flexibility: by accommodating a wide range of protocols and standards, EDI-as-a-Service enables a swift, agile onboarding process which, through an automated process, accommodates a wide range of supplier familiarity with EDI without creating additional challenges for the business.
  3. Simplicity: EDI-as-a-Service looks to remove unnecessary complexity through smooth supply chain integration processes. Furthermore, cloud-based EDI facilitates access throughout the supply chain. 
  4. Efficiency: as a result of simple integrations which are made possible by EDI-as-a-Service, manual process which can be phased out, saving valuable time and resources. 
  5. Creative planning and control: each of these benefits contribute towards an enhanced ability to plan and control your supply chain. Furthermore, this effective mitigation of EDI-based issues also enables more focus to be placed on other business activities. 

Suggested reading: If you want to learn more about EDI-as-a-Service, check out our blog — How EDI-as-a-Service Changes Supply Chain Best Practices in 2021.

Gaining your competitive advantage

EDI is a complex, evolving methodology. Fortunately, Data Interchange is able to provide businesses with expert advice and guidance to ensure the implementation of the most effective EDI solution. 

2020 was a year like no other for eCommerce, with a significant expansion in scope for the entire industry. As a result, businesses looking to gain a competitive advantage in 2021 and beyond will require an EDI solution which facilitates improved strategic planning, develops opportunities for cost savings and drives efficiency through process optimisation.  

As eCommerce continues to see increased levels of demand, Data Interchange can help to ensure that your business is prepared with an effective and flexible supply chain management solution which gives you the edge over your competitors. If you’re looking for a fresh approach to EDI, optimised scalability, increased efficiency or supply chain integration, get in touch today. 

Transform your approach to supply chain management

Talk to an Expert








    Epicor values your privacy. Website terms and conditions.

    RELATED ARTICLES

    ANSI X12 EDI 850 T-Set: Structure, Benefits & Use Cases

    The VDA 4938 Message: Structure, Benefits & Use Cases

    The EDIFACT DELJIT T-Set: Structure, Benefits & Use Cases

    The EDIFACT DELFOR T-Set: Structure, Benefits & Use Cases

    The VDA 4915 Message Explained

    The VDA 4905 Message Explained

    T-Sets | ANSI X12 810

    How to optimise your EDI and ERP system integration

    T-Sets | ANSI X12 997

    T-Set | EDIFACT INVOIC

    T-Set | EDIFACT DESADV

    Exploring Cloud EDI Services in ERP: Architecture, Security, and Scalability

    VDA Explained: Message Standards and Transaction Sets

    ANSI X12 Explained: Message Standards and Transaction Sets

    EDIFACT Explained: Message Standards and Transaction Sets

    The Power of Web EDI for Global Supply Chains

    How to Get the Most Out of AS2

    How EDI Simplifies Transactions in the Manufacturing Sector

    Why Your Automotive Supply Chain Needs an OFTP2 Connection

    Digital Supply Chain Trends Impacting 2023 and Beyond

    How to Manage Global Supply Chain Complexities

    How to Overcome Supply Chain Risk

    What is the Future of Supply Chain Management in 2023?

    How to Improve your Supply Chain Strategy

    Why Scalable EDI is Integral to Rapid Business Growth

    How to Pick the Right EDI File Transfer Protocol

    An Introduction to OFTP2 (Odette File Transfer Protocol)

    What are the Costs of EDI Implementation?

    What is PEPPOL?

    A Guide to EDI Protocols

    EDI VAN Costs: Get the Right Solution for your Business

    How Much Does EDI Cost?

    How Do On-Premise EDI Solutions Work?

    Our Plan at Data Interchange to Change EDI and Supply Chain Management

    Integrating EDI with your ERP

    In-house vs Managed Service EDI

    What is an API Integration? And how does it affect EDI?

    Epicor Acquires EDI Provider Data Interchange

    6 Benefits of EDI in the Logistics Industry

    4 Challenges Facing the Logistics Industry and How to Overcome Them

    Top EDI Solution Providers in 2023

    Solving Supply Chain Problems in the Logistics Industry

    B2B EDI Integration Best Practices in 2023

    How to Choose The Right EDI Provider in 2022

    Supply Chain Analytics Trends in 2022

    Future-proof your business: Take Advantage of Market Growth

    Announcement: Andrew Filby becomes CEO of Data Interchange

    7 Advantages of EDI in The Automotive Industry

    Consumer Expectations cause Demand for Integrated Data

    How to Optimise Your Automotive Supply Chain Processes

    Post-Pandemic Supply Chain Challenges Increase the Pressure

    EDI Made Simple for the Automotive Industry

    Overcoming Supply Chain Visibility Issues in the Automotive Industry

    Complex Supply Chain Problems and Simple Solutions

    Supply Chain Flexibility: Why your customers need it

    5 Automotive Supply Chain Challenges Facing the Industry

    Supplier Performance Management Reimagined in 2023

    How to Unite Emerging Supply Chain Management Technology Trends

    Meet the Team: Marketing

    Supplier Management Best Practices after COVID-19

    The Future of EDI: Looking Beyond 2025

    The top three supply chain data exchange requirements

    A Crash Course on EDI Industry Standards: ANSI x12 vs EDIFACT vs OFTP and more

    What is EDI Mapping?

    What is EDI: The History and Future of Electronic Data Interchange

    The Future of the Automotive Supply Chain

    Supplier Relationship Management: How to reduce risk and improve performance

    How EDI-as-a-Service Changes Supply Chain Best Practices in 2021

    Agile Supplier Onboarding: Supply Chain Security in Uncertain Times

    The impact of failed EDI on Supply Chain

    Cloud-Based EDI Solutions vs On-Premise

    Different Types of EDI Compared

    5 Most Common EDI Implementation Issues and How to Solve Them

    Are your EDI documents ready for the new EU/UK customs border?

    B2B Integration Challenges

    EDI vs API: Bridge the B2B connectivity gap

    Ten things to look for in an EDI Managed Service Provider

    World Mental Health Day 2020

    Logicalis & Data Interchange – partnering for success

    EDI – A data integration service critical to business success

    Joining forces with SnapLogic: bringing together market leading iPaaS and EDI solutions

    Joining Data Interchange: My lockdown experience

    Data Interchange announces strategic partnership with SmarterPay

    Access new trading partners quickly for COVID-19 support

    Keeping supply chains moving

    Our Web EDI solution gets a makeover

    Coronavirus: Our Business Continuity Plan

    With love from Data Interchange ♥

    A new decade, renewed ambition and the next generation

    Brexit and EDI

    Data Interchange transform their Support service for an improved customer experience

    Interview: An update on Data Interchange’s new CEO, Robert Steiner

    Data Interchange appoints Robert Steiner as new CEO

    MQ messages over ENX – Renault

    Five key questions for your EDI provider

    Data Interchange at the Odette Conference 2018

    How to select the right EDI provider

    Future proof your EDI and unleash growth

    EDI: the Supply chain performance enhancer

    Taking cost out of the chain

    Non-EDI users held up in the mail

    Over 41% of companies at risk without EDI

    ​Consolidating VAN providers

    Increase visibility and productivity of supply chain logistics with Data Interchange’s B2B integration solutions

    Data Interchange wins large business of the year award

    Data Interchange launch new Support Portal

    Data Interchange will be showcasing our EDI solution offerings and promoting the benefits of MMOG/LE

    Metaldyne receive special recognition from Ford for 11th consecutive year

    Making the move to cloud based EDI Solutions

    Top 5 reasons to switch to EDI Managed Services

    Data Interchange to power QAD Managed EDI On Demand