Retail giant Target to crack down on suppliers.

Retail giant Target is cracking down on suppliers as part of a multi-billion-dollar overhaul to speed up its supply chain and better compete with rivals including Walmart and Amazon.

The sixth-largest U.S. retailer by sales plans to tighten deadlines for deliveries to its warehouses, hike fines for late deliveries, and could institute penalties of up to $10,000 for inaccuracies in product information, according to a letter sent to suppliers recently.

The new rules and penalties are detailed in a letter sent to suppliers. They will start to take effect on May 30 and will be rolled out over the next 60-90 days. In the letter to suppliers, Target said the goal was to keep products stocked to help eliminate out of stock situations and therefore missed sales. The new rules, detailed in the letter, call for domestic suppliers to give a single-day arrival date for shipments to Target's warehouses. Domestic suppliers constitute the majority of Target's vendor base.

These suppliers will no longer have a "grace period" to ship a few days after the promised date without penalties, the letter says. Suppliers said the current grace period for shipments is two to 12 days depending on product category. Target will also hike fines on late shipments to 5 percent of the order cost, according to the letter, which adds that the retailer is considering "escalating charges of $5,000-$10,000" for suppliers who fail to provide complete and accurate product information.

Household, paper, pet products and center-store grocery suppliers have to comply with the rules in June; health and beauty vendors in July and divisions including apparel, home and electronics in August.

If your organization would like help to meet Target’s new rules and deadlines, please contact B2BGateway today on +1 401 491 9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

EDI Value Add – It’s Not Just All About Orders & Invoices!

Although the main backbone of EDI is exchanging electronic orders and invoices between trading partners, there is so much more value add that a well-functioning EDI solution can give the user. Here is just a small selection of some of the solutions that EDI can deliver and the extra value they give the user:

When and where will my goods be delivered (EDI 856)? The Advance Ship Notice EDI 856 enables the sender to describe the contents and configuration of a shipment in various levels of detail. The goal of the ASN is to provide information to the destination's receiving operations well in advance of delivery. The ASN delivers value add to the user in 3 distinct areas: cost, accuracy, and flexibility.

How much stock can I sell (EDI 846)? The Inventory Update EDI 846 informs trading partners on goods on hand and in stock. This document tends to be traded frequently and brings value add in that the seller can remove out of stock items from their listings.

Where are my goods now (EDI 214)? The Transportation Carrier Shipment Status Message EDI 214 can be used by shippers to let trading partners know of the progress of goods in transit.

How do I know I got paid (EDI 820)? The Payment Order/Remittance Advice EDI 820 is sent by an organization to a supplier when payment is made, especially in the case of an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). The value add here is that it provides suppliers with the ability to reconcile which invoices have been paid in full for any given payment.

How much did we sell today in….(EDI 852)? The Product Activity Data EDI 852 can be used by retailers to let distributors and suppliers what goods were sold at a given time period and in what location. The value add is that suppliers can plan and ship accordingly to meet their customers’ needs.

I want my shelves constantly stocked, but I don’t want the hassle of remembering to order: EDI can help retailers but a working Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) solution in place where the onus is on the supplier to have the retailers’ shelves constantly stocked at an agreed level.

For further information on value add EDI solutions please contact B2BGateway today at +1 (401) 491-9595 (US), +353 61 708533 (EU) or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net  You can also visit us online at www.B2BGateway.Net

Tesco to introduce 'No ASN No Delivery' policy.

Tesco recently invited B2BGateway to a private presentation in their distribution centre at Didcot on the rollout of ASN’s (Advance Ship Notices) for all suppliers. Although Tesco introduced ASN’s as far back as 2007/2008, these were never fully addressed or regimented. That is all about to change as Tesco will be insisting that all suppliers will have to provide an ASN before delivery is accepted. Dave Ellis, Tesco End to End Supply Chain Manager, explained “If a suppliers delivery truck shows up at one of Tesco’s distribution centres without an ASN, it will be sent away again and no delivery will be accepted until such time as the driver returns with an ASN”.  Quite simply put: No ASN = No Delivery!

 

The ASN rollout will begin immediately and will be introduced over a phased basis. Tesco will contact all suppliers informing them of their ASN requirement and giving the supplier 12 weeks to comply with same. Suppliers in the fresh meat and poultry sectors will also have to add a country of origin section to their ASN. Having a regimented ASN policy will obviously give Tesco supply chain advantages, but it will also help suppliers as it will help them to get paid quicker with fewer disputes on quantities, weights etc.

 
If you require help with implementing Tesco’s new No ASN No Delivery policy please contact B2BGateway today on +353 61 708533 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

 

What are chargebacks and how can I avoid them?

A chargeback is a fee that a customer (usually a retailer) places on a supplier for errors in not following the retailer’s business requirements. The chargeback was introduced to offset the extra cost the retailer incurs as a result of the supplier’s non-compliance.

 
Chargeback schemes began in the 1980’s as a way for retailers to recoup costs incurred due to supply chain errors. At the time, many suppliers objected to them as unfair profit centers for large, powerful retailers. Although purely punitive fines are not legal, cost recovery is—so chargebacks quickly became adopted by most retailers. It’s easy to understand how mislabeled, mis-packed, late, and wrong-quantity shipments add up to real labor costs and out of stock difficulties for retailers. Distasteful as they may be for suppliers, chargebacks make business sense for retailers in trying to recover costs and are here to stay for the foreseeable future.
 
What can lead to a chargeback being applied to my organization?

·         Early, late, or non-authorized partial delivery of goods or services.

·         Missing, incorrect, non-readable or wrongly placed shipping labels.

·         Substituting products without prior agreement.

·         Ship to incorrect location.

·         Product packaged wrongly according to retailers agreement.

·         Damages that did not occur during transit.

·         EDI 810 invoice not matching original purchase order and/or with wrong terms and details

·         EDI 856 ASN (Advance Ship Notice) does not arrive on time or does not match items in carton.

 
How can my organization eliminate chargebacks or at least reduce greatly the potential of receiving them from my customers?

·         Comply fully with customers EDI requirements.

·         Make sure labels are correct and can be read or scanned easily.

·         Do not substitute products without prior approval.

·         Ship to the correct location.

·         Pack items correctly according to retailer’s requirements.

·         Try to make sure goods arrive in perfect order.

·         Deliver the correct products, quantities and cartons

·         Send accurate and complete EDI 810 invoices.

·         Make sure EDI 856 ASN (Advance Ship Notice) arrives on time and details are correct.

 
To comply fully with your customers EDI requirements and business rules, I would recommend that you enlist the help of a good 3^rd party EDI provider. 3^RD Party EDI providers immediately know retailers requirements, what is expected and how they must be delivered. If you would like to know more about outsourcing your EDI needs to B2BGateway and how we can help you eliminate or greatly reduce potential chargebacks please call +1 (401) 491 9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

Top 5 Reasons Retailers Outsource Their EDI Testing & Validation Needs to B2BGateway.

Outsourced EDI Testing & Validation is where a Retailer or Trading Partner outsources their EDI testing and compliance requirements to B2BGateway. B2BGateway helps the Retailer to onboard new suppliers by providing a custom built testing and validation portal for all Suppliers. Suppliers will be able to quickly and easily complete testing and validation for each EDI document against the document specifications and business rules supplied by the Retailer in a timely and efficient manner.

Here are the top 5 reasons Retailers outsource this requirement to B2BGateway:

1.    Saves Time: B2BGateway.Net will communicate, of the Retailers with all their Suppliers to assure that all the EDI documents meet the standards of the Retailers mapping specifications.

2. Easy: B2BGateway.Net has a simple, easy to follow web-based testing system in which both the Retailer and the Supplier can check on the status of the testing at anytime, day or night 24/7.
3. Customizable: The B2BGateway.Net testing and validation service is completely customizable and scalable to meet the Retailers current EDI testing and validation needs as well as all future needs.
4. Experience: With over 15 years EDI experience, B2BGateway.Net has seen almost every variation and deviation to the EDI standard and is a GS1 accredited solution provider.
5. Existing Testing Partners? No worries, B2BGateway.Net can work in conjunction with your existing partner to offer the Retailers trading partners greater choice.

For further information of B2BGateway’s outsourced EDI Testing and Validation solutions please call +1 (401) 491 9595 ext 5 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net

Integrate your Omni-Channel Logistics with cloud based EDI solutions from B2BGateway.

 

To fulfill goods and services for the ever increasing world of Omni-Channel Retail, suppliers have to create excellence in their Omni-Channel Logistics operations. Omni-Channel Retailing is best described by Wikipedia as the evolution of multi-channel retailing, but is concentrated more on a seamless approach to the consumer experience through all available shopping channels, i.e. mobile internet devices, computers, bricks-and-mortar, television, radio, direct mail, catalog and so on. Retailers are meeting the new customer demands by deploying specialized supply chain strategies and software solutions.

The major challenge for suppliers, in order to meet the retailers’ new omni-channel needs, is to get their goods and services to the correct channel as quickly and as accurately as possible and, needless to say,  in the most cost effective manner.

In order to help suppliers achieve excellence in Omni-Channel Logistics, B2BGateway has developed full end to end seamless connectivity between the supplier and all parties in the supply chain from box store retailers (Wal-Mart, Target, CVS, etc.) to online retailers (Amazon, Buy.com, etc.), to manufacturers, third party logistics providers (3PL) and even the suppliers own online shopping carts (which may be powered by online platform providers such as 3dcart, Volusion, Magento, etc.).

 

Through specially developed, cloud based EDI software, B2BGateway’s Omni-Channel Logistics solution fully integrates the suppliers ERP software with all parties in the supply chain, thus allowing fully automated and seamless connectivity for the exchange of all business documentation needed such as Purchase Orders (EDI 850), Invoices (EDI 810), Inventory Updates (EDI 846), Warehouse Shipping Orders (EDI 940), Advanced Shipping Notices (EDI 856) and so forth.

  

As there is full automation and no need to re-key data, the supplier benefits greatly from increased speed, increased accuracy, greater visibility and reduced labor overheads.

 

If you would like to learn more about B2BGateway’s fully integrated Omni-Channel Logistics solution please call +1 401-491-9595 or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net