We are excited to announce that you can now send orders from Reserve Storage through EDI to any retail location! We have partnered with SPS Commerce to help you quickly set up the connection between your retailer and our network so that we can:
- Ingest your POs from retailers (EDI 850)
- Send back confirmation/acceptance (EDI 855)
- Prepare the inventory in our warehouse according to the retailer's standards
- Ship the inventory and send an ASN (EDI 856) back to the retailer
Setting up the connection between your retailer, Flexport, and SPS Commerce
Please note, the process outlined below can take 4-16 weeks depending on the retailer
- Please fill out this form to request support for a retailer through the EDI Partnership with SPS
- Ensure you have the latest version of the retailer's routing guide on hand. This can typically be found on the retailer's vendor portal and contains information on preparing the shipment, scheduling an appointment, communicating through EDI, etc.
- We will respond within 2 business days with an estimate on when we anticipate being able to support the retailer(s) that you requested. This email will also contain next steps for us getting your product into our Reserve Storage locations and ensuring that we have all the information we need to successfully route your orders
- Once you have heard from us on an estimated timeline for your retailers, you will need to kick off the process for establishing the connection between Flexport and SPS
- If you are an existing SPS Commerce customer, please email your SPS Account Manager and tell them you would like to connect to Flexport through EDI and which retailers you would like to connect for. Please include wcmalina@spscommerce.com on CC so that we can ensure the connection is supported from our end as well
- If you do not already have an SPS account, please set up an account by filling out the form here. Once your account is set up, please tell your account manager which retailers you would like to connect Flexport to through EDI
- You will need to sign some paperwork with SPS Commerce to get the connection established. Please note, any fees negotiated with SPS Commerce are independent of Flexport and will be billed to you by SPS
- Once the paperwork is signed, SPS will begin establishing the connection from the retailer to Flexport, and we will begin testing on our end as well. If there are any changes in the estimated launch date communicated originally, we will contact you through email
- ~1 week prior to launching a retailer, we will confirm with you the date when we expect to be ready to receive POs for this retailer. Please communicate this date to SPS Commerce as well so that they know to begin routing POs to us on that day
Other steps/tips to prepare to send to retailers
- Ensure that your inventory is in Reserve Storage and all your SKUs are updated with correct information on
- Case quantity
- Case dimensions and weight
- UPC, MSKU, other product identifiers
- Please consolidate your inventory in 1 Reserve Storage location. This will ensure that all POs received from retailers can be prepared and sent together
- Prior to go-live, update the "ship from" address in the retailer's portal (if necessary) so that they know where your inventory will be coming from