Retailers Save Time, Money With EDI
The bars and lines of the Universal Product Code (UPC) and the e-mail-like network of electronic data interchange (EDI) are becoming the uniform language of retailing, but how does one learn this way of communicating?
That question was on the minds of the more than 39 retailers and businesspeople who braved heavy rainstorms on Oct. 20 to attend “EDI Made Simple,” a seminar hosted at the California Market Center in Los Angeles by businesses specializing in solving the apparel industry’s issues with EDI. Those companies were Apparel Information Management System (AIMS), based in Santa Ana, Calif.; Innovative Systems LLC, based in Laguna Hills, Calif.; Progressive Label, based in Bell, Calif.; and Fashion Business Inc., a Los Angeles–based nonprofit organization that provides educational opportunities for the apparel industry.
Panel participants spent 90 minutes explaining how EDI transports business information between companies as large as J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and as small as an up-and-coming designer selling new fashions out of a loft. With EDI, UPC information is mixed in with a stew of back-office retail tasks, including managing purchase orders, advance shipping notices and invoices. Running business tasks through EDI saves time and money and often can save businesses from expensive charge-backs, according to Henry Cherner, a featured speaker and the principal of AIMS.
“It’s a whole new language you have to learn,” he said. “But it makes shipping a lot easier.”
Jumping into this business matrix starts with getting a UPC, which identifies a company, from the Dayton, Ohio–based Uniform Code Council. UCC membership currently ranges from $750 to $9,500.
After attaining a UPC and building an EDI mailbox, similar to an e-mail inbox, companies are ready to trade business information through EDI. Larger companies such as IBM Corp. and General Electric Co. have their own networks. AIMS builds order-processing systems used by businesses including C&C California Inc., Blue Cult Inc., Frankie B., Juicy Couture, Trina Turk Inc. and Bella Dahl.
Seminar speakers said many small companies outsource their EDI management tasks to service bureaus specializing in EDI, but large companies typically purchase their own EDI systems. Investment costs for an EDI system range from $10,000 to $15,000.
Melbe Sweet, general manager for Los Angeles–based accessories manufacturer Lisa Toland Collection, attended the seminar and said her company will be investing in EDI software because it is a business necessity.
“We’re at a point now where we have to buy into the system or we can’t grow as a company,” Sweet said.
—Andrew Asch
