Question: Roger, What is eCommerce and how does EDI help eCommerce activities?
Answer: Thank you for your question, I will answer in two parts if I may:
What is eCommerce?
eCommerce has been described as being a virtual market place, whereby all the transactions that occur in the physical world are also available on computer systems via the Internet. The main activities of eCommerce include purchasing, selling, marketing, services and distribution via the World Wide Web. eCommerce transactions are recording tremendous growth, multiplying on a yearly basis with many transactions now taking place on Social Media sites such as Facebook and Pinterest (Social Commerce) as well as the more established online stores such as Amazon, eBay, Buy.com etc.
How can EDI help eCommerce?
EDI allows retailers and distributors to have speedy and reliable communications. Retailers can easily determine product availability of a distributor prior to placing an order. If the distributor is out of stock temporarily, the order can be passed directly to the manufacturer, with the distributor receiving credit for the sale. EDI also enables the supplier’s online site to communicate direct with the supplier’s ERP/Accounting software and 3PL, i.e. when an order is placed on an online site it will immediately be sent via EDI to the suppliers ERP system and 3PL for shipping. By using fully integrated EDI, there is no need for the supplier to re-key the data thus saving on human data entry errors and staff resources. Orders are encrypted for Internet transmission and then converted to EDI format for internal processing. Thus EDI has become an integral part of business which has evolved from transactions between businesses, to those between individuals and businesses, i.e. EDI works with both B2B and B2C market sectors.
Written by Roger Leyden, Director of European Sales & Marketing at B2BGateway.Net
For further information on how B2BGateway's cloud based EDI solutions can help your eCommerce transactions please visit www.B2BGateway.Net or email Sales@B2BGateway.Net