The data format called EDI (electronic data interchange) is used between trading partners such as suppliers and retailers for data exchange purposes. (What Is EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)?
, n.d.)
The pain points:
- Big retailers in the supply chain industry sharing information through legacy data formats or manually through e-mail and PDF document exchanges
- Legacy data formats of big companies are not simple enough - especially for start-ups!
- This creates a roadblock to connecting with big players in the industry
- A lot of manual exchanges prone to human errors & creating overhead costs
[...] all the other retailers obviously are not the most modern companies in the world. So they would either send you their orders manually… So you get them in an email in a PDF or so, or they send it in this like weird legacy data format called EDI… Either way, you as a modern brand, with a modern tech stack, with like modern techies maybe, or no techies at all, even you don't really know how to deal with this like legacy orders that you would receive. So you only have the opportunity or the possibility to use this manual data exchange. So you get the orders manually. [...] (Interview Partner)
🗄️References:
What is EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)? (n.d.). EDI Basics. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.edibasics.com/what-is-edi/
Personal Interview