Oct 2017
This post was updated to reflect current trends and information.
With the evolution of eCommerce in the last few years, EDI integration is getting more and more widespread in the e-retail vertical. This trend is due to the heritage of the traditional retail businesses. Why is this happening and how EDI is helping e-commerce retail stores?
According to Statista.com, in 2016, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 1.86 trillion US dollars and e-retail revenues are projected to grow to 4.48 trillion US dollars in 2021. Online shopping is one of the most popular online activities worldwide.
Therefore, today, e-commerce sales is one of the segments of the economy with a huge development potential.
What are the most popular e-commerce platforms in 2019?
Plenty of e-commerce platforms are available on the Internet, but the most popular and most effective in 2019 market are the following:
| Shopify |  |
| Bigcommerce |  |
| Magento |  |
| WooCommerce |  |
| Volusion |  |
If you look at the comparative table in Google trends, you will see that Shopify is the leader in terms of how many businesses use this platform for their own eCommerce, versus how many they show interest in the other e-commerce platforms.
How many Stores are using Shopify?
Launched in 2004 Shopify is one of the leading Canadian e-commerce platforms, trusted by over 500,000 businesses worldwide. As new shops are signing up every day, the real exact number is higher. For more information abut shopify, you can visit their website.
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Business owners, including e-commerce store owners, are all always looking for a better way to improve efficiency, and customer service in a very well connected digital world.
In that direction, the Drop-ship concept has emerged to become one of the top delivery model adopted with major ecommerce retailers. With this concept, consumers have access to a large inventory of goods, delivered directly from the manufacturer (most of the time). This is delivering a smooth shopping experience that is secure, convenient and comfortable.
In order for the ecommerce owners to compete in this new reality, their offerings of products and services, should be built in such an efficient way, where their items’ prices, stock and inventory availability, are all up-to-date right from their manufacturer’s system, in near real-time.
Their delivery schedules are also a factor: eCommerce stores should be equipped with real-time calculation of delivery cost and ETD, again right from the shipping or transport company.
EDI integration between an eCommerce platform and the manufacturers, in the drop-ship world, is one of the best options to accomplish the above objectives. EDI helps streamline the Supply-chain management and improve efficiency.
To know more about the reasons why you should integrate EDI with your Shopify eCommerce store, read our previous blog called “Top 3 Reasons for EDI integration with Shopify”
Benefits of EDI
It’s no secret to anyone that the traditional methods of document management are outdated, they are quite costly and can impede the interaction between trading partners. This becomes especially noticeable when the business grows.
EDI interchange has existed for more than 30 years. Over the years, EDI has been tested and proven to work, in North America and Europe. EDI has repeatedly and most importantly demonstrated its effectiveness in reducing human errors and improving quality of information.
EDI is a major helper for online stores
EDI service translates into electronic format (or messages), the entire interaction between the eCommerce store, the supplier and the consumer – from the order to the signature of delivery documents.
The exchange of information takes place directly between the systems of trading partners, therefore, the influence of the human factor, and errors are at its minimum.
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EDI significantly simplifies and speeds up the logistics work: ordering, packaging, shipping and delivery.
Comparing eCommerce store to a traditional outlet store, the latter will have more constraints and limitations on stock availability and delivery methods: with an online store having EDI integration in place, this problem does not exist. All availabilities are up-to date right from the supplier’s system. An eCommerce store owner, with integration capabilities will not worry about having an “empty shelf”…he does not have to worry about hiring more employees to answer customer service calls.
EDI integration, empowers eCommerce online stores with the capability to reduce their costs, increase efficiency, improve stock availability and customer service.
If you are interested to learn more about this topic or any EDI integration related issue, don’t hesitate to Contact us for a free Consultation and we will be more than happy to answer your concerns and questions.
