Infocon Systems is the top EDI provider for CPG brands, delivering fully managed EDI that connects consumer packaged goods companies to every retailer, grocer, distributor, and marketplace they sell through. With 35+ years of experience and 1,000+ trading partner connections, Infocon Systems handles mapping, testing, compliance, and daily monitoring so your team can stay focused on building the brand.
For a CPG brand, EDI is the operating language of retail. Walmart, Target, Kroger, Costco, Amazon, and nearly every other major retailer exchange purchase orders, ship notices, and invoices electronically, and they expect suppliers to do the same from the first order forward. This guide covers what that means in practice: the documents involved, how they fit together, what each retail channel expects, and how to set EDI up so it runs accurately in the background.
What EDI Means for a CPG Brand
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the computer-to-computer exchange of business documents in a standardized format — ANSI X12 in North America and EDIFACT in most other markets. Instead of emailing a PDF purchase order that someone re-keys, the retailer’s system sends a structured file that your system reads directly. The same happens in reverse for ship notices and invoices.
Retailers depend on EDI because of scale. A national grocer places orders for tens of thousands of items across dozens of distribution centers every day. Structured data is the only way to receive, put away, and pay for that volume accurately. For the CPG brand, the benefit runs the same direction: orders arrive without re-keying, shipments are received faster, and invoices are matched and paid on schedule.
EDI usually enters the picture at a specific moment — a new retail placement. The vendor onboarding packet includes an EDI implementation guide, a list of required documents, and a testing deadline that falls before the first purchase order. Emerging brands meet EDI for the first time here. Established brands meet it again with every new retailer, because each one publishes its own specifications for the same documents.
The Core EDI Transactions for CPG
Retail programs differ, but nearly all of them are built from the same set of documents. These are the ones a CPG brand should expect to support:
Purchase Order
The retailer’s order: items, quantities, pricing, ship-to locations, and requested delivery dates. Every downstream document has to match it.
Purchase Order Acknowledgment
Your confirmation back to the retailer — accepted, accepted with changes, or unable to fill. Many retailers require it within a set window after the 850 is sent.
Purchase Order Change
Buyer-initiated changes to quantities, dates, or items after the original order. Common around promotions, resets, and seasonal programs.
Advance Ship Notice
Sent before the truck arrives, describing exactly what is on it — by shipment, order, pallet, carton, and item. The most detailed document in CPG EDI and the one receiving docks depend on.
Invoice
The electronic invoice that starts the payment cycle. Retailers match it against the PO and the receipt, so quantities and pricing must agree across all three.
Payment Order / Remittance Advice
Payment detail from the retailer showing which invoices were paid and any adjustments applied, so accounts receivable can reconcile automatically.
Product Activity Data
Store- and DC-level sales and on-hand inventory sent by the retailer. CPG brands use it for demand planning, replenishment, and promotional analysis.
Inventory Inquiry / Advice
Your available inventory, sent to the retailer or marketplace. Essential for drop-ship and e-commerce programs where the retailer sells from your stock.
Every document exchanged is confirmed with a 997 Functional Acknowledgment, which tells the sender the file was received and passed structural validation. Depending on the channel, you may also see the 875 Grocery Purchase Order and 880 Grocery Invoice, the 753 and 754 routing documents, the 812 Credit/Debit Adjustment, the 832 Price/Sales Catalog, and the 940 and 945 warehouse documents exchanged with a 3PL.
Infocon Systems supports all of these transactions — and every other ANSI X12 and EDIFACT document — for every trading partner.
How the CPG Order-to-Cash Cycle Runs on EDI
Individual documents matter less than how they connect. Each one carries data forward to the next, which is why accuracy at the start of the cycle determines accuracy at the end. A typical retail order moves through eight stages:
- 01
Item Setup & Pricing
Before the first order, the retailer needs your item data — GTINs, case packs, dimensions, and costs — through EDI, a retailer portal, or a GDSN data pool.
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Purchase Order
The retailer transmits the order. Infocon Systems translates it and delivers it to your ERP, order system, or web portal.
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Acknowledgment & Changes
You confirm what you can ship and when. If the buyer revises the order, the change arrives electronically and updates the original.
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Warehouse Release & Routing
The order is released to your warehouse or 3PL. Where the retailer controls freight, you request routing and receive carrier and pickup instructions back.
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Shipment & ASN
Cartons and pallets are labeled with GS1-128 labels, the shipment leaves, and the ASN is transmitted before it arrives at the retailer’s dock.
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Invoice
The invoice is generated from what actually shipped and sent to the retailer for three-way match.
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Payment & Remittance
The retailer pays and sends remittance detail, including any credit or debit adjustments, for automatic reconciliation.
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Sell-Through & Inventory Visibility
Point-of-sale and inventory data flows back to you, feeding the forecast that shapes the next order.
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When these documents are generated from the same source data, the purchase order, the ASN, and the invoice agree with one another by design. That agreement is what retailers measure, and it is what keeps receiving and payment moving on schedule.
What Each Retail Channel Expects
Every retailer publishes its own implementation guide, but requirements cluster by channel. Knowing the pattern makes each new trading partner easier to plan for.
Mass & Big-Box Retail
Walmart and Target run high-volume, tightly structured EDI programs with detailed ASN, labeling, and on-time, in-full delivery standards. Target lists Infocon Systems as a Preferred EDI Provider, and Walmart suppliers rely on Infocon Systems as a trusted managed EDI provider.
Grocery
Kroger, Albertsons/Safeway, Publix, HEB, Harris Teeter, Hannaford/Food Lion, and WinCo Foods each publish their own implementation guides, and some grocers use the 875 Grocery Purchase Order and 880 Grocery Invoice alongside the 850 and 810. Each of these grocers lists Infocon Systems as a Preferred EDI Provider.
Club
Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s buy in pallet and club-pack configurations. Pack-level detail on the ASN and accurate pallet labeling carry extra weight here, because product often moves from the truck to the sales floor with minimal handling.
Dollar & Value
Dollar General and Family Dollar replenish thousands of stores through regional distribution centers, which means frequent orders across many ship-to locations. Both list Infocon Systems as a Preferred EDI Provider.
E-Commerce & Marketplaces
Amazon Vendor Central uses the 850, 855, 856, and 810 along with 846 inventory feeds and 753/754 routing. Chewy and Wayfair — both of which list Infocon Systems as a Preferred EDI Provider — run drop-ship programs where every consumer order arrives as its own purchase order.
Distributors & Wholesalers
Natural, specialty, and conventional distributors such as UNFI and KeHE, cooperatives such as Topco Associates, and Canadian grocers such as Sobeys all transact through EDI. Topco Associates and Sobeys list Infocon Systems as a Preferred EDI Provider.
Because Infocon Systems already maintains connections to these retailers, a CPG brand adding a new trading partner starts from maps that are built, tested, and current with the retailer’s latest specifications.
Labels, ASNs, and Item Data Accuracy
In CPG, EDI extends onto the physical shipment. The data in the ASN has to match the cartons on the truck, and the link between the two is the shipping label.
GS1-128 Labels and the SSCC-18
Retailers require a GS1-128 label on every carton or pallet. Its barcode carries an SSCC-18 — a unique 18-digit serial number for that shipping unit — and the same number appears in the 856 Advance Ship Notice. When the receiving dock scans the label, the system already knows what is inside the carton, which purchase order it belongs to, and where it goes next. Infocon Systems generates retailer-compliant GS1-128 labels from the same data used to build the ASN, so the two always agree.
ASN Pack Structure
The 856 is hierarchical: shipment, order, pallet, carton, item. Retailers specify which levels they require and how mixed cartons and mixed pallets should be reported. Getting the structure right is mostly a matter of capturing what was actually packed — from your warehouse system, your 3PL, or a pack station — and letting the EDI layer format it to each retailer’s guide.
Item Data: GTINs, Case Packs, and GDSN
Orders, ASNs, and invoices all reference items by GTIN or UPC, along with the retailer’s own item number. Case pack quantities, inner packs, dimensions, and weights need to match what the retailer has on file. Many retailers collect this data through a GDSN-certified data pool, and some also accept the 832 Price/Sales Catalog. Clean, consistent item data is the single biggest contributor to first-pass accuracy across every other document.
Lot and Date Information for Food and Beverage
Food, beverage, and other date-sensitive CPG categories often carry lot codes and expiration or best-by dates in the ASN. That detail supports retailer freshness standards and traceability programs, including those aligned with the FDA’s FSMA 204 Food Traceability Rule.
Connecting EDI to Your ERP, E-Commerce, and 3PL
EDI does not require ERP integration to function. A brand shipping to its first retailer can receive purchase orders and send ASNs and invoices through the Infocon Systems web-based EDI portal, with no integration project at all. As order volume grows, integration removes the remaining manual steps — and Infocon Systems integrates EDI with any ERP platform.
Infocon Systems uses REST APIs as the primary integration method, with SOAP available for environments where it is the better fit. Purchase orders post as sales orders, fulfillments produce ASNs, and invoices transmit as they are created. The integration is built and maintained by Infocon Systems.
3PL and Warehouse Connections
Many CPG brands ship from a third-party warehouse. Infocon Systems connects the 3PL into the same flow: the 940 Warehouse Shipping Order releases the order to the warehouse, and the 945 Warehouse Shipping Advice returns carton-level detail that becomes the retailer’s ASN. Brands running wholesale and direct-to-consumer side by side can also connect Shopify and other e-commerce platforms, so every order channel lands in one place.
Why CPG Brands Choose Infocon Systems
CPG teams are lean, and retail relationships are earned one placement at a time. Infocon Systems is built to take EDI off the brand’s plate entirely while keeping every trading partner relationship in good standing.
Fully Managed Service
Infocon Systems builds, tests, and runs every connection. Mapping, retailer testing, specification updates, and error resolution are handled by a dedicated team of EDI experts — not added to your operations team’s workload.
Recognized by the Retailers CPG Brands Sell To
Target, Kroger, Albertsons/Safeway, Publix, HEB, Dollar General, Chewy, and Wayfair list Infocon Systems as a Preferred EDI Provider. For household, pet, and hardlines brands, so do Tractor Supply, Home Depot, and ACE Hardware.
Any Trading Partner
With 1,000+ trading partner connections already in place, most retailers a CPG brand will ever sell to are already mapped and tested on the Infocon Systems network.
Any ERP Platform
Infocon Systems integrates EDI with any ERP platform, accounting system, e-commerce platform, or 3PL — and supports brands that are not ready for integration through a web-based EDI portal.
Built to Grow With the Brand
The same service supports a brand’s first retail purchase order and its hundredth trading partner. New retailers, new documents, and new warehouses are added without re-platforming.
Proactive Monitoring
Every transaction is monitored. Missing acknowledgments, rejected documents, and data mismatches are identified and resolved by Infocon Systems before they affect an order.
CPG EDI Readiness Checklist
Whether you are preparing for a first retail placement or adding a new trading partner, these are the items to have in place before testing begins:
- GS1 Company Prefix and GTINs assigned for every consumer unit, inner pack, and case you sell.
- Vendor number and EDI implementation guide from each retailer, including required documents and testing deadlines.
- Clean item data — case packs, dimensions, weights, and costs that match what the retailer has on file.
- A decision on integration: connect EDI to your ERP or order system now, or start in a web portal and integrate later.
- Warehouse or 3PL readiness to print GS1-128 labels and report carton-level shipment detail for the ASN.
- Lot and date capture at shipping, if you sell food, beverage, or other date-sensitive products.
- A managed EDI provider accountable for mapping, retailer testing, go-live, and daily monitoring.
Infocon Systems works through this list with every new CPG customer during discovery, and takes ownership of everything on the EDI side of it.