Infocon Systems is a trusted managed EDI provider for Walmart suppliers, delivering fully managed EDI solutions that handle every aspect of Walmart compliance — from AS2 connectivity and document mapping to OTIF monitoring and ongoing compliance management. With over 35 years of EDI experience and active connections with 1,000+ trading partners including Walmart, Infocon Systems makes Walmart EDI compliance straightforward for suppliers of any size.
Walmart pioneered electronic data interchange in the retail industry. Since mandating EDI for suppliers in 1988, Walmart has built one of the most sophisticated automated supply chain systems in the world. Today, every supplier — from global consumer goods companies to emerging brands — must exchange standardized EDI documents to do business with Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Walmart.com.
The purpose is efficiency and accuracy at scale. Walmart processes millions of purchase orders, shipments, and invoices every week. Manual processes introduce errors, delays, and cost. EDI eliminates those problems by enabling structured, machine-readable documents to flow between Walmart’s systems and each supplier’s systems without human intervention. For suppliers, achieving and maintaining compliance is not optional — it’s a prerequisite for the relationship and a critical factor in maintaining a strong supplier relationship and keeping your business running smoothly.
Core EDI Documents Walmart Requires
Walmart uses ANSI X12 EDI standards for all electronic document exchange. Depending on your supplier type — warehouse-delivered, drop-ship vendor (DSV), or import — the specific documents you need will vary. Below are the core and common EDI transaction sets for Walmart suppliers.
Purchase Order
The foundation of every Walmart transaction. Contains item numbers, quantities, pricing, ship-to locations, and requested delivery dates. Frequency varies by product velocity — daily to weekly.
Purchase Order Acknowledgment
Confirms receipt and ability to fulfill the PO. Must be sent within 24 hours of receiving the 850. Failure to acknowledge triggers compliance flags in Walmart’s system.
Advance Ship Notice (ASN)
The most compliance-critical document. Details shipment contents, packaging hierarchy, carrier info, SSCC-18 labels, and tracking. Must be transmitted before the shipment arrives — typically within 30 minutes of dispatch.
Invoice
Triggers the payment cycle. Must match the original PO and ASN data precisely. Discrepancies between invoice, PO, and ASN create deductions and payment delays.
Functional Acknowledgment
A technical receipt confirming that an EDI document was received and parsed successfully. Required for every inbound transaction. Should be returned within 24 hours.
Purchase Order Change
Sent by Walmart when quantities, dates, or items are modified after the original 850. Suppliers must process these changes and update fulfillment accordingly.
Application Advice
Walmart’s error report. Sent when an inbound EDI document fails validation. Contains specific error codes that must be resolved and the document retransmitted.
Infocon Systems supports all of these transactions — and every other ANSI X12 document type Walmart requires — out of the box. Our team handles all mapping, testing, and ongoing compliance so your internal team doesn’t need EDI expertise.
AS2 Connectivity: Walmart’s Required Protocol
Walmart mandates AS2 (Applicability Statement 2) as the primary communication protocol for EDI. AS2 sends data securely over the internet using encryption and digital certificates, creating a direct point-to-point connection between your systems and Walmart’s.
Suppliers processing more than 5,500 invoices per year are required to use AS2. Smaller-volume suppliers have the option to use Walmart’s WebEDI portal at no cost, though most growing suppliers transition to full AS2 as volumes increase. Walmart also supports VAN (Value-Added Network) connections and SFTP for certain supplier categories, particularly drop-ship vendors.
Walmart requires SHA-256 signed digital certificates for AS2 connections. These certificates authenticate your identity and encrypt all data in transit. You exchange certificates with Walmart during onboarding through Retail Link’s GEM (Global Enterprise Mailbox) configuration. An expired certificate immediately halts all EDI communication — Infocon Systems manages certificate lifecycle and renewals as part of our managed service so this never catches you off guard.
OTIF Compliance: On-Time, In-Full
OTIF is Walmart’s most important supplier performance metric and a key measure of your reliability as a supplier. OTIF measures two things: On-Time — did the shipment arrive within Walmart’s specified delivery window? In-Full — did the shipment contain exactly the quantities ordered?
Maintaining strong OTIF scores is essential for a healthy Walmart supplier relationship. OTIF performance is tracked in Walmart’s Retail Link portal under the compliance scorecard, and consistent underperformance can affect your standing as a supplier.
EDI plays a direct role in OTIF compliance. Accurate and timely ASNs (EDI 856) ensure Walmart’s systems are aligned with what is physically arriving at the distribution center. When ASN data does not match the actual shipment — wrong quantities, missing items, incorrect tracking — it triggers receiving delays and compliance flags.
ASN Best Practices: Getting the Most Critical Document Right
The EDI 856 Advance Ship Notice is the most compliance-sensitive document for Walmart suppliers. ASN accuracy directly affects your OTIF scores and overall standing with Walmart.
Transmit Immediately After Shipment
Send the ASN within 30 minutes of dispatch. Late ASNs — those arriving after the physical shipment reaches the DC — are the single most common compliance issue for Walmart suppliers.
Match ASN Data to Physical Shipment
ASN quantities, item numbers, and carton counts must match what’s physically on the truck. Any mismatch triggers receiving delays and SQEP compliance flags.
Maintain Correct HL Hierarchy
Walmart’s ASN structure requires strict hierarchy: Shipment (HL1) → Order (HL2) → Tare/Pack (HL3) → Item (HL4). Incorrect nesting causes rejections.
Validate SSCC-18 Labels
Every pallet and carton label must match the ASN data exactly. SSCC-18 barcodes link each physical container to its ASN entry — mismatches break Walmart’s receiving process.
Monitor 997 and 824 Responses Daily
Check functional acknowledgments (997) and application advice (824) messages daily. Errors must be corrected and retransmitted before the shipment arrives at Walmart’s DC.
Infocon Systems includes automated ASN validation as part of our managed EDI service, catching formatting errors, hierarchy issues, and data mismatches before they reach Walmart.
Retail Link, SQEP, and Food Traceability
Retail Link is Walmart’s supplier portal — the command center for managing your Walmart business. While EDI handles automated document exchange, Retail Link provides visibility into compliance performance, sales data, inventory levels, and financial transactions.
Walmart’s Supplier Quality Excellence Program (SQEP) tracks supplier compliance across ASN accuracy, on-time delivery, and labeling standards. SQEP penalties are applied at the purchase order level and can accumulate quickly for suppliers who are not actively monitoring their scores.
Walmart has also introduced food traceability requirements under FSMA Section 204, requiring additional Key Data Elements (KDEs) within the EDI 856 ASN for food and beverage suppliers. All food suppliers must update their SSCC-18 pallet and GS1-128 case barcode labeling to meet these new requirements. Compliance is monitored through the SQEP dashboard and the ASN Dashboard within Retail Link.
Direct ERP Integration
Infocon Systems integrates Walmart EDI with any ERP platform your team uses:
Walmart purchase orders flow straight into your ERP. Invoices and ASNs generate and transmit automatically from your existing workflow. The result is a closed-loop system where EDI and your ERP operate as one — no manual data entry, no re-keying, no gaps.
Infocon Systems uses REST APIs as the primary integration method, with SOAP available for complex multi-step scenarios where it's the better fit. Either way, the integration is built and maintained by Infocon Systems' team, not yours.
Why Walmart Suppliers Choose Infocon Systems
Infocon Systems is a managed EDI provider with 35+ years of experience supporting suppliers who trade with Walmart and 1,000+ other retail trading partners. We provide a fully managed, cloud-based EDI solution that eliminates the complexity of maintaining your own EDI infrastructure.
For Walmart specifically, Infocon Systems handles AS2 connectivity and certificate management, document mapping for all required Walmart EDI transaction sets, automated ASN validation and error detection before transmission, direct ERP integration with any system, real-time compliance monitoring and proactive error prevention, and 24/7/365 support from dedicated EDI specialists.
Whether you are a new Walmart supplier setting up EDI for the first time or an established vendor looking to strengthen compliance and improve OTIF scores, Infocon Systems serves as the extension of your EDI team — handling the day-to-day so you can focus on growing your Walmart business.