EDI and Order Processing for Shopify Users

The Shopify platform provides many entrepreneurs the freedom to launch their businesses. Without significant investment, a brand can go from a mere idea to a company handling orders from online shoppers. But what happens as that company grows and it gains the attention of large retailers who want to carry its products? That usually means Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) capabilities are required, and it can add complexity. But with the right third-party provider, EDI and order processing for Shopify users can be a straightforward process that doesn’t consume valuable time.

The growth of Shopify has been meteoric, and it has cemented its place as a preferred platform for online sellers. But as these sellers grow and their products become more popular, orders arrive from more and more channels.

With success, it’s no longer simply about managing the purchases of online shoppers. While major retailers offer fresh opportunity, they also have more demanding requirements when it comes to accepting orders, shipping orders, invoicing, and more.

It becomes considerably more challenging—not to mention inefficient—when a supplier tries to manage all kinds of new orders through different portals. Especially when they are unfamiliar to the team that has been working in Shopify. Suddenly, in addition to Shopify, a supplier may find themselves struggling to navigate multiple platforms. Instead of managing orders with a command central approach, there are portals for retailers, others for online marketplaces, and, of course, the Shopify platform itself.

Shopify orders. Plus EDI. Plus everything else. In one place.

The solution? Bring everything into a single, powerful order processing platform.

Lingo will not only make the introduction to EDI simpler, it is a robust portal that can process all your orders—including all the orders that come through Shopify.

What’s more, brands will continue to add sales channels beyond Shopify and EDI as they grow. In addition to helping users process wholesale orders from established retailers and eCommerce stores powered by Shopify, our Lingo software brings ease and efficiency to orders from online marketplaces.

You’ll still enjoy all the benefits of your Shopify sales platform. But our users discover that it’s far easier to manage their Shopify business when it flows through the same system as sales from all their other channels. It’s a Command Central approach, and it makes managing growth, well, more manageable.

Shopify in an EDI/Order Management Hub

Time is a precious commodity and juggling different approaches to order management uses too much of it. For Shopify sellers experiencing success, it’s important to build a hub instead of simply adding tentacles as business grows. When a company begins adding retail trading partners and moving products into more stores—both brick-and-mortar and online—it can suddenly find itself processing orders inefficiently.

That’s why it’s important to start by getting EDI right. Almost all major retailers will expect suppliers to use EDI, and it can be a challenge for a team that is new to it. While a Shopify seller might be inclined to take on EDI in-house, an experienced third-party provider will be a true asset and eliminate the need to invest in costly technology infrastructure. With features and automation that make EDI far less daunting, our Lingo platform lets Shopify sellers begin working with and adding new trading partners quickly and easily.

But there’s more to it than just robust software—our Setup Team knows the specifications of retailers well, and our Customer Support Team is available to quickly resolve any issues. Our expansive roster of customers means we work with all the major trading partners.

For Shopify sellers new to EDI, this expertise helps ease the transition from smaller scale online selling to distribution across a wider retail network. Instead of learning to work in multiple, different, sometimes complex retailer portals, a supplier can process all EDI transactions in Lingo.

Shipping Orders with Lingo

Helping Shopify sellers create a more efficient supply chain through an improved shipping process is another benefit of adopting the Lingo platform.

Lingo has multiple features—automated label generation, retailer-branded packing slips, 3PL integration—to make shipping easier. Some shipping information for Shopify orders, like tracking numbers, can also be moved from Lingo back into Shopify if that helps your workflow.

 “We have been working with EDI since 2000, but we love to make order processing easy for nascent brands that have relied on Shopify to grow. We share their entrepreneurial spirit, and help them increase revenues without adding complexity.” — Carol Weidner, CEO, eZCom Software

Learn more about working with EDI after growing on Shopify.

Connect with one of our experts to find out how our Lingo software works for Shopify sellers and can ease the transition to processing EDI orders. Not only is our Lingo platform powerful, we can build custom solutions to match existing workflows. It’s an approach that leaves you free to focus on the part of your business you truly love—growing it.