EDI predates the web and it has not gone away, because the companies that mandate it have thousands of trading partners and no interest in each one inventing a format. If a large customer requires EDI, that requirement is usually not negotiable and usually arrives with a compliance programme and chargebacks for errors.
The common documents are the 850 purchase order, the 855 acknowledgement, the 856 advance ship notice and the 810 invoice. They travel over AS2, over a value-added network, or over an API-based service that speaks EDI on your behalf. Most mid-market sellers use a provider rather than running the mapping themselves.
EDI and ecommerce are separate channels that land in the same order table. The design question is whether EDI orders reach the ERP directly, which is normal, or pass through the commerce platform, which is unusual and rarely worth it. Getting that boundary wrong produces duplicate orders that are painful to unpick.
Why it decides a platform
EDI volume often dwarfs online order volume at a distributor, and it belongs to the ERP rather than to the storefront. Platform shortlists that treat EDI as an ecommerce feature tend to buy the wrong thing.
Also called: electronic data interchange, EDI integration, EDI 850, EDI 855, EDI 856, EDI 810, advance ship notice, ASN, AS2, VAN.
Last updated 2026-08-20.