Streamlining Erskine’s Retail Operations through SPS EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) Integration

Erskine, one of Australia’s leading dental supply distributors, works with major retailers and clinics across the country to deliver high-quality dental products to practitioners and resellers. Over the years, as their retail partnerships have expanded, Erskine has faced growing complexity in managing wholesale orders, pricing and invoicing across multiple trading partners, each with its own format and compliance standards. 

Previously, staff manually processed dozens of incoming retailer purchase orders, validated product and pricing data and created matching invoices, a process that not only consumed valuable administrative time but also introduced a high risk of errors and delays. Managing orders across different systems required constant monitoring, back-and-forth communication with retailers, and manual data reconciliation between Erskine’s ERP and each trading partner’s platform.

This manual process made it difficult to scale efficiently and maintain consistency as more retailers came aboard. Erskine needed a streamlined, automated way to manage all EDI communications, ensuring order accuracy, faster turnaround times and seamless data flow between internal systems and external retail partners.

To address these challenges, our team developed a tailored EDI integration between Erskine’s internal ERP system and SPS Commerce, a leading data exchange platform used by major retailers across Australia. 

The new system acts as a bridge between SPS and Erskine’s Sage ERP, enabling seamless communication between retailers and Erskine’s internal systems. When a retailer submits a purchase order through SPS, the integration automatically receives, validates, and imports the data directly into Sage, including item details, pricing and delivery information.

Instead of manually entering hundreds of order lines, staff now see completed orders appear in Sage within minutes. If there’s a stock or pricing issue, they can make quick adjustments and send an Order Acknowledgement back to the retailer through the same automated channel. The process covers a range of EDI document types, from purchase orders and acknowledgements to invoices, shipping notices, and even order change documents used by specific partners like Woolworths.

The system provides a robust, flexible foundation that supports future growth, allowing new retail partners to be onboarded quickly and efficiently while maintaining compliance and accuracy.

The transformation was immediate. What once took Erskine’s team several hours to process now takes around 15 minutes with orders automatically validated, processed, and synced with Sage. This integration has not only saved time but also enabled Erskine to scale operations confidently.

The automated system ensures consistency and accuracy across all retail partners. Every document now follows a unified format, reducing errors and improving communication. Order acknowledgements arrive faster, invoices are cleaner, and fulfillment is more reliable, strengthening relationships with key partners such as Symbian and Woolworths.

Today, Erskine’s EDI solution stands as a model of effective automation, demonstrating that integrating technology strategically can streamline operations, enhance reliability, and empower businesses to scale with confidence.