For years, EDI has been dismissed as a relic from a bygone era.
A protocol that was once useful, but now supposedly overshadowed by APIs, platforms, and “real-time” ambitions.
Anyone working in retail, logistics, or supply chain knows better.
EDI is very much alive.
Every day, millions of transactions run over EDI connections.
It links suppliers to retailers who won’t tolerate a single second of delay.
It moves orders, inventory, deliveries, invoices, and transport data without anyone posting or talking about it.
That silence creates a persistent misconception: that APIs will replace EDI.
They won’t.
APIs are integration technology.
EDI is a data standard and a governance model.
One does not replace the other — they complement each other.
Retailers add APIs alongside EDI because stability matters more than elegance,
and predictability matters more than innovation.
The real movement in the market is quiet.
It doesn’t show up in press releases, but in contracts, obligations, legislation, and supply-chain pressure.
More retailers are mandating EDI compliance.
More countries are requiring electronic reporting.
More suppliers must connect just to be allowed to do business.
More message types are being added to existing flows.
More cloud-EDI and managed services are absorbing the complexity.
The volume grows.
The visibility doesn’t.
And that’s exactly why EDI is so often underestimated.
EDI is not a choice.
It’s a requirement.
For anyone operating in retail or supply chain, it’s the gateway.
You’re in — or you’re not.
The importance of EDI never decreases.
It simply shifts from “technology” to “infrastructure.”
From “project” to “prerequisite.”
From “innovation” to “continuity.”
And PEPPOL only reinforces that movement.
The mature perspective
Those who dismiss EDI aren’t lacking vision, they’re lacking experience with real supply-chain dynamics:
- • Never seen true retail volumes
- • Never experienced a chain where an ASN is ten minutes late
- • Never felt the dependencies between DCs, carriers, suppliers, and stores
- • And never witnessed how a single error in a single message can halt an entire chain
EDI isn’t exciting. Not new. Not visible.
And yet: it carries everything.
And that makes it more important than ever.
You only understand that when you’ve seen the practice up close.