Kroger EDI Department FAQs
If you have additional questions about Kroger EDI guidelines please leave them in the comments section.
Q: I am a new vendor supplying one of Kroger’s divisions. What information do I need? Where do I go first?
A: New vendors to Kroger are required to do EDI. Several years ago, Kroger began trading EDI documents. The company saw first hand how doing so takes cost out of the supply chain. Kroger wants to pass this cost savings onto the customers and drive sales. They should be beneficial for both Kroger and its vendors. Kroger requires most companies to accept via EDI purchase orders (850 or 875) and application advices (824). The retailer requires vendors to send invoices (810 or 880). Once you are ready to begin trading with Kroger EDI department, submit an EDI New Partner Set-up Form. When Kroger EDI department and you are to begin an EDI connection, Kroger EDI department will contact your company.
Q: I am a new vendor to a Kroger division (s). We need to ship an order right away. We have not had time to test EDI documents with Kroger EDI department. What should we do?
A: Kroger would like to have EDI connections in place at the time the first order is written. However the company recognizes this is not always possible. Acceptance of a purchase order from a Kroger division is consent to establish a relationship. In the very near future, a Kroger division will send a formal notice with a given timeframe to establish an EDI connection. Your compliance to Kroger demands must be met before the end of the specified time. Should you not send or receive documents electronically after the compliance deadline, a $200.00 fee will be applied against all future payments. It will remain until EDI compliance is met to help offset the cost of manual processes.
Q: I submitted a New Partner Set-up Form. But no one has contacted us since that moment. We want to avoid fees for EDI Non-Compliance. Whom should we contact?
A: Kroger turns over all completed forms to an EDI Business Analyst. This is Kroger specialist who handles your account. Kroger manages its EDI Compliance program on the business requirements of Kroger. The retailer will notify its vendors when Kroger and the vendor are ready to become partners. It is not until you do receive this notice that Kroger requires use of EDI. Since you have already taken the first steps to be connected, migrating to use of Electronic Data Interchange should be quick.
Q: Do I have to test all documents with each division of Kroger?
A: Kroger uses common systems across all divisions for many products categories. When approved for one store division, you are approved for all store divisions in the support area. Kroger Electronic Data Interchange supports these divisions: Atlanta, Central/Indianapolis, Central/Shelbyville, Cincinnati, City Markets, Columbus, Delta/Memphis, Dillon Stores, Fry’s Food Drug & Marketplace, King Soopers, Kroger, Michigan, Mid Atlantic/Roanoke, Mid South/Louisville, Peyton’s, Ralph’s, Southwest/Houston, Southwest/Dallas, and W.T. Young Storage. Fred Meyer Electronic Data Interchange supports Fred Meyer Stores and Smith’s Food & Drug. Some documents have special testing requirements for a specific division. However there are no specific division requirements for purchase orders, invoices and application advices.
Q: I received an 824 Application Advice. What do I do?
A: The Kroger Co uses the 824 Application Advices to ensure EDI documents meet its business and technical requirements for the specified document. If you receive an 824, please refer to Kroger web pages for a list of codes for the specified transaction. Two levels of errors are reported – Warnings and Fatal. Warnings are minor errors but did not prevent the document from being passed on. Fatal errors are a result of serious violation of Kroger’s requirements. Documents with fatal errors cannot be passed on. Please correct the errors reported and resend your document.
Q: I received a phone message from a Kroger person. He wants to verify if I had received an EDI document. We have received the EDI document and we do not know how to contact this person. What do I do?
A: Kroger requires vendors to acknowledge its transactions of UCS, VICS, and other ANSI ASC X.12 transaction sets. Kroger monitors for acknowledgments and take appropriate action if the expected acknowledgment has not been received within the time specified by the standard and version. Actually it can be within 24 hours. You will need to send your 997 for the document sent by Kroger to avoid a failure in EDI service. Kroger reserves the right to revoke an EDI partnership at any time and revert to documentation transmitted without being on a formal EDI basis. Also failures could result in a $200.00 fee for EDI Non-Compliance.
Q: I did not receive a 997 (FA) for the EDI document I sent. What do I do and whom do I contact?
A: Transmission of vendor EDI transactions will be acknowledged according to the guidelines for the standard version being used. For ANSI ASC X.12 transactions including UCS and VICS, the 997 acknowledgement will be used. It is sender’s responsibility to verify The Kroger Co has acknowledged transmission. Vendor should take appropriate action if the expected acknowledgments have not been forthcoming within the time. Time is usually specified by the standard and version being used. Please check your system or contact your VAN or provider to know if the EDI document was sent to Kroger’s mailbox. Please, do it before contacting a Kroger EDI Business Analyst.
Q: We received a UPC on our EDI order. This UPC does not belong to our company. How do we get this corrected?
A: The Fred Meyer division will create an ‘in-house’ UPC when an orderable UPC is not available from its vendor. All in-house UPCs start with 40001 since the Fred Meyer division assigns them. Buyers will create this UPC type when the vendor does not have an orderable UPC assigned for the packing configuration. For example, when the Fred Meyer buyer is buying a set of six Red t-shirts, there is one medium, three larges, and two x-larges in the pre-pack of six units’ orders. If you receive a Fred Meyer in-house UPC on your order you will need to maintain this UPC on your systems. Also you can work through your Sales group to assign an orderable UPC for the pre-pack. If an orderable UPC for the pack exists, please contact our buyer to have them assign your UPC as the orderable UPC.