Asda EDI Requirements and Compliance Guide
How Asda's TrueCommerce supplier platform works, and the TRADACOMS files suppliers exchange
Asda trades with suppliers in TRADACOMS. The messages to plan for are TRADACOMS ORDHDR (Order File), TRADACOMS INVFIL (Invoice File), TRADACOMS CREHDR (Credit Note File), TRADACOMS SRMHDR (Statement/Remittance File).
After separating from Walmart, Asda chose TrueCommerce in 2022 to run EDI for its whole supplier base, integrated with Asda's SAP system. The platform covers more than 2,000 suppliers and includes a web-EDI portal for suppliers without their own EDI. Asda trades TRADACOMS for orders, invoices, credit notes and remittance advices.
Asda's EDI Messages
These are the TRADACOMS messages Asda exchanges with suppliers. Where we have a guide, the card links to a segment-by-segment breakdown. New to the standards? Start with the EDIFACT guide or the TRADACOMS guide.
Asda-Specific Message Requirements
- TRADACOMS ORDHDR (Order File): Asda transmits purchase orders as TRADACOMS order files.
- TRADACOMS INVFIL (Invoice File): Invoice against the order. Test invoices with surcharges, allowances and different VAT treatments during onboarding, because those are where mappings break.
- TRADACOMS CREHDR (Credit Note File): Credit notes go back by EDI. Reference the original invoice so Asda can match the credit.
- TRADACOMS SRMHDR (Statement/Remittance File): Remittance advices tell you which invoices a payment covers. Load them into your ERP so cash allocation is not done by hand.
Compliance Requirements
Here is what Asda expects from EDI-compliant suppliers:
- Trade through Asda's supplier enablement platform, run by TrueCommerce and integrated with Asda's SAP system
- Use the web-EDI portal if you do not have your own EDI capability
- Receive purchase orders and send invoices and credit notes by EDI in TRADACOMS
- Receive remittance advices so payments can be matched to invoices
- Complete Asda's supplier form and EDI testing before go-live
- Confirm the current message specification with Asda during onboarding, since its systems moved off Walmart's after the separation
How to Set Up EDI with Asda
- Agree to supply Asda and get your supplier details from your buyer.
- Complete the supplier form Asda's EDI team sends.
- Choose between a full EDI connection and Asda's web-EDI portal. TrueCommerce manages onboarding and EDI queries for both.
- Map orders, invoices, credit notes and remittances, and test every scenario your account will see.
- Go live once Asda signs off testing.
Sources for Asda's EDI Requirements
Asda issues its message specifications to suppliers during onboarding, so confirm the current version with Asda's EDI team before you build. These are the public sources this page draws on:
- Asda selects TrueCommerce (press release, June 2022): Announcement of Asda's supplier enablement platform: 2,000+ suppliers, SAP integration, web-EDI portal and managed onboarding.
- ecosio: EDI with Asda: Third-party guide from EDI provider ecosio covering Asda's TRADACOMS document set and testing.
How to Achieve Asda EDI Compliance
Getting compliant with Asda takes three things: an EDI setup that sends and receives the TRADACOMS messages Asda uses, validation that catches errors before a message reaches Asda, and a connection to your ERP so orders flow through without re-keying.
UK grocery and health and beauty retail runs on two standards. UN/EDIFACT, usually in the GS1 EANCOM subset, is the international standard and the one GS1 recommends for new EDI users. TRADACOMS is the older UK-only standard. GS1 UK stopped supporting it in 2017, but many UK retailers still trade in it. Products are identified by GS1 barcodes, and pallets carry a GS1-128 logistics label with an SSCC that the despatch advice references.
OrderSync processes EDIFACT, EANCOM, and TRADACOMS orders in the same pipeline as your X12, PDF, CSV, and email orders. Our purchase order automation checks each order against your product catalogue, pricing, and Asda's requirements before it syncs to your ERP. To check a message by hand, paste it into the free EDIFACT inspector.
Only trading with one or two retailers and no ERP to connect? Web EDI, or an agent that runs it for you, may be enough to meet Asda's requirements.
Related Guides and Articles
Learn more about Asda EDI requirements and compliance best practices:
Related Resources
How to Answer "Are You EDI Capable?"
A buyer asked, and you need to answer this week. The four things they are checking, what you can say yes to today, and a realistic date for the rest.
- What a buyer is really asking when they ask this
- The minimum set-up that makes the answer yes
- What you can answer today versus what needs building
- Rough timelines, so you can give a date rather than a maybe
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Check Your EDIFACT Messages
Paste an EDIFACT message into our free inspector and read it segment by segment before it goes to Asda.
Open EDIFACT InspectorTrading with US customers in X12 as well? The EDI Inspector reads 850s, 856s and 810s.
Frequently Asked Questions
Asda trades in TRADACOMS. The messages on this page are TRADACOMS ORDHDR (Order File), TRADACOMS INVFIL (Invoice File), TRADACOMS CREHDR (Credit Note File), TRADACOMS SRMHDR (Statement/Remittance File). Asda's EDI team issues the specification for each one during onboarding, and the version you are given is the one to build to.
The first cost is operational. A delivery that arrives without a matching despatch advice has to be receipted by hand, and an invoice that does not match the order gets queried before it is paid. Any charges for non-compliance are set in your supply agreement with Asda, so check the terms you signed.
Yes. OrderSync processes EDIFACT, EANCOM, and TRADACOMS orders alongside X12, PDF, CSV, and email orders, checking each one against your catalogue and pricing before it reaches your ERP. Book an intro call to walk through Asda's message set with us.
Yes. Asda's TrueCommerce platform includes a web-EDI portal for suppliers who cannot run EDI themselves. You work orders and invoices in a browser. It suits low volumes, but every order and invoice still passes through someone's hands, so it stops scaling as your Asda volume grows.