We run EDI for NZ food and beverage suppliers trading with Foodstuffs and Woolworths.
Flow runs the integrations. You don’t have to.
Orders, invoices and shipping messages move between your business systems and the grocery networks every day. When that layer runs well, nobody thinks about it. When it doesn’t, your team is the one tracing what happened. Flow runs that layer for New Zealand food and beverage suppliers: we monitor the integrations, handle the exceptions, and coordinate the fix when something changes.
When a message doesn’t move, someone has to notice. Then someone has to fix it.
Trading with Foodstuffs (New World, PAK’nSAVE, Four Square) and Woolworths NZ (formerly Countdown) means a constant stream of electronic messages between their systems and yours. Getting connected is only the start. The ongoing work is keeping those flows running as systems and requirements change.
The order that never arrived
A store order leaves the network but never lands in your ERP. Someone needs to spot it, trace where it stopped, and get it moving before it affects fulfilment.
The invoice that doesn’t match
An invoice gets rejected or short-paid because a line, price or unit doesn’t agree with the order. Someone on your side then has to reconcile what should have matched automatically.
The dispatch the network can’t see
Shipping messages have to describe what physically left the warehouse. When the message and the pallets disagree, you get receiving delays and disputes at the other end.
The change nobody owned
The network updates a requirement. You upgrade your ERP. A 3PL comes or goes. The integration sits between all of these systems. When something changes, someone has to own the impact across the whole flow.
The flows we operate.
A grocery connection is a set of message flows between your ERP and the network, each with its own job. And the two networks do it differently: Foodstuffs (North Island and South Island) trades through the Foodstuffs eXchange, while Woolworths NZ has its own formats and validation. Flow builds these flows, runs them, and works in both networks every day.
| Flow | What it does day to day |
|---|---|
| Orders in | Store and DC purchase orders arrive from the network and post straight into your ERP as sales orders, against the right account and ready to pick. |
| Order responses back | Confirmation back to the network that the order is accepted, and of what you can actually supply, driven from your ERP rather than typed into a portal. |
| Shipping messages | Advance shipping notices that tell the network what’s coming before the truck arrives, tied to what was actually picked and dispatched, including the label data where required. |
| Invoices out | Invoices generated from your ERP and sent electronically in the format the network expects, so they match the order and get paid without a reconciliation exercise. |
| Price and product data | Where the trading relationship requires it, product and pricing files maintained electronically so the order that arrives matches the catalogue you actually sell from. |
What having Flow run this layer means day to day.
Not a one-off build, and not a platform your team has to learn and run. Flow operates the integration layer between your systems and the grocery networks, and stays responsible for it after go-live.
We watch the flows
Automated monitoring tracks messages between your systems and the networks. Exceptions surface to Flow first.
We handle the exceptions
When a message fails or doesn’t arrive, Flow traces what happened and gets it moving again. Your own people aren’t the ones reading logs to work out where an order stopped.
We coordinate the fix when something changes
Network requirements change. ERPs get upgraded. Warehouses and 3PLs come and go. Flow diagnoses where a problem sits, brings the evidence, and coordinates your other vendors so the flows keep running through the change.
The layer has one owner
Flow still owns the integration. When an issue sits between systems, you don’t have to work out which vendor to chase first: we diagnose where it sits and coordinate the path to resolution.
Self-run, Flow-run, or a mix.
Some customers run their integrations themselves. Some have Flow run them. Often it’s a mix: your team handles the day-to-day they want to own, and Flow carries the rest. The service is shaped to that choice.
You’re about to trade with a grocery network
New supplier onboarding with Foodstuffs or Woolworths NZ, and EDI is on the compliance list. We’ve done this connection many times and know what the networks expect.
Your current setup leans on one person
The integration works, but only one person knows how. When they’re on leave, exceptions wait. Flow takes on the monitoring and exception handling, so the integration doesn’t depend on one person being available.
Your team is tired of tracing messages
Orders and invoices mostly flow, but when something doesn’t, someone gets pulled in to chase it. That tracing work is exactly what Flow takes on.
Something is about to change
A new ERP, a new 3PL, a new distribution arrangement. Changes are often when integration issues appear. Flow manages the integration impact through the change, rather than leaving your team to coordinate it.
Grocery is where our client base runs deepest.
More than ten New Zealand food and beverage suppliers trade electronically with Foodstuffs and/or Woolworths through integrations Flow runs today, and most are connected to both networks. Across our whole client base, these are the two trading partners we connect most often.
We connect what you actually run
ERPs like MYOB EXO, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, Greentree, Infor and Pronto. Warehouse, 3PL and freight systems. And the specialist production and industry systems the big platform connector lists don’t cover. No rip and replace.
NZ founded. ANZ operated.
Flow started in New Zealand in 2005. Support comes from people in your timezone who know the local networks, and Flow-hosted integrations run on AWS infrastructure in the region.
Long-term relationships
Our average client relationship is 11 years. For us, running integrations means staying responsible for them long after the original implementation.
Talk to us about your grocery EDI.
Tell us what you supply, which networks you trade with, and what systems you run. We’ll get back to you within 2 business days.