Booths automates B2B message exchange with its suppliers through Wesupply

COVENTRY, 3rd June 2014: Booths, a North West family-owned chain of supermarkets, has moved to Wesupply’s fully managed, outsourced EDI service, OneTime™, for the automated exchange of crucial business documents with its 1,500 supplier community. The project is currently being rolled out by Wesupply’s team of implementation and on-boarding specialists.

Booths had previously communicated with its suppliers using manual processes, which involved a large amount of data re-keying. Telephone calls and faxes were the only means of tracking orders, deliveries and invoices. As the company continued to grow and the number of suppliers and stores increased, it became clear that manual processes were becoming costly and leading to errors. The decision was made to adopt Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) through Wesupply’s fully managed service, to streamline trading operations, increase supply chain visibility and improve supplier relationships.

“Booths recognised that manually processing orders and invoices was not an efficient way of operating, particularly as the business continued to grow and was leading to errors and potentially costly delays in its supply chain.” said Jerry Quinn, Sales Director at Wesupply. “We are delighted to be able to provide Booths with a solution to automate document exchange with their suppliers. The fully managed service we provide takes away the day-to-day burden and enables companies such as Booths to focus on its key targets.”

Moving from manual processes to the automated, real-time exchange of documents, will increase speed, ease and cost efficiency, whilst reducing errors. The Wesupply solution will also provide Booths with the invoice validation they required to complement their existing finance systems.

The solution provides Booths suppliers with the option to exchange orders, invoices, ASNs and credits, securely and accurately through an easy to use browser or directly from their back office system.

“Having a good relationship with our suppliers is a main priority and one we strive to improve upon every day.” said Andrew Rafferty, IT & Supply Director at Booths. “Moving to EDI and Wesupply’s managed service enables both Booths and our suppliers to benefit from improved visibility and traceability of transactions, ultimately leading to well stocked shelves and a first class shopping experience for our customers.”

The on boarding element to Wesupply’s managed service was a key factor for Booths as they required suppliers to be up and running with the new EDI solution as soon as possible. Whilst Wesupply’s implementation and on-boarding team adopt and connect suppliers to the Wesupply network, once the system is live both Booths and its suppliers are supported by Wesupply’s managed service team, who look after the day-to-day EDI issues on Booths behalf.

About Wesupply
Wesupply Limited provides a fully managed and outsourced electronic business-to-business integration service, using a unique approach that maximises supply chain collaboration between independent organisations. This approach has consistently helped our customers secure tangible operational cost savings along with improved customer service, since the business was founded in 1999. Companies across all industries, including Retail, Building, CPG, Energy and Manufacturing rely on Wesupply to manage business-critical information flows for their extended supply chain processes.

About Booths
Since June 1847, five generations of the Booths family have led E.H. Booth & Co. Ltd, from its humble beginnings, with just one small shop, to the present day where the company proudly boasts 29 modern food stores throughout the North of England.

The sizes of our stores vary but generally, at between 18,000 and 25,000 square feet, they’re considered medium-sized supermarkets.

Each store has its own unique identity, reflecting the landscape of its location; but despite the environmental differences between stores, the Booths brand remains universally committed to offering our customers a first class shopping experience. We consider our staff to be our best asset, and they are given extensive product training to help deliver a friendly and informed shopping experience.

Importantly, Booths remains a family owned and run business, with 5th generation Edwin Booth, the current Chairman. Edwin is supported by his brother Graham who is the director of store development, and his cousin Simon, director of fresh food and distribution. The remainder of the Booths board consists of experienced directors with long standing industry expertise.

Visit Booths’ website at www.booths.co.uk