Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd
Sainsbury's EDI requirements for suppliers
Tradacoms orders, delivery notes and invoices, with EDIFACT DESADV available for ASN-enabled depots.
- Standards
- Tradacoms, EDIFACT
- Versions
- Tradacoms ORDHDR / DELHDR / INVHDR (v9) and EANCOM D96A DESADV
- Connectivity
- AS2 or VAN; Tradacoms files are batched per transmission.
- Acknowledgements
- No application acknowledgement on Tradacoms; CONTRL on EDIFACT DESADV within 4 hours.
Documents
What Sainsbury's sends and expects back
| Code | Document | Direction | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ORDHDR | Purchase order (Tradacoms) | From Sainsbury's | Order header, lines and trailer in Tradacoms fixed-format segments. |
| DELHDR | Delivery note (Tradacoms) | To Sainsbury's | Sent before arrival with pallet and case detail. |
| DESADV | Despatch advice (EDIFACT) | To Sainsbury's | For depots on the ASN programme; SSCC per pallet. |
| INVHDR | Invoice (Tradacoms) | To Sainsbury's | Held on warning until the delivery is confirmed. |
Physical requirements
Labels, paperwork and pallets
Labels
- GS1-128 pallet label with SSCC, GTIN, count and dates
- Two labels per pallet on adjacent sides, 400 to 800 mm from the base
Paperwork
- Sainsbury's delivery note with pallet count by type and SSCC list
- Driver-signed POD scanned against the shipment
Pallet rules
- CHEP blue, IPP brown or LPR red, 1200 mm one-way; no Euro or slave pallets
- Max 1,750 mm high and 1,350 kg; Stoke and Rye Park max 1.0 m
- Clear LDPE wrap, each layer then the whole; no netting, straps or corner posts above the load
Label layout details in the GS1-128 pallet label guide. How the ASN, label and delivery note fit together in ASNs and labels.
Watch out for
Where Sainsbury's deliveries go wrong
- Tradacoms has no acknowledgements, so delivery has to be tracked at the transport layer.
- Different depots have different height limits.
- Invoices that do not match the delivery note are queried, so build them from what actually shipped.
With FTP EDI
How FTP EDI handles Sainsbury's
- A Sainsbury's template with the Tradacoms and EDIFACT message guides, depot codes and acknowledgement windows already configured.
- Rule checks that catch Sainsbury's's own requirements before a document is sent, explained in plain English.
- ASNs built from the warehouse despatch confirmation, with SSCCs and GS1-128 labels from the same record.
- Every acknowledgement matched to its document and chased, with alerts when Sainsbury's's window closes with nothing back.
- Seven-year archive of raw and translated messages, receipts and user actions for any dispute with Sainsbury's.
Questions
Sainsbury's EDI questions
Does Sainsbury's still use Tradacoms?
Yes. Sainsbury's orders, delivery notes and invoices are Tradacoms messages (ORDHDR, DELHDR, INVHDR). Some depots also take an EDIFACT DESADV for ASN. FTP EDI handles both from the same order data.
How do I know Sainsbury's received my Tradacoms file?
Tradacoms has no application-level acknowledgement, so FTP EDI tracks the transport receipt (AS2 MDN or VAN confirmation) and raises an alert if nothing comes back within the window you set.
Sainsbury's and other retailer names are trademarks of their respective owners. FTP EDI is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd. Requirements on this page are summarised from public supplier documentation and may change; always confirm with the retailer's current supplier manual.
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