Comparisons
SPS Commerce alternative: retail EDI mapped straight into your ERP
SPS Commerce runs retail EDI as a full-service network: SPS holds the map for each retailer, handles testing and spec changes, and your ERP connects once to SPS. A direct integration keeps the map per retailer in your own integration and writes each X12 document straight into your ERP and store, with every document visible in the log.
What SPS Commerce does well
SPS Commerce describes its network as the largest in retail. Its Fulfillment product page lists more than 300,000 trading relationships, more than 750 million transactions a year, more than 46,000 subscribing customers and more than 400 system automation partners. Its model is full service: SPS builds and maintains the map for each retailer, handles connectivity and testing, and absorbs a retailer's specification changes.
Statements about SPS on this page come from spscommerce.com and SPS's Shopify app listing, read on October 3, 2026.
What SPS documents as part of the service:
| Area | What SPS states |
|---|---|
| Maps and spec changes | SPS initiates map changes when a retailer updates its requirements, and states that it manages 9,000 changes from retailers each year |
| Onboarding | Prebuilt connections to retailers, grocers, distributors and marketplaces; new connections live "typically in one business day" on one page, "in as little as 24 hours" on another |
| Testing | A testing service for suppliers asked to test with a retailer, also for suppliers who use another provider or their own connection; SPS puts a new partner setup at 5 business days against an industry average of 8 weeks or more |
| NetSuite | Fulfillment EDI for NetSuite, part of Oracle's Built for NetSuite program, with an ASN module and branded packing slips from NetSuite |
| Shopify | Shopify orders and retail orders in one platform, or EDI orders into Shopify Plus |
| Support | 24x7 support and monitoring of the trading partner network |
For a supplier landing its first big-box retailer, that combination takes most of the EDI work off its own team, and the retailer's requirements are already known to SPS from existing connections.
How the SPS model works
The SPS NetSuite page describes the structure: other EDI systems need a connection per retail partner, while with SPS the ERP has one connection into the SPS network, and SPS reaches every partner from there with prebuilt maps.
That has three consequences to plan around:
- The maps per retailer are SPS's. You see order status and transactions, and SPS changes the map. A question about why a field came through a certain way goes to SPS support.
- The ERP side is a second piece. SPS lists integrations with more than 400 systems; how the orders land in NetSuite, Business Central or Shopify depends on that connector and its settings, next to the retailer map SPS maintains.
- Pricing is by quote. SPS publishes no prices. Its Shopify app is free to install, with a note to contact SPS for pricing before installing and that SPS bills separately from Shopify.
Volume makes the pricing question concrete. A drop-ship program exchanges at least four documents per order: the 850 purchase order in, then 855 acknowledgement, 856 ship notice and 810 invoice out. At 300 drop-ship orders a day:
- 300 x 4 = 1,200 documents a day
- 1,200 x 30 = 36,000 documents a month
- plus a 997 functional acknowledgement for every functional group sent or received, and inventory feeds such as a daily 846 per retailer
Ask any EDI provider how those 36,000 documents and their acknowledgements are counted before comparing quotes. The documents themselves are described on the 850 purchase order, 856 advance ship notice and 997 functional acknowledgement pages.
What a direct integration does differently
We build the EDI connection as part of your integration: the retailer's documents go over AS2 or a VAN to the integration, which maps them straight into your ERP and store and sends the outbound documents from your ERP's data.
| Area | Direct integration, hosted and run |
|---|---|
| Map per retailer | Built from the retailer's implementation guide, kept in your integration, documented field by field |
| ERP side | The same map writes NetSuite or Business Central fields directly: otherrefnum for the PO number, ship-to by the retailer's location code, units per retailer |
| Visibility | Every raw X12 document, its 997 and the record it created, side by side in the dashboard log |
| Spec changes | Made by us as part of running the integration, tested against the retailer's samples, shown in the change log |
| Other flows | Store orders, stock, prices and EDI in one integration, so a retailer's 846 and your Shopify stock come from the same available figure |
| Failure handling | A document that fails validation goes to a review list with the segment and element that failed, before the retailer rejects it |
The last two rows are where a direct integration does most for a supplier that also sells online. Stock for a retailer's 846 and for the store come from one calculation, so the same units are not offered twice. Units of measure are mapped per retailer, which matters when one retailer orders in cases and another in eaches, as described in units of measure. An 855 can be sent from the actual allocation instead of echoing the order.
The general approach to retail EDI is on EDI integration, and the NetSuite specifics on NetSuite EDI integration.
Moving retailers off SPS
EDI connections are per trading partner, so a move goes retailer by retailer:
- The integration is built and tested against the retailer's implementation guide while SPS keeps handling live documents.
- The retailer is asked to switch the connection: a new AS2 endpoint or a new VAN mailbox for your ISA ID. The retailer's onboarding team sets the test steps for the change.
- On the agreed date the retailer sends to the new route, and the SPS map for that retailer is switched off.
Open orders received through SPS are finished through SPS, or their ASNs and invoices are sent from the new route against the original 850 numbers. That is agreed per retailer before the switch, so no PO ends up with two invoices or none. How a retailer onboards a supplier connection is covered in trading partner onboarding.
Send us your retailer list, the documents per retailer and your monthly order volume, and you get a fixed price for a direct integration into your ERP.
Frequently asked questions
Does my retailer require me to use SPS Commerce?
A retailer requires EDI to its own specification, and some route supplier testing through SPS. SPS's own testing page says its testing service is for suppliers whether they use another third-party EDI service or built their own connection. So passing a retailer's test through SPS does not oblige you to run your EDI on SPS Fulfillment afterwards.
Can we keep SPS for some retailers and connect others directly?
Yes. EDI connections are set up per trading partner, so a retailer can move while the others stay on SPS. The ERP then receives orders from two sources, and the integration makes sure each retailer's purchase orders, ASNs and invoices are handled by one route only.
Who updates the map when a retailer changes its specification?
With SPS, SPS does: it states that it manages around 9,000 retailer changes a year on behalf of its customers. With a direct integration, we do, as part of running it. The change is made in the map for that retailer, tested against the retailer's sample documents and visible in the change log of your integration.
What does a direct connection need from our side?
An AS2 endpoint or a VAN mailbox for the transport, the retailer's implementation guide for each document, and test cycles with the retailer. The integration hosts the AS2 connection, sends 997 acknowledgements, and maps each document into NetSuite or Business Central.
How does pricing compare with SPS Commerce?
SPS publishes no prices; its Shopify app listing says to contact SPS for pricing before installing and that SPS bills separately from Shopify. We charge a fixed price for the build and a monthly fee for hosting and running it. Send us your retailer list and document volumes for a fixed price.
Tell us what you need
Tell us which systems you use and what needs to work better. We reply personally within one working day. We help you define the work, then agree the price and timing before you commit.
- You know the price and the timeline before you commit to anything
- We work out the connection that takes the work off your hands
- We handle the build, hosting, monitoring and maintenance
- Your team has less information to retype and fewer discrepancies to chase