B2B (short for “Business-to-Business”) Electronic Commerce is a generic term that can be used to describe any sort of transaction between trading partners that involves a computer. In our business, “The B2B” has come to refer to a specific set of open standards created by a committee representing all major suppliers and software companies in the flooring industry, including OVF.
The B2B Standard was created to make it easier and less expensive to exchange key business documents between different kinds of computer systems. It does this by using the same agreed-upon formats for common transactions (instead of custom “data maps” for each partner) and sending the data over the Internet (instead of using expensive private networks). This may seem obvious, but it is a radical shift from the traditional method of doing this known as EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), which has been in use for over 30 years.
The B2B allows Flooring Retailers to perform the following transactions directly from within their own software systems--
- Receive Item & Price Catalogs (832) from suppliers, including nightly updates
- Send Purchase Orders (850) to suppliers
- Receive PO Acknowledgments (855)
- Receive Advanced Shipping Notices (856)
- Receive Invoices (810)
By performing these common transactions electronically, all parties save time and money on data entry, while reducing errors and allowing employees to focus on more valuable and complex tasks.
OVF is capable of performing all five B2B transactions, placing us in the company of Shaw, Mohawk, and Beaulieu, who are the only other suppliers in our territory with support for B2B. This is significant because most dealers are not satisfied doing B2B with only one or two suppliers.
Please note that B2B Standard implementation varies between software companies. Not all of them support all transactions, and the way that they process these documents is specific to each system. Some companies require an additional fee for B2B software and support.
Click below to download a printable PDF containing this information:
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OVF is actively exchanging B2B documents with customers using the following retail software programs: (links open in a new window)
OVF Customers interested in more information about B2B may contact:
Eric Appleby, Director
Electronic Sales & Marketing
Ohio Valley Flooring
(800) 955-7724 x2190
eric.appleby@ovf.com
Additional information, including contacts for all these software companies, is available at the official website of the Flooring Industry B2B Committee: | |