Short answer
Yes. Many retailers send purchase orders as PDF or Excel files, or in the body of an email. This is common with smaller department stores, independents and retailers abroad. Once you confirm it, a file order commits you just like an EDI one. The difference is the work: someone has to read it, translate the codes and type it into your ERP.
Who sends orders by file or email?
In my experience, mostly smaller accounts and retailers outside your home country. At the brand I ran, about half our orders arrived this way.
Each retailer uses its own template, its own product codes, and often its own language. A French store sends a bon de commande, a German one a Bestellung.
What should a file or email order include?
| Detail | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Order number | So the same order is not entered twice |
| Product codes, with EAN or your style code | To match each line to your style, colour and size |
| Quantities by size | Size lines are where typing errors hide |
| Unit price and discounts | To check against the agreed terms |
| Delivery date or window | To check you can meet it |
| Delivery address | The right store, warehouse and dock |
| Buyer contact | To settle questions fast |
If something is missing, ask before you confirm, not after you ship.
Where do file orders go wrong?
- Typing errors. A size line swapped, a quantity entered twice.
- Codes. The retailer's codes do not match yours, and someone translates them from memory.
- Duplicates. A revised order arrives as a new email, and both get entered.
- One inbox. Orders sit in one person's inbox, and wait when that person is away.
From the field
At the brand I ran, five people in sales admin served around 150 active accounts across Europe. When one of them went on holiday without rerouting their emails, orders simply waited in their inbox.
From a European fashion brand
How do you handle file orders well?
- Use a shared orders inbox, not personal ones.
- Log every order number as soon as it lands.
- Keep a code table per retailer: their code, your style, colour, size and EAN.
- Confirm every order in writing: what you will ship, and when.
- Set a target time, such as one working day from receipt to confirmation.
One more point when you open a new account: pay close attention to the retailer's packaging and delivery requirements, including product labels and carton labels. Get them in writing from the retailer's operations team before the first order ships. Mistakes here only show up at the retailer's warehouse, as fines, refused deliveries or extra handling charges.
Where Gatsbee fits
This is the work Gatsbee was built for. It reads orders from PDF, Excel, email and retailer portals, matches each line to your products, checks prices against your terms and sends a clean order to your ERP. See which formats Gatsbee reads.
Questions
Do I need to confirm an order sent by email?
Yes. Confirm in writing what you will ship and when. It protects both sides if a line is disputed later, and some retailers expect it within a set time.
What if a retailer sends a revised order?
Treat it as a change to the original order, not a new one. Check the order number, update the existing order in your ERP, and confirm the change to the buyer.
Can I ask a retailer to use my order template?
You can ask, and smaller accounts sometimes agree. Larger retailers usually send orders from their own systems, in their own format.
Alexis
Co-founder, Gatsbee
15 years in wholesale. Former CEO of a European lingerie brand selling to retailers across the UK, France and Germany.
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