Argos Supplier Alert !
Argos suppliers using the Commerce-Connections EDI Service need to act immediatly in order to continue trading with Argos. Argos has decided to force upon small suppliers an extra charge for EDI with Argos even if the supplier has it's own EDI solution or service provider. Argos has diconnected all open EDI links except the route via their chosen service provider. To continue trading with Argos Suppliers must sign up with the Argos prefered EDI services provider even if they want to continue to use their existing solution or EDI service provider.
We at Commerce-Connections are appealled by this decision of Argos but have no power to prevent such practises.
Announcement
Commerce-Connections has been working with Argos and Argos’s suppliers for more than eight years to enable cost effective, electronic trading and compliance with Argos’s EDI requirements.
We regret to inform you that Argos has decided to penalise its suppliers and force upon its smaller ones another burden by removing the choice to be able to select either their own EDI/B2B service provider or choose their own software for generating compliant EDI messages.
Of course it incurs extra charges for the privilege to supply Argos. If your organisation is not of the size of Philips or Sony for example, you will have to contribute to Argos’s profit by paying extra for a service you may not want to use.
If you paid £650 for the Commerce-Connections WebEDI system, you can continue to use the Commerce-Connections Web Application which may be useful if you supply to other retailers as well.
Regardless, you still have to sign up and pay Argos/Transalis £1200 for no service at all.
Alternatively, you can migrate to the “new” WebEDI system from Argos/Transalis for £1200 to £2400.
In other words: you have no choice but to sign up with Argos/Transalis.
Therefore we and other B2B/EDI service providers informed Argos’s management last year about this unfair business practice and the approach of Argos’s service providers to impose much higher prices than normally justified under the protection of Argos. Unfortunately this has not changed Argos’s strategy of treating its smaller suppliers.
Commerce-Connections will publish this letter on its website and also distribute the information to industry bodies who may question Argos’s business practices in times when smaller businesses need all the support they can get.
Independent of the above we strongly advise your organisation to act immediately and choose a route to ensure it can continue trading electronically as Argos has closed any other open EDI channel. For advise please contact your Commerce-Connections representative on +44(0)845 127 9955.
Yours faithfully,
Director Commerce-Connections Limited
