EDI Requirements

Sam’s Club EDI Requirements

Sam’s Club is Walmart-owned and shares the Retail Link backbone, but it’s a membership warehouse club — not Walmart 1P — so the requirements diverge where the club channel does: club/bulk multipacks, a stricter in-full standard, 9-block pallets, and the SIDE item-data program. For club suppliers, EDI on ANSI X12 is mandatory and the 856/ASN is the most compliance-sensitive document.

Required EDI documents

Document	Name	Notes
EDI 850	Purchase Order
EDI 855	PO Acknowledgment
EDI 856	Advance Ship Notice (ASN)	most compliance-sensitive; must arrive before the shipment hits the DC
EDI 810	Invoice	must reconcile to the PO and ASN
EDI 860	PO Change	conditional
EDI 846	Inventory Advice	conditional
EDI 852	Product Activity Data (POS)	conditional; via Retail Link
EDI 997	Functional Acknowledgment

Labeling & packaging

GS1-128 (UCC-128) case/shipping labels with an SSCC-18 at the pallet level that must exactly match the 856.
9-block pallet configuration on approved block pallets (reported as iGPS or CHEP) — standard GMA/stringer pallets are reported as not accepted; confirm the current pallet spec in the routing guide.
Club/bulk pack presentation: shelf- or club-ready multipacks with the club-pack UPC, distinct from the equivalent Walmart 1P item; item dimensions and weights are governed by the SIDE (Supplier Item Data Excellence) program.

Connection & portal

AS2 for direct connection or an approved VAN (SPS, Cleo, TrueCommerce); ANSI X12.
Retail Link is the shared Walmart/Sam’s Club vendor portal for item setup, scorecards, POS (852) data, and the routing guide; onboarding runs through the Walmart/Sam’s Club Supplier Portal. Retail Link is where you manage items and scores; the transactions still run over EDI.
Vendor prerequisites reported to include a U.S. legal entity, federal EIN, DUNS number, and liability insurance.

Onboarding & testing

Reported as fast as 2–3 weeks to production cutover for an established EDI partner, but plan for longer on a first integration. Sequence: vendor setup + Supplier Portal registration → Retail Link access → AS2/VAN connectivity → certify each transaction set → go live. Every document type is tested before production.

Compliance & chargebacks

• OTIF (On-Time In-Full): reported at 90% on-time and a stricter 100% in-full standard, tied to the vendor scorecard. Reported delivery windows differ by DC — a one-day MABD window for grocery/perishable, a wider (reported ~four-day) window ending on the MABD for dry DCs and Direct Club Delivery. Confirm current thresholds in the routing guide.
• ASN and label accuracy are enforced with flat-fee chargebacks — late/inaccurate ASN reported around $500+ per shipment and pallet-build non-compliance reported around $300–$500 per pallet (third-party estimates; the Retail Link fee schedule is login-gated).
• SIDE (Supplier Item Data Excellence): item-data accuracy program (dimensions, weights, UPC) with reported flat-fee chargebacks for data errors — bad item data cascades into slotting, pallet, and ASN failures.

Worth knowing

• Club channel, not Walmart 1P: club/bulk multipacks carry their own club-pack UPC and item setup, so a Walmart 1P item does not map one-to-one to a Sam’s Club item — they’re distinct records.
• The 100% in-full standard is tighter than Walmart’s reported 95% — a single short line can miss the bar.
• 9-block pallets, SIDE item data, and AI/exit-tech-compatible packaging are club-specific; shared Retail Link tooling doesn’t mean shared requirements.

How EndlessEDI helps with Sam’s Club

Sam’s Club needs its own setup: EndlessEDI keeps club-pack items as distinct records with their own UPCs and dimensions (what SIDE grades), builds 856s whose SSCCs match the 9-block pallets, and holds the 100%-in-full line Walmart’s 95% doesn’t demand.

Explore EndlessEDI

Sam’s Club EDI FAQ

What EDI documents does Sam’s Club require?

Core documents are the 850 (PO), 855 (PO acknowledgment), 856 (ASN), 810 (invoice), and 997, on ANSI X12, with 860/846/852 conditional. The 856 must arrive before the shipment reaches the DC and its SSCC-18s must match the pallets exactly.

How is Sam’s Club EDI different from Walmart 1P?

Sam’s Club shares Retail Link with Walmart but is a membership warehouse club: expect club/bulk pack items with their own UPCs, 9-block pallets, the SIDE item-data program, and a reported 100% in-full standard. A Walmart 1P item is a separate record from its Sam’s Club club-pack equivalent.

What is the SIDE program?

SIDE (Supplier Item Data Excellence) is Sam’s Club’s item-data accuracy program covering dimensions, weights, and UPCs. Errors are reported to draw flat-fee chargebacks and, because bad item data cascades into pallet and ASN failures, they’re worth fixing at the source. Confirm current requirements in the routing guide.

EDI requirements and penalty schedules change and vary by program. Figures marked “reported” come from third-party sources, not the retailer’s published fee schedule — always confirm against the retailer’s current routing guide and your vendor agreement.