Routing at Walmart has been a topic of interest in the last few years. To minimize inefficiency and maintain EDLP in economic turmoil, the largest retailer in North America requires complex structures and programs to manage the 210 DCs and 4,624 stores moving millions of dollars of product each day.
Walmart’s Routing Guide, updated in 2022, is 134 pages of information for Collect Transportation to flow seamlessly through the supply chain. The sheer amount of information can be difficult to comprehend fully without the timely demands placed on collect suppliers or applying Walmart’s expectations to your day-to-day operations.
Consider the following a supplier roadmap for applying Walmart’s Routing guide. With Stacy Tan from Supply Pike, we’ll cover common routing errors, their effects and how to properly address chronic issues.
Common Routing Issues
Knowing What Tools To Use
A simple barrier to working with a retailer is understanding the platforms and tools required to get the job done.
Retail Link Applications
Walmart’s Supplier Portal, Retail Link, is the homebase for several reporting tools, apps, and training materials. If your team doesn’t have access, create a new user registration form or ask your site admin the best course of action.
● Supplier Agreement
The first step to better understanding is reviewing the Online Supplier Agreement (OSA). Often, errors are derived from suppliers not understanding the agreement their company has with a given retailer.
OSAs at Walmart can be located in the Retail Link Home Page under the My Agreements Tab when the Profile Icon is selected. Basic details like payment terms, purchase costs and conditions, and shipping type and terms can be found in the OSA.
● OTIF Scorecard
Within Retail Link, you’ll have access to applications like the OTIF Scorecard. This tool reflects the collective performance of your supply chain with Walmart. The application has two main sections: the Performance and Charges Tabs.
The Performance Tab provides a summary of OTIF performance and detailed PO information. The Charges Tab provides charge details with 13 months of data available. Suppliers should review their OTIF PO details weekly, identify process gaps, collaborate with Walmart teams, and implement corrective actions to improve their performance.
● NOVA
Another key application within Retail Link is the Purchase Order (PO) Creating and Management tool, New Order VAlidation and Approval (NOVA). This tool is helpful for pushing manual POs and managing any system-generated POs. NOVA is great for making agile decisions, but it should only be used to make changes pre-approved by your Walmart Merchant Teams.
Applications Not on Retail Link
While Retail Link is considered a supplier’s homebase, there are other apps within the Walmart Routing Guide that are essential to supplier success.
● Transportation Portal
● Transportation Supply Chain Portal (TSCP 2.0)
Despite the similar names these portals do slightly different tasks. However, these tools require separate logins outside of Retail Link.
Roles that would require access to the Transportation Portal fall under any desk that needs to communicate with direct visibility to your Walmart Transportation. If someone on your team needs access, they can request a login here.
Access to TSCP 2.0 is most helpful for those conforming PO into routing, monitoring Routing Status, or your third-party logistics teams. Access to this application must be submitted by a Retail Link Admin for your organization and will require the Retail Link User ID of each person needing access to TSCP 2.0.
PO Cancellation
When an order in NOVA is canceled by either the Walmart Replenishment Team or at the request of a supplier, the supplier is responsible for opening a ticket to cancel routing. The NOVA and TSCP 2.0 systems don’t talk to each other about the updated PO statuses.
Failure to update both systems to reflect the correct information can negatively affect the accuracy of carrier capacity. The consequence for the supplier if the PO ships after it was canceled is the cost of shipping and stacking deductions across Walmart’s multiple, siloed compliance programs.
MABD Update
A MABD, or Must Arrive By Date, is the window in which Walmart expects a shipment to arrive to its designated destination. Understanding your MABD date is foundational to smooth routing. If there is any change to the MABD, proactive communication with your Walmart Teams and subsequently updating NOVA is required to not affect your OTIF Score.
To update the MABD properly, the Walmart Routing Guide requests that the PO is canceled by opening a ticket in NOVA. A new PO should be created and reconfirmed with the new dates.
NOTE: Some suppliers are closed on weekends and holidays, however MABDs may be set for those dates. Ensure your MABDs work for your teams and that your Supplier Closing dates are submitted to Walmart quarterly.
Effects of Routing Errors
In an ideal world, supply chains would always function perfectly. Despite the best efforts of talented supplier teams, small issues can snowball, leading to catastrophic consequences like fines, unexpected fees, post audits, or distrust from Walmart teams.
Teams that aren’t aware of retailer-specific pitfalls may not realize the full effect routing issues can create.
OTIF Program
Walmart’s On Time, In Full (OTIF) Program imposes charges on suppliers based on their performance in meeting the 98% expectation. Charges are applied to non-compliant cases or items if a supplier’s performance falls below the set goals.
Supplier performance is evaluated monthly, excluding non-compliant Walmart accountable cases.
Charges are released on a different platform, High Radius. If unpaid, these charges are auto-deducted from the supplier’s next invoice.
In early January 2022, these charges were made disputable by Walmart. Previously, a dispute process was only available through email with your buyer and the results varied widely. Currently, suppliers can dispute through High Radius. However, the issue of proving validity and gathering proof documentation is still a tedious process. Best-in-class suppliers focus on drilling down into the root cause and determining if passing the fine to the carrier is feasible.
Supplier Quality Excellence Program
Walmart’s newest compliance program, the Supplier Quality Excellence Program (SQEP), implements compliance rules with 63 corresponding defects that create supply chain hiccups. Spanning areas like packaging, load quality, and PO accuracy, these competencies may be traced to routing errors.
SQEP fines are similar to OTIF fines because they recur monthly, are found in High Radius, and are disputable. SQEP requires cross-functional teams to work closely, shore up any issues, or pay hefty fines.
Collect Pickup Program
Last July, amid rising fuel costs, Walmart rolled out the Collect Pickup Program (CPP). As part of a Walmart initiative to maintain EDLP for the customer, fees for pickup and fuel were passed on to collect suppliers.
To this day, these costs are not always factored into a supplier’s expenses. While these fees aren’t disputable, it’s crucial to account for these fluctuating monthly costs.
Related Reading: Finding a New 3PL may end up saving your team routing-related headaches
Addressing Routing Issues
Ensuring error-free routing can feel like balancing a bunch of spinning plates at once. Consider this section a quality assurance checklist while working to improve your supply chain.
Reviewing Routing Status and Identifying Errors
After confirming the POs, suppliers need to diligently review the Routing Status to verify if the routing was done correctly. If any errors are discovered, it is vital to take immediate action by opening a ticket in the Transportation Portal. Common areas of concern include duplicate routing, incorrect quantity, and incorrect ship point.
- Duplicate Routing occurs when a PO is confirmed multiple times or confirmed in addition to the AutoReady/MTLO routing.
- Incorrect Quantity can happen if case count or cubic measurement is incorrectly entered in the pallet field. Other issues may be found if incorrect information was input during item set up.
- Incorrect Ship Point may create an error if the ship point or address where the freight is to be picked up has a discrepancy.
Communication
Best-in-class suppliers understand the value of providing proactive communication with both internal and external partners. If any issue may be on the horizon, the proper teams are notified and in a timely manner.
All parties involved in scheduling, whether internal or through a third-party logistics provider (3PL), should have access to Carrier Contact information provided by Walmart in the Transportation Portal Knowledge Base.
If utilizing a 3PL, the supplier must either grant them access to TSCP 2.0 for up-to-date shipping instructions or send daily (or twice-daily) Routing Status updates.
If the product is unavailable for shipment as planned, the supplier must cancel the routing, extend MABD, and reconfirm accordingly to avoid any complications, fines, or deductions.
Proactive and documented communication is not only helpful for being an excellent Walmart supplier, it is also valuable for disputing any potentially invalid deduction claims.
Conclusion
Walmart’s Routing Guide is crucial for suppliers to navigate the complex structures and programs in place for efficient supply chain management. The prize to understanding routing and other key transportation efforts is mitigating errors and potential consequences, such as fines and fees, while improving supply chain performance.
For more helpful resources on Walmart’s Distribution Network, check out SupplierWiki’s Walmart Distribution Cheat Sheet.
SupplierWiki creates free, educational content for CPG suppliers connected to and drawn from the knowledge behind our SupplyPike Products. If you are interested in disputing fines from carrier and warehouse partners with in-depth scorecards, contact our SupplyPike Team for a commitment-free chat.
Stacy is the VP of Retail Insights for SupplyPike. She brings a decade of knowledge and experience working directly with Walmart and Sam’s Club merchandising teams.
