Book Chapter
Leroy-Merlin is the second-largest distributor of Do-It-Yourself products in France and is part of the international Auchan group. The company procures its goods from about 1,000 regular suppliers and sells them to end-consumers through the 59 company-owned outlet stores. In 1988, initially aiming at improving the operational efficiency of processing its purchase orders, Leroy-Merlin began installing an EDI application based on the standardized EDI-service "ALLEGRO". This paper discusses the implications, benefits and drawbacks of adopting such a standard from a medium-sized company's perspective. It also highlights future development opportunities for the current system with respect to the number of integrated partners as well as its functional and geographical scope.
