Streamlining Procurement and Financial Workflows for Uni-China Group with ezTRADE
Background
Uni-China Group enjoys considerable growth in its retail operations as grocery spending rises, operating 3 supermarket brands with about 1,000 retail outlets and point-of-sales today. The Group’s retail unit involves in the wholesale and retail of thousands of products, including seafood, meat, vegetables, fruits and daily necessities sourced from around the world.
The Group experienced challenges in managing its procurement and financial operations as business grows. The key pain points include inefficient workflows due to manual, paper-based purchasing and invoicing processes, causing possible delays in procure-to-pay cycle.
Human errors in data entry sometimes lead to discrepancies between POs, invoices and payments, which might complicate financial reconciliation. There are limited visibility into invoice and payment status as well, impeding timely resolution on payment issue.
Solution
To streamline the workflows, Uni-China Group partnered with GS1 Hong Kong to implement ezTRADE, a B2B e-commerce community platform built on GS1 EDI standard. The platform digitises and automates the Group's procurement and financial processes, focusing on 3 key modules: EDI Purchase Orders (PO), EDI Invoices, and EDI Remittance Advice.
By automating the generation and transmission of purchase orders to suppliers, the Group significantly reduces manual input and processing time by an estimate of 33%. Once POs are issued, real-time notifications are sent to suppliers to ensure their acknowledgement, which helps minimise missing orders.
ezTRADE supports seamless integration of invoice data with Uni-China’s ERP system, enabling instant validation and reconciliation. Replacing manual review process, Uni-China staff can now verify and approve the suppliers’ invoices by batches that saves about 50% of time. The Group is also able to improve accuracy and efficiency with invoice formats that adhered to GS1 EANCOM/EDIFACT standards.
For Uni-China’s suppliers, they can know once an invoice is settled as they would receive an automated remittance advice, providing immediate visibility of the payment status and reducing any payment disputes / inquiries.
As of February 2024, over 30 strategic suppliers and major retailers have been using the platform to automate the trade process with the Group, and approximately 60 more are expected to be onboard in 2025, which will account for over 60% of Uni-China’s total invoice lines.
Benefits
GS1 HK’s ezTRADE helps Uni-China transform its procurement and financial processes:
• Operational Efficiency: Reduce 33% of time for manual processes and accelerated the procure-to-pay cycle
• Accuracy: Minimise discrepancies between POs, invoices and payments and foster trust among trade partners
• Compliance: Adhere to financial auditing standards through standardized, traceable documentation
• Sustainability: Reduce a lot of paper consumption, in line with Uni-China’s corporate sustainability goals
GS1 Standards / Solutions / Services Used
• Global Location Number (GLN)
• GS1 EANCOM
• ezTRADE
“To keep pace with our retail expansion, we have been sourcing and offering an increasingly wide range of high-quality products to the consumers in Hong Kong. With ezTRADE, a lot of administrative works in the procurement process can be digitalised and automated, freeing our staff to focus on value-adding tasks and reducing our carbon footprint. It has helped us enhance efficiency, accuracy and sustainability.”
Ms. Wing Lau
Executive Director and Chief Supply Chain Officer
About the Company
Uni-China Group has been a cornerstone of Hong Kong’s business landscape for 25 years, evolving from a single entity into a multifaceted conglomerate. Our diverse portfolio spans multiple sectors, including value amplification, retail, food trading, F&B, and digital business, managing approximately 1,000 sales points. With around 5,000 dedicated professionals and skilled frontline staff, we are committed to pursuing excellence in all aspects of our operations.