In the EDI world, it's all about transactions, not retail dollars. And the reality of transactions is that there are fewer transactions. There are fewer retailers today than there were just a few months ago. And anecdotal indications are that when consumers do make purchases, they are hunting for lower priced alternatives.

This calculus would seem to suggest that if the total retail sales dollars are increasing, and the value of each purchase is less, the number of items being sold should be higher.

I've heard from readers that there is an increased concentration from retailers on honing their purchasing methods even beyond their previous levels. If that's the case, that means that purchase orders will be denser... each purchase order may contain the same number of line items, but for higher quantities of product. And, if they are intent on optimizing their trading practices, these purchase orders are likely to be more complex.

For example, there may be greater reliance on cross-docking, a topic we've covered here before, and a practice that is likely to be executed differently from retailer to retailer.

My conclusion is that this is a time to increase your interactions with your trading partners beyond the transaction level. Increasing your contact in an effort to better coordinate methodologies may just squeeze a bit more efficiency out of the supply chain. And with fewer trading partners, and less attention being paid to new store openings, there should be opportunities to concentrate on the minutea that makes up the trading cycle, and provides better efficiencies.