How nucao cut EDI order processing time by 95% while scaling retail
About
Founded in 2016, nucao is a sustainable chocolate brand that has expanded from D2C into major German retailers including REWE, EDEKA, dm and Rossmann.
As brick-and-mortar retail became a key growth channel, nucao grew revenue by up to 50% per year in recent years — creating the need for an operations setup that could scale with its growing retailer network and order volumes.
Challenge
As nucao’s retail business grew, so did the operational workload. Every new retailer brought new EDI requirements, orders, invoices, and logistics documents.
With manual data entry and disconnected systems, processing more retail volume meant more operational work.
To keep scaling without adding manual overhead, nucao needed to automate retailer connectivity and order processing.
Solution
nucao connected Xentral to Procuros, creating one automated EDI connection between its ERP and its retailer network.
Procuros handles the retailer-specific EDI requirements and exchanges documents including ORDERS, DESADV and INVOIC in the required formats. Incoming orders from retailers such as REWE and EDEKA flow directly into Xentral, while outbound documents are automatically translated and delivered to each retailer.
Instead of building and maintaining individual EDI integrations, nucao manages its retail network through a single connection to Procuros. New trading partners can be added without creating new EDI projects for the internal team.
Xentral in conjunction with Procuros offers exactly the freedom that companies in the food sector need right now.
Results
With Procuros' connectivity infrastructure and order processing automated, nucao reduced the time required to process EDI orders by 95%. At the same time, 85% of its trading partners were automatically connected, allowing the team to handle a growing retailer network and higher order volumes with significantly less manual work.
This operational foundation has supported nucao as it expanded further into retail and grew revenue by up to 50% per year in recent years — without operational workload growing at the same pace.
If we hadn't taken steps to optimize processes, implement EDI with Procuros, and expand Xentral in 2021, we wouldn't be where we are today.
