EDIFACT in Danish mass retail
While NemHandel and OIOUBL dominate public invoicing, the Danish retail sector remains massively orchestrated in EDIFACT EANCOM 2002. The three giants Salling Group, Coop Danmark and Dagrofa drain more than 80% of the food market and impose on their ~10,000 suppliers a classical ORDERS/DESADV/INVOIC EDIFACT infrastructure, complemented by OIOUBL on invoices since 2018.
Danish retailers and their EDI portals
Salling Group A/S (~38% of DK food market)
Largest Danish distributor, owner of brands:
- Føtex — urban proximity hypermarkets
- Bilka — hypermarkets (Carrefour XXL equivalent)
- Netto — hard-discount (~530 stores DK + DE + PL + SE)
- Salling — department stores (Aarhus, Aalborg)
- BR Legetøj — toys (return in 2024 post-acquisition)
- Carl's Jr. DK — fast-food (franchise)
EDI portal: Salling Group EDI Hub operated in-house with TrueCommerce and Pagero relays. GLN ~5790000099999.
Coop Danmark A/S (~32% of market)
Multi-format cooperative:
- Kvickly — hypermarkets
- SuperBrugsen / Brugsen — cooperative supermarkets and minimarkets
- Dagli'Brugsen — village proximity
- Irma — premium urban (closed 2023 but brand retained)
- Coop 365discount — discount
- Fakta — discount (integrated into Coop 365 in 2022)
EDI portal: Coop EDI gateway operated by ItellaTietoEVRY, GLN ~5790000098765.
Dagrofa A/S (~12%)
Danish multi-brand group:
- MENY — premium supermarkets
- SPAR DK — SPAR International franchise (~50 stores)
- Min Købmand — small village grocery
- Let-Køb — convenience
EDI portal: Dagrofa EDI managed by Visma + Pagero.
REMA 1000 Danmark (~9%)
Norwegian hard-discount (Reitan Retail), strong presence in major Danish cities. ~360 stores. EDI managed via TrueCommerce.
Lidl Danmark (~5%)
Danish subsidiary of Schwarz Gruppe (DE), ~150 stores. EDI managed via Lidl Connect Global with local GS1 Denmark sub-contracting.
Aldi Nord Danmark (2023 exit)
Aldi closed its Danish subsidiary in September 2023, its 188 stores were taken over by REMA 1000 and Coop. Historical EDI managed by Aldi Nord Connect.
GS1 Denmark EANCOM 2002 subset
GS1 Denmark (based in Glostrup) has published the EANCOM 2002 implementation guide for the Danish market since 1992. Local specificities:
- GLN prefix 579 — reserved for Denmark in the global GS1 numbering plan
- DTM 137 + DTM 2 mandatory (order date + delivery date)
- DKK currency code default (ISO 4217)
- VAT code 25 (standard rate, UNCL 5305 listID category S)
- Organic "öko" mention via IMD type GTI (Generic Trade Information) — particularly important for Salling/Coop who develop their own organic brands
- Danish postal addresses in Kommune format (4 digits) + Land "DK"
- CCYYMMDD date format (UN/CEFACT 102)
Messages used day-to-day
- ORDERS (D.01B / D.96A) — order from retailer to supplier
- ORDRSP — supplier delivery commitment acknowledgment
- DESADV — shipping notice with SSCC pallets (GS1-128)
- RECADV — retailer warehouse reception acknowledgment
- INVOIC — invoice (migrating to OIOUBL since 2024)
- PRICAT — negotiated supplier price catalogue
- INVRPT — warehouse stock report to supplier (VMI — Vendor Managed Inventory)
- SLSRPT — weekly sales (sell-out) report
- CONTRL — technical syntactic acknowledgment
- APERAK — application acknowledgment (business error)
ORDERS example — Salling Group
UNB+UNOC:3+5790000123456:14+5790000098765:14+260520:1430+REF000456'
UNH+1+ORDERS:D:01B:UN:EAN010'
BGM+220+SAL-2026-005678+9'
DTM+137:20260520:102'
DTM+2:20260601:102'
NAD+BY+5790000123456::9'
NAD+SU+5790000098765::9'
NAD+DP+5790001112223::9+++FOETEX HOVEDLAGER:CENTRALVEJ 100+ALBERTSLUND++2620+DK'
RFF+CT:RAMME-2026-FOETEX'
LIN+1++5710300100029:EN'
IMD+F++:::HAVREGRYN OEKOLOGISK ARLA 500G'
QTY+21:1200:PCE'
PRI+AAA:7.95:DKK'
LIN+2++5710300100036:EN'
IMD+F++:::MAELK MINIMAELK 0,5L'
QTY+21:4800:PCE'
PRI+AAA:5.45:DKK'
UNS+S'
CNT+2:2'
UNT+15+1'
UNZ+1+REF000456'
# Decoding:
# Issuer 5790000123456 = Salling Group A/S (GS1 DK GLN)
# Receiver 5790000098765 = Arla Foods supplier
# Delivery location 5790001112223 = Foetex Hovedlager Albertslund
# Quantities 1200 PCE oats + 4800 PCE skim milk
# DK subset: DTM 137 code (order date) + DTM 2 (delivery date)
# Currency: DKK (Danish krone, ISO 4217 codelist)Volume and market share
2024 estimates (sources GS1 Denmark + Pagero studies + integrator interviews):
- ~180 million EDIFACT messages exchanged in DK retail/year
- ~10,000 suppliers (SMEs and large groups) connected to at least one retailer portal
- ~85% of Danish food supply chain flows pass through EDIFACT
- Top 3 retailers (Salling, Coop, Dagrofa) drain 82% of messages.
- INVOIC → OIOUBL transition ongoing since 2024: ~35% of INVOIC already migrated as of 1 May 2025.
Coexistence with PEPPOL OIOUBL
The trend since 2024 (driven by Bogføringsloven and OIOUBL 3.0) pushes retailers to migrate EDIFACT INVOIC to OIOUBL/PEPPOL:
- Salling Group: INVOIC → OIOUBL migration announced for September 2025, supply chain (ORDERS/DESADV) remains EDIFACT.
- Coop Danmark: dual rail INVOIC EDIFACT + OIOUBL since October 2024, per supplier according to preference.
- Dagrofa: progressive migration with Visma as a transparent gateway.
- REMA/Lidl: exclusive EDIFACT maintained — no migration announced before Bogføringsloven phase 2 (July 2026).