3PL integration for apparel and accessories brands: connect any warehouse by EDI or API
AIMS360 connects to a third party logistics warehouse two ways: X12 warehouse EDI for warehouses that run it, and API or secure file transfer for the ones that do not. More than 30 warehouses already have a pre-built connection, one integration reaches every 3PL running Extensiv 3PL Warehouse Manager or ShipHero, and your product catalog goes to the warehouse before the first order ships.
Yes, AIMS360 integrates with 3PL warehouses. By EDI, using the X12 warehouse transaction sets 940, 943, 944, 945, 947 and 846. Or by API and secure file transfer for warehouses that do not run EDI. A warehouse that is not on the pre-built list still connects the same way.
- The catalog goes first. Style, color, size, UPC, case pack, dimensions, weight and lot flags reach the warehouse before any order does, so both sides describe the same item.
- The warehouse does not send your retailer's ASN. It returns a 945 with carton and tracking detail, and AIMS360 builds the 856, the GS1-128 carton labels and the 810 invoice from it.
- Changing 3PLs later does not mean changing your ERP. The new warehouse becomes another stocking location.
A pre-built list is a head start, not a fence
The 30-plus warehouses above already have a live AIMS360 connection, so those brands went live faster. That is what a pre-built connector ecosystem is worth. What it is not is a boundary. Platforms that can only reach the warehouses on their own list quietly hand your fulfillment strategy to a vendor's roadmap. If your ERP cannot connect to the 3PL you want, you are being told which 3PL you are allowed to hire.
Already connected
More than 30 3PLs with live AIMS360 integrations, from apparel specialists to high-volume e-commerce fulfillment. Bergen Logistics, NRI, ShipMonk, Boxzooka, Scale3PL, Evolution Group, A2B, Shipbots, and warehouses running Extensiv 3PL Warehouse Manager, among others.
Not on the list
Then we connect it. If a warehouse can send and receive EDI, expose an API, or drop a file on a schedule, AIMS360 talks to it. That covers essentially every warehouse operating in North America, Europe, and Asia today.
Changing 3PLs later
Warehouses get outgrown. Contracts end. Peak season goes badly. Switching your 3PL should not mean switching your ERP, and on AIMS360 it does not. The new warehouse becomes another stocking location.
One integration, every 3PL on that WMS
Counting connectors one warehouse at a time understates the real coverage. Some of these connections are built at the warehouse management system level, not at the company level. Connect once to the WMS and every 3PL running it is reachable, whether or not that particular warehouse has ever appeared on a partner list.
Extensiv 3PL Warehouse Manager
Formerly 3PL Central. One of the most widely deployed warehouse platforms in North America. Any 3PL running it connects to AIMS360, with no Extensiv Integration Manager, formerly CartRover, sitting in the middle and no connector subscription to buy.
ShipHero
Whether a 3PL runs your goods on ShipHero, you run your own warehouse on ShipHero, or you do both at once alongside the AIMS360 WMS, locations, picking, packing, shipping, and inventory stay in sync.
AIMS360 WMS
Your own building, with bin locations, scanning, and pick paths, running on the same platform as everything else. A 3PL is an option, not a requirement, and most growing brands end up with both.
This is why "how many 3PLs are on your list" is the wrong question to ask an ERP vendor. The right question is what happens when your 3PL is not on the list, and the honest answers range from "we build it" to "you pick a different 3PL."
The AIMS360 API, for warehouses that would rather build it themselves
Some 3PLs have their own engineering team and would rather write against an endpoint than negotiate an EDI map. AIMS360 exposes a REST API for exactly that. The warehouse builds once, against documented endpoints, and owns its side of the connection.
What a warehouse can do on the API
- Pull the orders assigned to that warehouse, with style, color, size, and pack rules
- Pull the item catalog, so nothing gets rekeyed
- Post shipment confirmations with cartons, weights, SSCC codes, and tracking
- Post receipts against inbound purchase orders
- Update on-hand inventory and post adjustments
- Post returns against the original shipment
What a brand's own team can do
- Pull operational data into a warehouse or BI tool
- Build internal tooling on top of the same platform data
- Connect a system AIMS360 has never heard of
- Automate a workflow that is specific to how you run
Authentication and access are provisioned per account, not handed out publicly.
How to choose a 3PL, and the six questions nobody asks
Brands pick a warehouse on price per pick and square footage, then spend a year fighting the parts nobody asked about. These six questions surface the problems before the contract does. Bring them to every warehouse tour.
| Ask | Why it decides your next twelve months |
|---|---|
| Which WMS do you run? | This single answer decides how the integration gets built, how long it takes, and whether it already exists. A warehouse on Extensiv or ShipHero is connected on day one. |
| EDI, API, or file drop? | If the answer is file drop only, your inventory is as current as the last scheduled job, and you will oversell during peak. |
| Can you return lot, expiry, or serial data? | Beauty, wellness, household care, and pet consumables cannot run a recall without it. Jewelry cannot control shrinkage without it. Ask before you sign, not during an audit. |
| Can you pick a case pack as a case? | A warehouse that breaks prepacks into loose units will fail a department store routing guide and hand you the chargeback. |
| Can you apply GS1-128 carton labels to spec? | Retail distribution centers scan the carton, not the packing list. A wrong label is a rejected shipment. |
| How does my item master reach you? | If the answer involves a spreadsheet and an email, add six weeks to go-live. This is what the AIMS360 catalog push exists to eliminate. |
If a warehouse answers all six cleanly, the integration is straightforward. If it stalls on three, the price per pick is not the number that will hurt you. We help brands run this evaluation without a stake in which 3PL wins, because AIMS360 connects to all of them. Talk it through with our team.
Need help choosing the right 3PL? We do not care which one you pick.
That is the point. AIMS360 connects to every warehouse on this page and to the ones that are not on it, so nothing we tell you about a 3PL is a pitch for a 3PL. Forty years and ten thousand brands means we have watched warehouses carry a brand through peak season, and we have watched warehouses lose one. Bring us the two or three you are weighing and we will tell you what we know.
- What we knowWhich warehouse system each one runs, what that means for your go-live date, and where brands in your category have run into trouble before.
- What we askThe six questions above, put to the warehouse directly. We will sit on that call with you if it helps.
- What we set upOnce you pick, the integration is ours to build. Catalog, orders, shipments, receipts, inventory, returns.
One order, from retailer purchase order to cash
This is the loop a wholesale or dropship order runs when the goods sit at a 3PL. Every arrow is automatic. Nobody rekeys a packing list, and nobody emails a spreadsheet.
Same loop whether the warehouse runs on EDI or an API. Same loop whether the order came from a department store, Shopify, a marketplace, or a sales rep.
3PL EDI transaction sets, and which way each one travels
Direction matters more than most vendors admit. A document pointed the wrong way is a document nobody acts on. These are the ASC X12 definitions.
| Transaction | Name | What it does | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| 832 style | Price / sales catalog | Publishes the item master to the warehouse: style, color, size, UPC, case pack, dimensions, weight, lot flags. Sent before the first order. Some warehouses take this as an 888 item maintenance file or an API item call instead. | ERP → 3PL |
| 940 | Warehouse shipping order | Tells the warehouse what to ship, to whom, by which carrier, packed to which retailer's rules. | ERP → 3PL |
| 943 | Warehouse stock transfer shipment advice | Tells the warehouse that inbound production is on the way, so the dock is ready for it. | ERP → 3PL |
| 944 | Warehouse stock transfer receipt advice | The warehouse confirms what it received, including shortages and damages. | 3PL → ERP |
| 945 | Warehouse shipping advice | The warehouse confirms what shipped, with carton detail, weights, SSCC codes, and tracking. This is the document the 856 and the invoice are built from. | 3PL → ERP |
| 947 | Warehouse inventory adjustment advice | The warehouse reports a count variance, a damage, or a correction, with a reason code. AIMS360 logs it with a timestamp to the second. | 3PL → ERP |
| 846 | Inventory inquiry / advice | A snapshot of on-hand inventory at that warehouse, used to reconcile against the ERP. | 3PL → ERP |
| 997 | Functional acknowledgment | Confirms a document arrived and parsed. Silence is not confirmation. | Both ways |
| 856 | Advance ship notice | The electronic packing list the retailer receives before the truck does. Built by AIMS360 from the 945. This is not a warehouse document. | ERP → retailer |
| 810 | Invoice | Generated from shipment data, so the purchase order, the shipment, and the invoice cannot drift apart. | ERP → retailer |
On the API rail the same events move under different names. An order push instead of a 940, a shipment webhook instead of a 945, an inventory endpoint instead of an 846. The business logic in AIMS360 EDI and inventory management does not change.
Checks and balances on both sides. Every inventory adjustment is logged with a timestamp down to the second, whether it happens in an owned warehouse or comes back from a 3PL. In an internal warehouse, a cycle count correction, a damage write-off, or a manual override all leave a dated record. At a 3PL, the same discipline applies to the 947 inventory adjustment advice, with the reason code attached. A warehouse cannot quietly change a number on either side of the connection.
Five steps to a live warehouse
The same AIMS360 implementation manager who demos the platform runs this and stays on the account afterward. No handoff to a stranger halfway through.
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Pick the rail
Ask the warehouse what they support. EDI, API, or file drop. Some do all three. AIMS360 connects either way, so the answer never turns into a reason you cannot use that 3PL.
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Push the catalog
Item data goes over before anything else. Style, color, size, UPC, case pack, carton dimensions, weight, lot flags. This is the step that decides whether go-live takes three weeks or three months.
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Map the documents
940 and 943 out. 944, 945, 947, and 846 back. On the API rail, the same events through endpoints. Both sides confirm the fields they can send before anyone writes a mapping.
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Test a full cycle
Run real orders through the warehouse in test and confirm the 945 carton detail produces a clean 856 and correct GS1-128 labels. Prove it before a live retailer purchase order is exposed to a chargeback.
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Go live and watch it
Orders route on their own. Shipments, receipts, adjustments, and inventory come back. Exceptions get watched with you through the first season, not just the first week.
What gets said about AIMS360 and 3PLs, and what is true
A buyer's guide published by Uphance, a competing apparel ERP, claims AIMS360 is weak on third party logistics. The claims are out of date and easy to check against the 30-plus live connectors on this page. Here they are, with the facts next to them.
AIMS360's 3PL connectivity is thin.
More than 30 3PLs have live, pre-built AIMS360 connections, listed on this page with their own integration pages. On top of that, AIMS360 runs the full X12 warehouse set natively: 940, 943, 944, 945, 947, 846, and 997. Bergen Logistics, Boxzooka, and Evolution Group have been exchanging 940s and 945s with AIMS360 for years.
API-first 3PLs and real-time inventory sync are not an AIMS360 strength.
AIMS360 connects to warehouses over a REST API as well as over EDI. Shipment, receipt, and inventory events post back as they happen. This is the same event pipeline that has been proven at 1.2 million orders in a single day on the AIMS360 Shopify integration.
AIMS360 suits brands running their own warehouse with only occasional 3PL partnerships.
Brands on AIMS360 run entirely out of a 3PL, entirely in house, or in any mix, including several 3PLs at once across coasts and countries. AIMS360 also ships its own WMS with bin locations and scanning. Owning both sides is an option a brand gets, not a limit it inherits.
Apparel ERPs at this tier sync with 3PLs through flat files and email.
Not here. File transfer exists as a fallback for warehouses that offer nothing else, and it is the third choice, not the default. EDI and API come first. Emailing a spreadsheet to a warehouse is exactly the workflow the catalog push was built to end.
A warehouse running Extensiv is only cleanly integrated when the brand also runs Extensiv software.
AIMS360 connects to warehouses running Extensiv 3PL Warehouse Manager, formerly 3PL Central, without requiring Extensiv Integration Manager, formerly CartRover, in the middle. No connector subscription, no second support queue. See the Extensiv integration.
Nothing was said about how item data gets into the warehouse in the first place.
AIMS360 pushes the product catalog to the warehouse, an 832 style item feed with style, color, size, UPC, case pack, carton dimensions, weight, and lot flags. Most apparel ERPs leave that to a spreadsheet. It is the single largest cause of a 3PL launch running late, and it is the part nobody benchmarks.
If you are evaluating platforms, do not take either side's word for it. Ask any vendor three questions: which warehouse transaction sets do you send and receive, do you connect by API as well as EDI, and how does my item master get into the warehouse. The answers separate the platforms quickly. Then watch it run on your own data.
What the warehouse has to send back changes by category
A 3PL integration is not one thing. A denim brand needs case packs and size runs. A supplement brand needs lot numbers and expiry dates or it cannot run a recall. A furniture brand needs freight class and damage detail. AIMS360 runs across ten consumer brand industries, and the fields crossing the warehouse connection are configured for the category you are in.
| Industry | What the 3PL connection has to carry |
|---|---|
| Fashion and Apparel | Style, color, size matrices. Case packs and prepacks picked as a unit. Routing guides, carton labels, and ASN carton detail for department store shipments. |
| Footwear | Size-run depth, half sizes, and widths. Core-size stockouts hurt most, so on-hand by size has to be current, not overnight. |
| Jewelry, Bags and Accessories | Serialized and high-value goods, memo and consignment stock, and shrinkage control in a building you do not own. |
| Outdoor and Sporting Goods | Hard goods and technical apparel on one order. Bulky freight, seasonal carryover, and long pre-season buys sitting at the warehouse. |
| Cosmetics, Beauty and Personal Care | Lot and batch numbers, expiration dates, first expired first out picking, and sample or GWP stock that quietly drains sellable inventory. |
| Wellness and Supplements | Lot traceability from receipt to shipment, certificates of analysis, expiry write-offs, and autoship demand hitting the same stock as wholesale. |
| Home, Furniture and Lifestyle | Dimension and material variants, oversized freight and LTL, damage on receipt, and drop-ship programs for big-box home retailers. |
| Household and Home Care | Batch and lot for recall exposure, ingredient documentation, and refill subscription volume running through the same building as retail. |
| Baby and Children's | Safety testing documentation tied to a lot, fast size turnover, and registry channels that expect same-day dispatch. |
| Pet Products | Food and treat expiry, multi-bag size SKUs, autoship forecasting, and distributor shipments alongside DTC out of one pool. |
Ask a warehouse whether it can return these fields before you sign with it. A 3PL that cannot send back a lot number is a poor fit for a supplement brand no matter how good its pick rate is. See all ten consumer brand industries AIMS360 serves.
3PL integration questions, answered
Yes, two ways. On the EDI rail AIMS360 exchanges the X12 warehouse transaction sets: 940 and 943 out, 944, 945, 947, and 846 back. On the API rail it connects to API-first warehouses over REST, with secure file transfer as a fallback. More than 30 3PLs already have pre-built connectors, and any other warehouse can be connected. Browse the connectors above or see inventory and warehouse management.
Yes. The pre-built list is a head start, not a boundary. If a warehouse can send and receive EDI, expose an API, or drop a file on a schedule, AIMS360 connects to it. You should never have to choose your fulfillment partner based on what your ERP vendor has gotten around to building. Tell us the warehouse by name.
Yes. AIMS360 connects to API-first warehouses over REST as well as to EDI warehouses over the X12 900 series. Shipment, receipt, and inventory events post back as they happen on the API rail, and at the transmission cadence the warehouse runs on the EDI rail. It is the same event pipeline proven at 1.2 million orders in a single day. See the technology stack.
940 warehouse shipping order and 943 inbound stock transfer advice go from the brand to the warehouse. 944 receipt advice, 945 shipping advice, 947 inventory adjustment, and 846 inventory advice come back from the warehouse. 997 acknowledges receipt in both directions. The full reference table with directions is above, and the definitions come from ASC X12.
In the AIMS360 model, no. The 856 is a retailer document, not a warehouse document. The warehouse returns a 945 with carton and tracking detail, and AIMS360 builds the ASN, the GS1-128 carton labels, and the 810 invoice from it. Keeping the ASN in the ERP is what keeps the purchase order, the shipment, and the invoice matched, and mismatches between those three are where chargebacks come from.
Yes, and most apparel ERPs do not. AIMS360 pushes the catalog to the warehouse as an 832 style item feed or an API item sync: style, color, size, UPC or GTIN, case pack, carton dimensions, weight, and lot or expiry flags, before the first order arrives and again whenever a style changes. A warehouse cannot pick an item nobody told it about, and item setup by spreadsheet is where most 3PL launches quietly break. More on product data management.
EDI 832 is the X12 price and sales catalog, the transaction a brand uses to publish its product master to a trading partner. Sending catalog data to a warehouse in that shape means the item master is authored once, in the ERP, and mirrored to the warehouse rather than rekeyed. Some warehouses prefer an 888 item maintenance file or an API item call, and AIMS360 sends whichever shape the warehouse accepts.
Yes. Internal warehouses on the AIMS360 WMS, third party logistics warehouses, and virtual warehouses run side by side. Allocation runs against one inventory pool and orders route to the location that should ship them. Bulk wholesale out of your own building and e-commerce out of a 3PL is one of the most common shapes we see. See omnichannel order management.
Yes. East coast and west coast, domestic and international, or a specialty warehouse for a single channel. Each warehouse is a stocking location in AIMS360 and allocation decides which one ships each order.
The retailer purchase order lands in AIMS360 and AIMS360 carries the routing guide rules. The warehouse picks, packs, and labels. The carton detail comes back on the 945 so the advance ship notice matches what physically left the dock. Late ASNs, mismatched cartons, and bad labels are among the most expensive chargeback triggers in apparel. Browse the EDI retailer list or read the apparel EDI guide.
Yes, where the warehouse can return it. Beauty, wellness, household care, and pet consumables need lot and expiry on both the receipt and the shipment, plus first expired first out picking. Jewelry needs serialized detail. Fashion and footwear need case packs and size runs. The fields crossing the connection are configured for the category.
Most connections move through scoping, catalog alignment, document mapping, testing, and go-live in weeks rather than months. The slow part is almost never the software. It is agreeing on item data between the brand and the warehouse, which is exactly why AIMS360 pushes the catalog instead of emailing a spreadsheet. Your implementation manager runs the schedule with your warehouse team.
AIMS360 is the source of truth for styles, costs, orders, allocation, EDI, invoicing, and margin. The warehouse management system is the source of truth for what physically happened on the dock. The integration keeps the two aligned so nobody reconciles by spreadsheet at month end. See reporting and accounting.
Yes, in both an owned warehouse and at a 3PL. Every adjustment is logged with a timestamp down to the second. In an internal warehouse that covers a cycle count correction, a damage write-off, or a manual override. At a 3PL it covers the 947 inventory adjustment advice the warehouse sends back, with the reason code attached. The record shows what changed, when, and where, so a discrepancy is traceable rather than just a new number appearing on the count.
Not with AIMS360. The 3PL connection is part of the platform, so there is no separate connector subscription and no second support queue when a sync fails. Lighter apparel systems often route through a middleware layer to reach the same warehouse, which means paying twice for one connection. Our pricing is a flat monthly fee with no per-document or per-transaction charges. See the Extensiv integration.
No. AIMS360 connects to those warehouse platforms at the WMS level, so one integration reaches every 3PL running that system. If your warehouse runs Extensiv 3PL Warehouse Manager, formerly 3PL Central, or ShipHero, the connection already exists whether or not that specific warehouse appears on our partner list. Moving to another 3PL on the same WMS does not mean rebuilding anything.
Yes. A warehouse or a brand's own developers can build against the AIMS360 REST API: pull the orders assigned to that warehouse, pull the item catalog, post shipment confirmations with cartons and tracking, post receipts against inbound purchase orders, update inventory, and process returns. Access is provisioned per account rather than handed out publicly. Ask us about API access for your warehouse partner.
Yes, and we have no stake in the answer, because AIMS360 connects to every warehouse on this page and to the ones that are not on it. Over 40 years and 10,000+ brands we have seen which warehouse systems behave, which integrations go smoothly, and where brands in a given category have run into trouble. Bring the two or three warehouses you are weighing. We will tell you what we know about each one, put the six evaluation questions to them with you, and then build the connection to whichever one you choose. Talk through your shortlist.
Ask six things before you sign. Which WMS do you run. Do you support EDI, an API, or only file drops. Can you return lot, expiry, or serial data if my category needs it. Can you pick a case pack as a case. Can you apply GS1-128 carton labels to a retailer's spec. And how does my item master reach you. The full checklist with the reasoning behind each question is above. AIMS360 connects to every one of them, so we have no stake in which warehouse you pick. See the industry requirements for your category.
Name your warehouse. We will tell you exactly how it connects.
Bring the 3PL you use, or the one you are about to sign with. In thirty minutes we will show you the documents that would cross between them and your ERP, and what your operations team stops doing by hand.
