> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.owlery.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Connect Your Retailers to Owlery

> Choose how each retailer's documents reach Owlery. Owlery sets up and tests every connection.

This page is for **Shippers**: teams that quote, tender, and pay for freight in Owlery. If the person you're helping isn't a shipper, this page doesn't apply to them.

Owlery sets up each retailer connection during onboarding. Your team tells us who you trade with and how; we handle the rest.

## Ways to Connect

Each retailer connects in one of three ways. You can mix them, one per retailer.

| Connection | How it works | Best for |
| - | - | - |
| **Direct (SFTP or AS2)** | The retailer, or their EDI provider, drops documents into a folder Owlery sets up for that retailer. Owlery picks up each file within moments. | Retailers that can connect to Owlery directly. |
| **EDI network (VAN)** | Owlery checks your existing EDI network on a schedule for new documents addressed to you. | Teams that already trade through an EDI network and want to keep it. |
| **Retailer web portal** | Owlery signs in to the portal for you and reads new orders and changes. | Retailers or providers that only offer a web portal. |

> [!NOTE]
>
> Some connections don't carry every document type. For example, change orders aren't available on every connection. Owlery tells you during setup what each retailer's connection supports.

## What You'll Provide

* **Your retailers**: the retailers and wholesale customers you sell to.
* **How each one sends orders today**: their EDI provider or network, or the portal you use.
* **Your EDI IDs**: if you already trade by EDI, the sender and receiver IDs your retailers use for you.
* **Retailer guides**: any EDI specification or routing guides your retailers have sent you.
* **Portal access**: for portal retailers, a sign-in Owlery can use.

## What Owlery Handles

* Setting up the folder, network mailbox, or portal access for each retailer.
* Coordinating connection testing with the retailer.
* Matching each document's sender to the right retailer and receiver to your organization. Documents from a sender Owlery doesn't recognize aren't processed.
* Confirming receipt of every document, so retailers know it arrived.

> **[Next: Retailer Orders](/shippers/retail-wholesale/reading-data.md)**
>
> See how retailer purchase orders become Owlery orders.


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