EDI offered companies economic benefits by reducing transaction costs, which encouraged
EDI adoption, even without making the commitment to CRP. Although the potential benefits from
CRP were much larger than the benefits from EDI ordering alone, the challenges in shifting to CRP
were greater than many retailers were willing to face. EDI provided an easy first step for
companies that wanted to be technologically prepared for the new era without committing to the
management and policy changes required to implement CRP.