World Duty Free is introducing a managed service from GXS to trade electronically with its small and medium-sized suppliers.

It will use the GXS service to send documents such as purchase orders and invoices electronically to all suppliers via a multi-lingual, web-based interface.

Many of the retailer’s larger trading partners are already using systems to trade electronically, but smaller suppliers have not yet done likewise.

The web-based service will allow World Duty Free to communicate with all of its suppliers in the same way without the smaller ones having to make investments in new technology.

World Duty Free chief executive Mark Riches said: "Success for World Duty Free is all about on-shelf availability, based on effective inventory management and replenishing systems.

"B2B outsourcing powerfully underpins our business strategy and helps us dramatically improve our supply chain execution by increasing automation and reducing costs, while also giving us superior B2B capabilities."