Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN)

An Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN) — also called an advance ship notice — is an electronic document sent by a supplier or shipper to a recipient before a shipment arrives. It contains detailed information about the contents of the shipment, including item quantities, packaging, carrier, and expected arrival time.

What an ASN Contains

A typical ASN includes:

• Purchase order reference: Links the shipment to the originating PO
• Ship date and expected delivery date
• Carrier name and tracking number (PRO number)
• Packing details: How many cartons or pallets, and what's inside each
• Item-level detail: SKU, UPC/EAN barcode, quantity per package
• Lot numbers and serial numbers (for regulated industries)
• Weight and dimensions of each handling unit

ASNs are transmitted electronically — most commonly via EDI transaction set 856 in North America, or equivalent EDIFACT standards in Europe.

Why ASNs Matter

Before ASNs, receiving a shipment was a surprise. Warehouse staff had to manually count, identify, and verify every item against a paper packing list — a slow, error-prone process. The ASN transforms receiving from a reactive activity into a planned one.

With an ASN in hand, a warehouse can:

• Pre-allocate dock doors and labor based on expected shipment size and content
• Pre-generate putaway tasks in the WMS before the truck arrives
• Perform cross-docking — routing inbound pallets directly to outbound staging without touching storage
• Automate PO matching: The WMS scans barcodes and compares them against the ASN, flagging discrepancies instantly

ASNs and Retail Compliance

Major retailers — Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Amazon Vendor Central — mandate ASN compliance from their suppliers. Failure to send an accurate, timely ASN triggers chargeback penalties, which can run from $50 to several hundred dollars per incident. For high-volume suppliers, ASN chargebacks can represent a significant margin erosion.

ASN vs. Packing Slip

A packing slip is a physical paper document inside the shipment. An ASN is the electronic equivalent, sent ahead of the physical goods. Both contain similar information, but the ASN is machine-readable and integrated with warehouse and ERP systems for automated processing.