Seamless PunchOut catalogue integration for streamlined B2B procurement
Our PunchOut catalogue solutions link your eCommerce store to your buyers’ procurement system, enabling seamless, automated purchasing with real-time accuracy.
A PunchOut catalogue lets buyers search, browse and compare products from your business and then purchase using their own system.
It lets you present your business and your products to potential buyers in the way you want them viewed, while also making the purchasing process as convenient as possible. It connects your B2B Ecommerce store with their enterprise resource planning (ERP) or eProcurement system to simplify their shopping process.
Hosted catalogues are static supplier catalogues. They offer basic product details such as names, descriptions and prices in a single file. This static file is then uploaded to your customer’s own procurement system for them to use. There are a lot of disadvantages to a hosted catalogue. Particularly if your business has a large product range, offers custom pricing or frequently changes product details.
Hosted catalogues can be harder to navigate and search, leaving buyers to waste time undertaking their own research. They are also outdated almost as soon as they are created – the information is static so it won’t change unless you actively update it each time. In comparison PunchOut catalogues are fully dynamic, easy to navigate and always up to date.
PunchOut catalogues create a link between a customer’s eProcurement system and your ecommerce application.
This integration is more difficult than it sounds, mainly because of compatibility. There are so many potential platform combinations out there, and not all platforms are compatible.
Communication protocols and APIs, in particular, often cause issues. A PunchOut catalogue ‘translates’ that communication so both platforms can understand it, ensuring compatibility.
Buyers log into their own system before accessing your ecommerce store, then select you as an ‘approved supplier’. In doing so, they start a PunchOut setup request which immediately validates their credentials.
They’re then redirected to your store so they can begin the PunchOut process.
A PunchOut catalogue makes life easier for your customers. Offering this functionality encourages them to choose your business for both initial purchases and return ones.
It improves their experience in a number of ways by providing:
Manual order processing leaves a lot of room for errors. And whether made during data input or analysis, those errors can have a big impact.
PunchOut catalogues reduce those errors. Automating the data transfer means duplicate orders, pricing mistakes or quantity mistakes are all less likely to happen, PunchOut ensures accurate data is always available for your customer – and returned back to you.
PunchOut catalogue integration reduces inaccuracies and ensures that your customers always see the most up-to-date information.
It means they are always working from real-time availability, pricing, discounts or offers, leading to increased trust and fewer mistakes – all without having to spend time on data duplication.
PunchOut catalogues integrate the needs of buyers and sellers into one procurement process, which can make a lot of savings through efficiency. Bringing together the buying and selling sides of the purchasing process reduces the time spent manually processing orders.
Any time saved from repetitive manual data entry or other parts of the procurement process also means cost savings, freeing up time that can be spent on more demanding – and rewarding – tasks.
While these benefits may feel like they’re on the side of your customers, offering PunchOut integration will encourage businesses to purchase from you and give your business a competitive edge.
Sign up to The Digital Maze Newsletter
