6 Questions you should Ask every PunchOut Catalog Vendor
Picking a PunchOut catalog vendor is an important decision as it can make or break your B2B eCommerce business. Many entrepreneurs who believe that they have examined all the options before choosing one later regret their choice. Some vendors might not be able to meet your exact needs in which case you would remove them from your ‘selection list’.
Finding a reliable vendor can be challenging but if you want to be successful in your eCommerce business there’s no way around it. Before you embark on a new business partnership, make sure to ask the following questions to your vendor:
1) Do you have the potential to meet our Demand?
If the PunchOut vendor doesn’t have the infrastructure and technology to fulfill your basic demands, it is futile to sign a business contract. As a B2B eCommerce provider, your basic requirements like the ability to integrate with all known procurement applications are a must. For instance, vendors that only offer Coupa PunchOut are unlikely to provide any business benefits in terms of revenue and sales.
The B2B customers use a wide range of procurement systems. Hence, vendors that aren’t equipped to connect with multiple procurement systems will make it difficult for you to grow your customer base. The more the number of procurement systems you are connected to, the greater will be your revenue.
2) How long has your Company offering PunchOut?
You are contacting a vendor that doesn’t have any experience in creating PunchOut-enabled websites. In that case, would it be sensible to make a business partnership with such a vendor? Not at all! While the vendor might be capable of satisfying your requirements but with no experience, frankly you shouldn’t make any strategic partnership.
Highly experienced vendors are well aware of the challenges of PunchOut implementation and know how to overcome them. They have the knowledge to deal with all sorts of situations that may arise while creating a PunchOut catalog.
3) Do you Support Integration with Homegrown Procurement Software?
Many vendors that provide PunchOut catalog integration, can easily connect to a wide range of procurement applications like Ariba, Coupa, Jaggaer, Oracle, Vinimaya, Workday, etc. While this is necessary to expand your business reach, you need to find out whether the vendor has the capacity to integrate with homegrown systems.
This is a must-have feature as many organizations in the B2B eCommerce space have their own custom procurement software and do not use third-party services. If your vendor does not support this type of integration, you are likely to lose a major chunk of your customers.
4) What is your Unique Selling Point?
Why should the PunchOut vendor be selected for signing the business contract? What makes the vendor stand out from others? These questions have to be clearly answered so that you know what are the benefits of choosing the vendor. For instance, in case the vendor is offering Coupa eProcurement PunchOut integration at a lower price as compared to the competitors, it can be a unique selling point.
5) Do you provide quality PunchOut services?
What is the average PunchOut catalog implementation time? Does the vendor provide 24/7 support services? The answer to these questions will give you insights into their services. You don’t want to choose a vendor that takes a long time to implement the technology irrespective of how complex the requirement is.
6) Does the vendor Provide Technology within your Budget?
Although picking a vendor based entirely on cost is not recommended, pricing is a crucial factor in choosing the right one. The vendor might be providing reliability and speedy implementation but if the pricing is going beyond your budget, you have no option but to look for another vendor.
When picking a PunchOut technology partner, you need to compare prices with other vendors and then decide whether it would be feasible to strike a business partnership. You need to evaluate whether the cost at which the technology is being provided will help you to grow your eCommerce business profitably.
In many cases, the PunchOut services are affordable but the payment terms are non-negotiable and you are expected to pay the invoice immediately. This is unacceptable and the vendor should give a window of 30 or 60 days to make payments.
Conclusion
There is little doubt that the Coupa PunchOut catalog streamlines the procurement process of large customers and will enable you to attract more business. However, evaluating the PunchOut vendor with the aforementioned questions is equally important.
Having a thorough background check is necessary to ensure that you are dealing with a reliable vendor. You can check the Internet for vendor name and registration number as well as investigate how long the vendor has been in business. You can also create a self-assessment questionnaire that will be completed by your prospective vendors. This will enable you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your potential vendors.
