Be a B2B eCommerce Contender with PunchOut Catalog
As a supplier, to survive in the B2B eCommerce market your shopping platform should be PunchOut-enabled. Without this feature, you are unlikely to grow in the B2B space. This feature simplifies transactions in the B2B sphere and enables you to improve your business revenue.
So, what is the PunchOut catalog? Large customers that include government organizations and companies incorporate procurement software into their businesses to make purchases. PunchOut integrates the supplier’s eCommerce website with the customer’s procurement system.
Without PunchOut, customers are forced to use the CIF catalog which can make transactions a labor-intensive activity. Whenever suppliers publish their catalog in CIF format, customers have to load the catalog into their procurement application. Also, if the supplier adds a new product or discontinues an existing product, the customer will have to reload the catalog to get updates.
Just imagine if the supplier’s CIF catalog is being changed frequently, your customers will spend most of their time reloading the catalog. This is where PunchOut software can come to their rescue.
Get Real-Time Access
PunchOut is a protocol that provides a real-time connection between the supplier’s online store and the customer’s procurement system. This means catalog updates are accessible to B2B customers in real-time.
Suppliers that sell IT products will face a lot of hardships while using CIF catalogs. This is because these catalogs don’t have a proper way to represent product specifications and configurations. This drawback in CIF catalogs can severely affect your ability to sell product configurations and eventually your bottom line.
To overcome these challenges suppliers need to adopt eCommerce PunchOut technology. They can showcase a wide range of configurations, specifications, etc., which can positively affect your business.
Offer a Personalized Shopping Experience
Every PunchOut catalog is created keeping the exact business requirements of that specific B2B customer in mind. This means the catalog is customized and will contain products that are as per the agreement.
Before initiating any transactions, the B2B customers make a contract with the supplier, according to which they will not see non-contract products in their catalog. So whenever customers view their respective PunchOut catalogs they get direct access to their contract products.
No Login Credentials Needed
No matter what new technology you adopt to run your business, you will have to use login credentials to access it.
This is not the case with PunchOut which saves you from using any credentials. Just logging into your procurement application is enough to use it. The vendor provides a PunchOut link in your procurement application. On clicking this link, you are redirected to your pre-approved catalog. With PunchOut, you can also offer custom promotions and marketing campaigns to your large customers.
Catalog Maintenance is Handled by the Vendor
The vendor is in charge of maintaining the PunchOut catalog. Suppliers don’t have to worry about catalog updates as they are taken care of by the vendor’s team of experts.
Wrapping Up
B2B customers tend to avoid suppliers that don’t have the resources to implement eCommerce PunchOut integration. Hence to be a contender in the B2B landscape, you have no option but to provide PunchOut-enabled websites that can go a long way in increasing business reach and sales.
