Challenges of Using Multiple PunchOut Catalogs
Introduction
In the past 12 years, the eCommerce industry has seen a gigantic rise and this rise is only going to continue ahead each year. Resellers, specifically from B2C were the initial ones to join this eCommerce bandwagon. However, after understanding the opportunities, even B2B businesses have hopped on to take the ride. So, with more suppliers in the game, there are various options for a buyer now. B2B businesses operations scaling is huge and this becomes daunting to manage activities like procurement, shipping, sales, etc. To eradicate these challenges we leverage PunchOut integration with eCommerce.
WHAT IS PUNCHOUT CATALOG?
We first need to understand what eProcurement is before we aim our way to PunchOut. Procurement is when we source and obtain goods and services for a business. And eProcurement is pretty much the same thing, but the only difference is here you use an eProcurement software. Every eCommerce company leverages eProcurement software to buy goods and services. With PunchOut, buyers can purchase products from eCommerce stores or marketplaces using their eProcurement framework. Suppliers can benefit from this too since they can continue leveraging the eProcurement software and receive all product details in their software itself. PunchOut catalogs can be seen in action in the case of most eCommerce businesses.
WHAT IS PUNCHOUT CHALLENGES WITH MULTIPLE PUNCHOUT CATALOG USAGE DENOTING?
It becomes challenging to have a product and price comparison between vendors because you need to punch out of one catalog and then into the other, and hereby going between oftentimes hundreds of tabs. Therefore, independent product reviews aren't available. It is often seen that catalogs are limited and have unsophisticated search functionality that makes purchasing and lab supply research much more time-consuming. Additionally, it can also take multiple tries for you to find correlating products or the exact product number one catalog to catalog. You will often encounter delays, glitches, and price inconsistencies in hosted catalogs, which usually require a lot on the procurement end to maintain. Unless the purchase order gets approved, the order cannot be placed. In those times, shipping times could have changed or the product may run out of stock, a major disadvantage. Every time you order from a different PunchOut catalog, new purchase order, and invoice get triggered. This requires separate paperwork and order tracking. Intricate experiments can require purchase from various suppliers. This can lead to the paperwork and order tracking process becoming daunting.