How Suppliers can Benefit from Ariba PunchOut


B2B suppliers are often looking for ways to boost customer retention and improve ecommerce success. Large buyers that includes enterprises and Federal & State government are a major source of revenue. In such circumstances, boosting customer loyalty can go a long way in keeping the business profitable.

Suppliers need to understand the pain points when buyers are conducting online transactions. If suppliers are able to make buying process convenient, it can certainly help to increase customer retention. Often large buyers use an Ariba procurement system and find it difficult to connect with an external supplier site. Even if the supplier site is connected to a procurement application, automatic transfer of data between systems is no easy. An Ariba PunchOut catalog can come to your rescue.

The inability to exchange data is commonly associated with CIF catalog. This issue can be resolved using PunchOut, a protocol that ensures automatic transfer of data from the supplier site to the buyer’s procurement application. The buyer is able to view the supplier catalog from within his procurement application. Electronic exchange of data between systems takes place in Commerce eXtensible Markup Language (cXML) format.

Ariba PunchOut solution gets the supplier’s pre-approved contract catalog inside the buyer’s procurement system. Hence unlike B2C, the B2B buyer doesn’t have to login into the supplier’s store. Upon clicking the PunchOut link located on the procurement application’s screen, the buyer is taken to the supplier’s site, giving direct access to the Contract catalog. Unlike CIF catalog, the buyer does not have to import the supplier catalog into the procurement application.

Also, in a B2B environment, any order placed will require approval from the management authority. With PunchOut, the cart containing the added products returns to the procurement system for approval. Once the cart receives approval, the buyer’s sales rep can create a PO and send it electronically to the supplier.
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