Magento Users: Increase Sales by Supporting PunchOut Catalogs from Magento
If selling to Global 2000 companies is something you do today or plan to do in the future, just having a B2B eCommerce store is no longer enough to meet the buying needs of these large corporations.
But, if your B2B e-commerce store also supports PunchOut Catalogs (aka PunchOut, cXML PunchOut, Procurement PunchOut, Roundtrip), then online sales from Global 2000 companies could be yours for the taking.
PunchOut Catalogs, or just PunchOut, as it is most commonly referred to, is not a system or a product, but a B2B industry-standard protocol specification that allows sellers to integrate B2B e-commerce store platforms like Magento with their customer’s e-procurement systems like those offered by Coupa, SAP Ariba, Workday, Oracle, Jaggaer and Tradeshift, among others.
The PunchOut specification also supports B2B transactions like purchase orders, ship notices and invoices over the web.
Every e-procurement system (there are hundreds of vendors in addition to those mentioned) and most ERP systems already support PunchOut today.
So how does supporting PunchOut from your Magento store translate into increased online sales from Global 2000 customers?
First, Global 2000 companies almost exclusively use e-procurement systems and e-procurement vendors’ supplier networks and portals, to buy online from suppliers.
Because e-procurement system ROI (return on investment) is based on all purchases originating from the e-procurement system, having a customer place orders from outside the e-procurement system – for example, logging into your Magento store from a browser – is prohibited by the customer’s own purchasing policies.
So, to get and keep their business, you need to integrate your eCommerce store with their e-procurement system; and PunchOut is how you do it!
You can quickly enable your Magento store to support PunchOut by using the Vurbis PunchOut Plugin™ for Magento (available in the Magento Marketplace.)
The Vurbis PunchOut Plugin™ solution differs from other PunchOut solution provider offerings in that the e-procurement users will be shopping and ordering from your actual Magento store versus a separate, third party PunchOut catalog hosted by the vendor. This allows your PunchOut customers the same access to the advanced B2B features and functionality in your Magento store as your other online customers.
If your Global 2000 customers haven’t already started asking for PunchOut, you can assume these requests are coming soon. A recent study conducted by Mordor Intelligence indicates the global e-procurement market can expect a 10.2% CAGR between 2020 and 2025.
Still not convinced PunchOut can work for you?
Amazon Business started supporting PunchOut on its site in late 2015. By the end of 2018, sales increased more than 10X from under $1B to over $10B!
If PunchOut worked for Amazon Business, it can work for you too.
To learn more about the Vurbis PunchOut Plugin for Magento, visit the Magento Marketplace and search “Vurbis”.
To learn more about how the Vurbis PunchOut Plugin works with other leading e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Oro Commerce, Woo Commerce, contact Vurbis today.
