As we all know, a PunchOut catalog makes it easy for B2B customers to conduct transactions with their respective suppliers. It provides a simpler way to interact with the supplier’s site. These customers no longer have to depend on CIF catalog to manage their transactions. Moreover, PunchOut technology supports electronic PO, which helps to facilitate the purchasing process.  Believe or not, but technology has now become a mandatory requirement to do business with large buying organizations. From the customer’s perspective, PunchOut offers many advantages, the most important being no browsing through entire supplier catalog to access Contract products.

PunchOut Flow Explained
As we all know, B2B customers commonly use a procurement application such as Ariba through which all purchasing transactions are initiated. Keeping this in mind, following are the steps in the Ariba PunchOut catalog process:
·         In order to start a PunchOut session, the customer has to first log into his procurement system. He logs using the given credentials (username/password).

·         After login, the customer is able to view the link of Ariba PunchOut catalog. Upon clicking the link, the customer reaches the supplier’s site and is able to view his pre-approved supplier catalog. The connection between the procurement application and the supplier’s site is maintained while the customer is browsing through the Contract catalog.

·         Once the products are selected and added to the cart, you will notice a completely different checkout process. Unlike B2C process, the cart does not remain in the supplier’s site. Instead, it is transferred back to the procurement application.

·         In the procurement application, the cart will be routed to the approval authority. The concerned authority will verify whether the right products have been chosen and moreover evaluate whether the shopping cart fits their budget.

Once the approval authority gives permission to purchase the products, a purchase order is created which is either emailed or electronically sent to the supplier.