The lab supply ordering process has a lot of steps. It starts out with coming up with a list of required supplies for your experiment, then going to your suppliers’ websites (usually there are more than a couple), scoping out the products, and creating a purchase order. For those using PunchOut catalogs, part of the lab supply ordering and procurement process is less manual, allowing you to request the items and get an automatic pending purchase order, eliminating the need for manual entry of product information in the procurement system.
PunchOut systems, or PunchOut catalogs, are a helpful first step in streamlining lab supply ordering and have paved the way for even more optimized solutions like eCommerce marketplaces, like ZAGENO.
Here’s an explanation of PunchOut catalogs in more detail with information on how they affect procurement teams.
What is a PunchOut Catalog?
PunchOut Catalogs allow you to buy directly from your supplier’s website from within your own eProcurement system. By linking the user-friendly eCommerce supply interface with the backend of the procurement system, PunchOut catalogs open up a line of communication between the buyer and the procurement tool.
Thanks to the mainstream implementation of PunchOut catalogs, shoppers can make their purchases with just a few clicks rather than spend a few hours stuck manually entering and re-entering information in a non-catalog purchase requisition.
How Do PunchOut Catalogs Work for Procurement Teams?
In order for corporations, government agencies, universities, and other large organizations to regulate the millions (or billions!) of dollars they spend on products and services each year, they form internal procurement teams. In turn, PunchOut catalogs became the not-so-secret weapon of these procurement teams.
Rather than buying directly from suppliers’ B2C eCommerce sites, procurement teams create purchase orders through supplier’s PunchOut Catalogs in order to gain control by driving business to contracted suppliers. Otherwise, without visibility through reporting, procurement teams would have less power over their supplier. Instead, this streamlined procurement system is primarily responsible for driving revenue and profit for modern businesses.
When Nestlé streamlined their procurement and operations, they saved the company upwards of two billion dollars. Procurement led to 65% of the company’s savings.
Using a PunchOut Catalog to Order Lab Supplies
When a shopper uses a PunchOut catalog to order lab supplies, there are certain steps that they have to take every time. First, you must log into the supplying company’s eProcurement system and search through a plethora of catalogs before finding the link to the punchout website. Then, once you’ve found and clicked the punchout link, you browse for your products just like any typical online shopper. However, the checkout process is different.
Instead of being prompted by the site to enter shipping and billing information, when you order lab supplies through a PunchOut catalog you will be taken back to your purchase requisitions through the initial procurement system. The products you shopped for will be transferred with you from your electronic shopping cart to the procurement system. Now, instead of purchasing your items, you send a purchase order to the supplier based on the quote you gathered for yourself through shopping on the punchout site.
While this process is far more streamlined than previous systems, there are still a few pain points between when you log into your supplier’s procurement system and when you receive your supplies.
Primarily, this pain derives from the individuality of supplier’s PunchOut catalogs. If you frequently work with multiple suppliers, the process of obtaining your necessary supplies could be way more complicated than necessary. Instead of spending days flipping through multiple individual PunchOut catalogs hoping to find the specific lab supplies you need, eCommerce marketplaces for biotech lab supplies like ZAGENO can help you find what you’re looking for in minutes.
As an eCommerce marketplace, as opposed to a PunchOut catalog, ZAGENO offers a modern solution to purchasing lab supplies. With a comprehensive product portfolio and user-friendly website navigation, and over 8 million products from over 2 thousand suppliers, ZAGENO has optimized the lab supply obtaining process.
