What is a punchout catalog, and how does it work?
Short answer
A punchout catalog (catalogue in British English) is a supplier’s own online shop, opened from inside your purchasing system: you fill a basket there, and it comes back as a requisition for approval.
Key takeaways
- A punchout catalogue lets a requester leave the purchasing system for a supplier’s website, shop there with the buyer’s account and prices, and bring the basket back as requisition lines.
- The basket is not an order. It returns to the purchasing system, follows the normal approval route and becomes a purchase order only after approval.
- Hosted catalogues keep the items and prices inside your system; punchout keeps them on the supplier’s site, which suits large ranges, configurable products and prices that change often.
- Level 1 punchout opens the supplier’s home page; level 2 lets requesters search the supplier’s items inside the purchasing system and opens the chosen item directly.
- The two common standards are cXML and, in SAP systems, the Open Catalog Interface (OCI). Both need shared credentials, a test set-up and a check of units, prices and accounting data on the returned lines.
What is a punchout catalogue?
A punchout catalogue is a supplier’s website that a requester opens from inside the buying organisation’s purchasing system. The requester searches and fills a basket on the supplier’s site, with the buyer’s account and agreed prices, then returns the basket to the purchasing system, where it becomes a requisition for approval.
The name comes from the movement: the requester “punches out” of the purchasing system to the supplier, then comes back with the basket. SAP Ariba’s training material describes punchout catalogues as live, interactive catalogues hosted on the supplier’s website. The term is also written punch-out; this guide uses the British spelling, catalogue, except in the search term “punchout catalog”.
A typical case: an office manager needs printer toner, paper and a desk lamp. In the purchasing system she clicks the office supplier’s tile. The supplier’s shop opens with the company’s contract prices already shown. She adds the three items, clicks checkout, and lands back in the purchasing system with three requisition lines, the supplier and the prices filled in. She adds the cost centre and submits. Her manager approves, and the system sends the purchase order to the supplier.
Punchout is one way to fill the first stop of procure-to-pay, the purchase requisition. It replaces the free-text request (“please buy toner for printer HP 4200”) that a buyer must retype, price and send. The order itself is still a purchase order issued by the buying system, not a sale completed on the supplier’s website.
How does a punchout catalogue work, step by step?
A punchout session is a short exchange between two systems with a person shopping in the middle. Coupa’s supplier documentation describes the basic sequence in four steps, and SAP Ariba’s and SAP S/4HANA’s documentation describe the same pattern. In plain terms:
- The requester clicks the supplier’s link or tile in the purchasing system.
- The purchasing system sends a set-up request to the supplier’s site. It carries the buyer’s identity and a shared secret, a password agreed between the two parties, so the supplier knows which customer is calling.
- The supplier’s site checks the credentials and returns the address of a landing page. The requester’s browser opens that page, already logged in to the buyer’s account, with the buyer’s prices and the products the contract allows.
- The requester searches, compares and fills a basket on the supplier’s site, as on any online shop.
- At checkout, the supplier’s site sends the basket back to the purchasing system: item numbers, descriptions, quantities, units, prices and sometimes a classification code.
- The purchasing system turns the basket into requisition lines. The requester adds what the supplier cannot know, such as the cost centre or project, and submits.
- The requisition follows the normal approval route. Once approved, the purchasing system sends the purchase order to the supplier, usually as an electronic message.
Two points surprise people the first time. First, nothing is ordered at checkout: the supplier receives a basket, not an order, and the order arrives only after approval. Second, what the requester may change after the basket returns, such as a quantity, depends on the system and the supplier; ask to see it in a demonstration.
Punchout vs hosted catalogue: what is the difference?
A hosted catalogue, also called an internal or static catalogue, is a file of items and prices that the supplier sends and the buyer loads into the purchasing system. Requesters search it without leaving the system. A punchout catalogue keeps the items on the supplier’s site. Most organisations use both, depending on the supplier and the category.
| Question | Hosted catalogue | Punchout, level 1 | Punchout, level 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the items and prices live | In the purchasing system, loaded from a file | On the supplier’s website | On the supplier’s website, with an index of items loaded in the purchasing system |
| Where the requester searches | In the purchasing system | On the supplier’s website, from its home page | In the purchasing system; the chosen item opens on the supplier’s site |
| Who keeps prices up to date | The buyer, at each new file | The supplier, live on its site | The supplier on its site; the index needs updates too |
| Fits best | A short, stable list: standard office items, a uniform range | Large ranges, configurable products, prices or stock that change often | Large ranges where requesters want one search across suppliers |
| Main risk | Out-of-date prices if files are not refreshed | Requesters see only one supplier at a time | An index that drifts from the supplier’s live range |
Use a hosted catalogue for short, stable lists you can check line by line; use punchout where the supplier’s range or prices change faster than you could reload a file.
A worked example of the choice: a hospital buys about forty standard items from its cleaning-products supplier, at prices fixed for a year. A hosted catalogue suits it: the buyer checks forty lines once, loads them, and requesters never leave the system. The same hospital buys IT accessories from a reseller with thousands of products whose prices follow the market every week. Loading and checking that range by file would never end; punchout lets the reseller keep it current while the hospital still approves every basket.
What is a level 2 punchout catalogue?
Level 1 and level 2 are terms used by SAP Ariba and by many suppliers. With level 1 punchout, the purchasing system shows a link to the supplier; the requester clicks a “Buy from Supplier” button and lands on the supplier’s home page. The supplier sends only a single-line index file, and maintains its catalogue on its own website. SAP notes that level 1 supports live pricing and availability, quotes and products built to the requester’s choices.
With level 2 punchout, the supplier also uploads an index file with one line for each item. The items then appear in the purchasing system’s search results, next to hosted catalogue items. When the requester chooses one, the punchout opens directly on that item or category on the supplier’s site, not on the home page. The requester searches once, across suppliers, and the price still comes live from the supplier.
Level 2 asks more of the supplier: the index must follow the live range, or requesters will find items that no longer exist. Ask the supplier how often it refreshes the index before you switch it on.
Which standards carry a punchout session: cXML and OCI?
Two standards are common. cXML (commerce XML) is a protocol for business documents between purchasing applications and suppliers; it covers purchase orders, invoices and punchout, and its current version, 1.2.071, was last updated on 14 August 2026. In cXML, the set-up request, the set-up response with the landing page, and the message that returns the basket are three named documents. SAP systems also use the Open Catalog Interface (OCI): SAP’s own support note for SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition describes an OCI punchout catalogue opened from a purchase requisition, with the supplier’s landing address and a return address for the basket set in the catalogue’s configuration.
The messages, their fields and the common errors in a cXML punchout are the subject of a guide to cXML punchout catalogues, in preparation. For a buyer, the practical question is simpler: which standard your purchasing system expects, and whether each supplier already supports it.
What does punchout change for buyers, requesters and suppliers?
Punchout moves catalogue upkeep from the buyer to the supplier, and moves the requester from email to the purchasing system. Each side gains something and takes on a task.
- Requesters
- Shop on a site that looks like any online store, with contract prices already applied, instead of filling a free-text form. They still add the cost centre and wait for approval.
- Buyers
- Stop retyping requests and loading large price files. Orders go to contracted suppliers at contracted prices, so fewer orders go outside contracts. They must still check that the prices on the supplier’s site match the contract.
- Finance
- Gets requisition lines with supplier item numbers, units and prices that match the later order and invoice, which makes three-way matching (the check of order, receipt and invoice before payment) easier.
- Suppliers
- Keep one catalogue on their own site for every customer and receive orders as structured messages. In return they must build and maintain the punchout connection for each purchasing system their customers use.
Punchout has limits that a pilot shows quickly:
- Prices are the supplier’s. Nothing in punchout itself checks them against the contract; a buyer must sample baskets, at least at the start and after each price review.
- Units of measure can disagree. The supplier sells a “box of 10”, the purchasing system expects “each”, and the returned line fails or is wrong by a factor of ten.
- Requesters see one supplier at a time with level 1, so comparing two suppliers means two sessions.
- A supplier’s site that is down or slow blocks every request in that category.
- Every supplier needs its own set-up and tests, so punchout is worth the effort for suppliers with many orders, not for a supplier used twice a year.
How does punchout work in Coupa, SAP Ariba and SAP S/4HANA?
Disclosure: the author works as an Ivalua consultant. The products named here are described from their publishers’ public documentation, not from a test.
The three products below are named because buyers search for them by name; the list is not a recommendation, and most procure-to-pay systems offer punchout. Each description comes from the publisher’s own documentation, read on 25 October 2026.
| Product | Standard named in the documentation | What the documentation describes |
|---|---|---|
| Coupa | cXML | Coupa sends a set-up request with the buyer’s identity; the supplier returns a landing page; at checkout the basket returns to Coupa, which creates a requisition. The supplier provides a logo, the punchout address, domains and identities, and a shared secret, usually one set for testing and one for production. |
| SAP Ariba | cXML | Level 1 and level 2 punchout. The request goes through the SAP Business Network, which authenticates the buying organisation and forwards it to the supplier’s punchout site; checkout moves the basket back to SAP Ariba Procurement. |
| SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition | OCI | The requester adds items “from external catalog” while creating a purchase requisition; the catalogue’s configuration holds the supplier’s landing address and the return address. |
The pattern is the same in all three: the basket returns as a requisition; what differs is the standard and whether a network sits between buyer and supplier.
For a supplier, a “Coupa punchout catalog” or an “Ariba punchout catalog” is the same supplier site connected to a different purchasing system, each with its own credentials and tests. For a buyer, the question to ask during a selection is how many of your main suppliers are already connected to the system, and who builds the connection for the others.
How do you set up a punchout catalogue with a supplier?
Setting up punchout is a small project for each supplier. It usually takes a few exchanges between the buyer’s purchasing team, the supplier’s e-commerce team and, if the buyer uses one, the purchasing system’s supplier network.
- Choose the suppliers. Start with the ones that receive many small orders in a category where requesters buy themselves: office supplies, IT accessories, laboratory consumables, maintenance parts.
- Check the contract. Coupa, for example, requires the supplier to be set up and to have a contract with the customer before punchout. The prices the supplier’s site will show must be those of the contract.
- Confirm the standard. Ask whether the supplier supports the standard your system expects, cXML or OCI, and whether it is already connected to your purchasing system for other customers.
- Exchange credentials. The buyer and supplier agree identities and a shared secret, with one set for testing and one for production.
- Map the data. Agree units of measure, the classification code on each line, tax treatment and how delivery charges appear, so returned lines can be approved and matched without edits.
- Test with real cases. Return a basket with three lines, change a quantity, return an item sold in boxes, cancel a session halfway, and send the approved order back to the supplier.
- Go live with a few requesters, sample prices against the contract for the first weeks, then open it to everyone.
Give each punchout catalogue an owner on the buying side. When the contract is renewed, prices change or the supplier redesigns its site, someone must test the connection again before requesters find the problem.
What is punchout catalogue software?
On the buyer’s side, punchout is a feature of the purchasing system, not a separate product. It sits in the requisition part of procure-to-pay software and of most purchase requisition software, next to hosted catalogues and free-text forms. ERP purchasing modules offer it too, as the SAP S/4HANA example shows. When you compare systems, ask to see a punchout session with one of your own suppliers, not only the vendor’s demonstration shop.
On the supplier’s side, a “punchout catalog solution” is what lets an online shop answer set-up requests, show customer-specific prices and send the basket back. E-commerce platforms offer it as a module, and specialist providers sell connectors that link one supplier shop to many purchasing systems. A supplier that sells to large organisations usually needs one of these before it can be offered as a punchout catalogue at all.
Questions
What does punchout mean in procurement?
Punchout means leaving the purchasing system for a supplier’s website to shop, then returning with the basket. The supplier’s site shows the buyer’s account and prices, and the basket comes back as requisition lines that follow the normal approval route before a purchase order is sent.
Is a punchout catalogue the same as an e-commerce website?
It is usually the supplier’s normal online shop, opened in a special mode. The difference is that the requester arrives already logged in through the purchasing system, sees the buyer’s contract prices, and cannot pay at checkout: the basket goes back to the purchasing system for approval instead.
Does a punchout checkout place an order with the supplier?
No. Checkout only returns the basket to the purchasing system. The requisition is then approved or rejected there, and the supplier receives a purchase order only after approval, usually as an electronic message. A rejected basket never reaches the supplier as an order.
What is the difference between level 1 and level 2 punchout?
With level 1, the requester clicks a supplier link and searches on the supplier’s home page. With level 2, the supplier also uploads an index of its items, so requesters search inside the purchasing system and the punchout opens directly on the chosen item. Level 2 needs the index to follow the supplier’s live range.
Which suppliers are worth a punchout catalogue?
Suppliers that receive many small orders from many requesters, with large ranges or prices that change often: office supplies, IT accessories, laboratory consumables and maintenance parts are common cases. A supplier used a few times a year is cheaper to handle with a free-text request or a short hosted catalogue.
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