A hosted catalog is the most basic information about a seller’s product; raw data such as name, description, and price. Hosted catalog data is given to the buyer’s e-Procurement system manager and loaded into the buyer’s eprocurement system.
Because loading this type of catalog is largely a manual process, it is difficult to keep product, inventory, and pricing data up to date. Additionally, hosted catalogs do not allow a supplier to market products to buyers. Buyers are able to search their eprocurement system for these items, but due to the limited information it makes it difficult for them to make an educated buying decision. That’s one key reason buyers prefer Punchout catalogs.
However some buyers like hosted catalogs for the higher degree of control they provide over any revisions that need to be made, and despite the extra work involved, some companies maintain very large hosted catalogs.
Punchout catalogs are dynamic so they offer various advantages, including the ability to provide real-time pricing and availability, many configuration capabilities, accommodation for almost limitless documentation and other decision-support information, and enhanced customer service via faster order fulfillment and a very high-tech user experience.
Generally speaking, Punchout catalogs are the better choice if you sell complex, service-oriented, or highly configurable product offerings; have large catalogs with many SKUs and line items; sell goods that require constant updates on price, description, and content; or have a high number of transactions.