Archive for category: Procurement & Pricing

If you’ve dealt with large companies, you’ve probably heard these words thrown around like everyone’s supposed to know them: Ariba, Punchout, Brand Stores. They sound technical. They’re not scary. And no—going procurement-friendly doesn’t mean your gifting program has to look like a government form.

What is Ariba (in plain English)?

Ariba is a procurement platform many enterprises use to manage:

• Vendor onboarding
• Approvals
• Purchase orders
• Compliance
• Payments

For vendors, it usually means: documentation + structured process.
For buyers, it means: control + audit trail.

What is Punchout?

Punchout is basically:

“Let me shop on your catalog, but checkout inside my company system.” So procurement teams can:

• Approve items
• Control budgets
• Track orders
• Keep everything compliant

What is a Brand Store?

A Brand Store is a curated catalog for a company—like a private storefront where teams can order pre-approved items:

• Onboarding kits
• Event swag
• Employee gifting
• Team merch

The goal is simple: consistent brand + easy ordering.

Why procurement teams love these setups

• They reduce chaos.
• Fewer back-and-forth emails.
• Fewer “who approved this?” moments.
• Faster repeat ordering.

The sweet spot: procurement-friendly AND brand-worthy.

You can keep it clean without killing the fun.

• 1) Curate, don’t dump
  A smaller, well-chosen catalog beats 200 random SKUs.
• 2) Build tiers
  Have “standard” items + “premium” options for leadership/anniversaries.
• 3) Keep seasonal drops
  Rotate a few items quarterly so it doesn’t feel stale.
• 4) Standardize specs
  Lock fabric, colors, print methods—so quality stays consistent and approvals are easier.
• 5) Make reordering super-easy

The real win is repeat ordering without re-explaining everything.

In a nutshell.

Procurement-friendly doesn’t mean boring. It means repeatable.