There is little doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic radically changed the way scientists and laboratories shop for and purchase lab supplies.
Prior to 2020, company representatives could be seen “walking the halls” at research universities and institutions seeking out customers or new prospects.
Casual meetings led to formal conversations or presentations where the company’s catalog of products would be displayed for lab managers and lab technicians to discuss and consider.
Vendor shows had been the most important way to meet many prospective customers at once and introduce them to new products and solutions.
Once social distancing restrictions kicked in, many facilities were locked down and impossible to visit.
With the familiar system broken, lab managers and scientists turned to the internet in search of lab supplies.
Much to their delight they discovered e-commerce companies like Stellar Scientific offering all, or most of the general lab supply items they used.
Buying lab supplies from an online store is similar to other online retail shopping experiences.
Visitors can browse the collection, put items into a shopping cart and then head to check out where they complete their purchase with a credit card.
E-commerce websites are designed to showcase products with large, beautiful images and extensive product information that may include user manuals, MSDS docs and white papers.
An E-commerce lab supplier like Stellar Scientific offers a live-chat feature so shoppers can ask questions and receive answers immediately before making a purchase.
What if the shopper does not have access to a company credit card?
And, since many companies and institutions prefer to issue purchase orders where payment is not due until after the product has been received, does this mean they cannot purchase lab supplies online?
Punchout integration helps shoppers buy lab supplies online.
A punchout integration is a software application that electronically links a retail website to a company’s purchasing software so the two can communicate.
The process of setting up a punchout integration requires a coordinated partnership between the buying organization, the online lab supplier and the punchout technical team.
Depending on the complexity of the systems to be linked, setting up a punchout integration can take a few days to a couple of weeks.
The punchout replaces the shopping cart “proceed to checkout” link with a new button that transfers the shopping cart details to the buyers’ purchasing system.
Check out this video for a quick demo how the system works:
Once the shopping cart data has been imported, a PO is generated and sent to the online lab supplier by email for processing.
Some punchout integrations allow the lab supplier to download the purchase order data into their accounting software for quick and accurate creating of an invoice.
With the punchout integration in place, lab managers and scientists can enjoy all the features and ease of online shopping for lab supplies while eliminating time consuming steps like manual purchase order creation.
The punchout integration ensures there are no copying mistakes during the entire purchasing journey, so the customer receives exactly the item they ordered in the right quantity.
Where does Stellar Scientific currently offer punchout catalog integration?
Lab managers and scientists at the University of Maryland, Baltimore now have access to Stellar Scientific's website through punchout as well as Mosaic Biosciences.
The following universities are in process: University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, Texas Tech
Punchout integration sounds great! How do we get the process started?
Laboratory suppliers pay annual subscription fees to host a punchout integration, so there is a qualifying threshold to meet before moving forward with a punchout catalog.
Stellar Scientific partners with Greenwing Technologies to power our punchout integrations with many well-known e-procurement systems like: Ariba, Coupa, Jaggaer (SciQuest), Procuredesk, and more.
Ask your purchasing department to contact Stellar Scientific’s integration team at info@stellarscientific.com to start a conversation about streamlining and improving online shopping for lab supplies and equipment.