Primus Connect: connect your webshop to e-procurement
The PunchOut middleware by Pro3Con turns your existing shop into the purchasing front end for your B2B customers’ ERP systems – without a second catalogue and without duplicate data maintenance.
- Protocols
- OCI 4.0, OCI 5.0, cXML
- Shop systems
- Shopify, Shopware, Magento and SAP Hybris
- Customer ERPs
- Any number per shop
- Data maintenance
- Once, in your existing shop
A typical case
You sell through Shopify with customer prices. A key account now wants to order only from SAP. They land in your shop and the cart goes to their SAP.
Interface architecture: connecting a live shop via OCI and cXML
To connect a webshop to e-procurement, B2B suppliers need a specific interface architecture. Primus Connect is a cloud-based PunchOut middleware that integrates your existing webshop – Shopify, Magento or Shopware, for example – directly into your customers’ ERP and procurement systems.
The system uses the existing live shop as the purchasing interface. Instead of completing an order through the native webshop, Primus Connect bypasses that step with an automated checkout bypass.
The cart filled in the shop is converted into the global B2B standards OCI 4.0, OCI 5.0 or cXML and returned to the customer system as a machine-readable data set – to SAP Ariba, Coupa, Jaggaer or Unite Mercateo, for instance.
Building and synchronising an additional PunchOut catalogue, along with duplicate product data maintenance, becomes unnecessary.
Duplicate data maintenance with parallel B2B catalogues
Large buyers demand procurement processes through their own ERP systems. Building an isolated PunchOut catalogue alongside the existing webshop inevitably leads suppliers into duplicate data maintenance.
Stock, prices and ranges have to be maintained asynchronously in two separate systems. That multiplies the sources of error and creates permanent administrative effort.
- The buyer starts in their ERP system and authenticates in your regular shop interface
- All customer-specific prices, discounts and ranges stored in the shop apply in real time
- The middleware bypasses the native purchase completion (checkout bypass)
- The cart returns to the ERP system as a structured data set
- Budget approval and the final order happen exclusively in the customer system
Who is Primus Connect right for?
Primus Connect is ideal for …
Manufacturers, B2B distributors and e-commerce agencies who already run a working webshop and need to make it usable for the electronic procurement processes of large B2B customers. Primus Connect is purely the data bridge between the live shop and the customer ERP.
A better fit: Primus PunchOut
Companies without their own webshop that want to connect static ranges. If you do not have a shop yet, use our standalone complete solution Primus PunchOut to create B2B catalogues.
Agnostic middleware for leading shop systems
Primus Connect is designed as system-agnostic middleware. The architecture allows leading e-commerce systems to be connected directly to the procurement world without changing the native shop solutions.
Detailed specifications and the exact project sequence for your shop system are on the respective integration pages. Shopify, Shopware, Magento and SAP Hybris can be connected; the Shopify PunchOut integration has its own page.
- Supported protocols
- OCI 4.0, OCI 5.0, cXML
- Compatible ERPs & platforms
- SAP, SAP Ariba, Coupa, Jaggaer, Unite Mercateo, Onventis, Oracle, Simple System
- Shop systems
- Shopify, Shopware, Magento and SAP Hybris
- Multi-customer capability
- A single webshop can serve any number of customer ERPs in parallel
- Data hosting
- GDPR compliant on German servers
Six steps to going live
Connecting to the customer system does not require a standard plugin but a configured system connection. Our procurement specialists provide the technical support and help directly with the configuration.
1Requirements gathering
Clarifying the target system and the required PunchOut standard.
2Technical review
Analysis of the existing shop architecture.
3Design
Defining the data handover and the field mapping.
4Technical setup
Configuring the interface inside the middleware.
5Sandbox system test
End-to-end simulation of the PunchOut process in a test environment.
6Go-live
Final activation for live ordering.
Where Primus Connect sits in the module structure
Primus Connect is the extension of Primus PunchOut for suppliers with their own webshop. Without a shop, Primus PunchOut provides the complete PunchOut catalogue.
- Primus Catalog
Foundation
Your item list becomes a validated catalogue, as BMEcat, CIF, Excel or CSV.
- Primus PunchOut
Builds on Primus Catalog
Your catalogue as a PunchOut shop for SAP, Coupa and Ariba, without a webshop of your own.
- Primus Connect
Extension of Primus PunchOut
PunchOut with your existing shop as the front end, for any number of customer ERPs.
- Shopify
- Shopware
- Magento
- SAP Hybris
- Primus Exclusion
Add-on to every module
Your customer picks the items they want to see via a link. You approve.
Your data stays yours, with no duplicate maintenance
No duplicate data maintenance
Product data stays exclusively in the shop
User experience preserved
The buyer navigates your real shop
Data ownership stays with the shop operator
Maintenance and design stay with you
Pricing logic and onboarding
Different technical prerequisites across shop architectures rule out flat package prices or trial phases. Pro3Con calculates an individual quote for the integration.
The pricing model consists of an ongoing subscription per active PunchOut connection plus one-off setup costs based on the effort for configuration and system tests.
Implementation ties up none of your own IT resources: our customer care team handles the technical configuration, the field mapping and the tests with the customer system. Product data ownership remains 100% with the shop operator or the supporting agency.
Frequently asked questions about Primus Connect
Nothing here that matches? Write to us – you will get a technical answer, not a template.
What is Primus Connect?
Primus Connect is cloud-based PunchOut middleware for existing shop systems. The software bypasses the native shop checkout and hands the cart to the B2B customer’s e-procurement system as a structured data set.
What is the difference between Primus Connect and Primus PunchOut?
Primus Connect connects an already existing live shop as the purchasing interface to the customer ERP. Primus PunchOut, by contrast, creates a separate, standalone PunchOut catalogue for suppliers without their own webshop.
Who maintains the product data with a middleware connection?
Maintaining products, prices and images stays entirely with the shop operator inside the webshop. Primus Connect only handles the technical data handover to the customer’s procurement system.
Can several customer ERPs be connected to a single shop?
Yes. Suppliers can use a single webshop in parallel as a PunchOut solution for an unlimited number of B2B customer connections and their different ERP systems.
Which data standards does the middleware use for the cart return?
The system converts the cart information into the global B2B procurement standards. The supported transfer protocols are OCI 4.0, OCI 5.0 and cXML.
How does Primus Connect link sell-side and buy-side?
The provider’s existing shop system is the sell-side solution. The middleware links this e-commerce environment directly to the buy-side system – the purchasing ERP. That automates the purchasing processes in real time.
Which e-procurement solutions is the middleware compatible with?
The middleware integrates the shop system into all leading e-procurement solutions, B2B portals and marketplaces. Compatible target systems include SAP Ariba, Coupa, Jaggaer, Onventis and Unite Mercateo.
How many errors does your catalogue have?
Upload a BMEcat file. The validator checks it against the DTD and our quality rules and shows every error with its location. Free, no sign-up.