Catalogs and Sourcing Opportunities
This past spring, we hosted our
Supplier Digital Summit for North American Suppliers. We were excited to have so many suppliers join us, and ask questions on various topics related to their Ariba Network membership.
We've started a blog series based on the most frequently asked questions, organized by theme. The second post for this series is on
Catalogs and Sourcing Opportunities. Click
lorraine.yao to see additional posts for this series and more.
Below are some of the questions you asked us, and our answers to your questions:
Catalogs
Q: How do I upload and revise catalogs?
- To learn how to upload CIF catalogs on Ariba Network, check out this article. If your catalog needs revisions, simply edit the catalog file and upload it again.
Q: What do my catalogs look like to customers?
- Once you’ve set up your catalogs on Ariba Network, your products would appear in the same format as on Guided Buying. Take a look in this video.
The Bidding Process
Q: What are bidding events?
- The bidding process on Ariba Network is also referred to as reverse auctions. A buyer could set up an online sourcing event and invite suppliers to them. Suppliers could respond to the buyer’s RFI/RFP by submitting bids in real-time to provide specific goods or services. In the case of SAP Ariba Discovery, you will see new business opportunities that match with your company profile and you could choose to respond to them.
Q: How can I view open bids and RFPs?
- You can only access and participate in sourcing events that you’ve been invited to by buyers.
- If you’d like to browse through open opportunities that match your vendor capabilities, you could try using SAP Ariba Discovery, which is free to register. Read more about SAP Ariba Discovery here or access additional resources here.
Q: How do I get invited to bids?
- Since buyers are the ones deciding which suppliers to invite, building a strong working relationship with your customers is critical for this purpose as well.