Case Study: OfficeMax achieves 76% e-procurement adoption and $100M+ in purchase orders with SAP Ariba

Building Customer Relationships through E-Procurement

OfficeMax, a leader in B2B and retail office products, faced the challenge of driving compliance and maximizing return on e-procurement investments while supporting customers with widely varying levels of e-enablement expertise. The company needed to adapt its onboarding and support processes to help less experienced buyers and suppliers adopt electronic procurement successfully.

To address this, OfficeMax has leveraged the Ariba Network since 1996 and uses features such as PunchOut, cXML and AS2 EDI, PO‑Flip, order acknowledgments, and advanced ship notices. Each customer is assigned an electronic commerce manager who guides a five‑phase implementation (fact finding, data preparation, development, testing, implementation) with standard integrations promised live within 30 days. The approach has driven results—more than 76% of transactions are e-procurement-driven, over $100 million in Ariba Network purchase orders in 2007, reduced PO/invoice errors, and stronger, long-term customer relationships.

OfficeMax

Patrick Ogborn

Vice President, eCommerce