Eppendorf: Serving customers as true partners by delivering value beyond price through reliability and trust
Explore Eppendorf’s journey with SAP Business Network
As a global supplier of instruments and consumables to academic and commercial research laboratories, the North American arm of leading life sciences company Eppendorf SE serves its customers as a true partner, using reliability and trust as key differentiators. The adoption of SAP Business Network helped it simplify transacting with customers and deliver more value.
| Industry | Region | Company Size |
| Life sciences | Hamburg, Germany | 5,000 employees |
Director eBusiness Sales Division, Eppendorf North America
Giving customers confidence in its ability to deliver
A global leader in sample management, Eppendorf develops systems for use in laboratories worldwide, including instruments, consumables, and services for liquid, sample, and cell handling. Its product portfolio encompasses pipettes, pipette tips, centrifuges, mixers, and ultra-low temperature equipment.
Committed to empowering scientists to accelerate shaping the world into a more livable place, the company primarily serves academic and commercial research laboratories in pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies, as well as chemical and food companies. Eppendorf’s products are also used in laboratories that perform clinical research or environmental analysis, in academic research laboratories, and in industrial laboratories where process analysis, production control, and quality assurance tasks are performed.
Having supported the scientific community for more than 75 years, Eppendorf is known for quality, reliability, experience, and innovation. And its proven track record for compliance, value pricing, and timely deliveries means that its customers can trust it to deliver the equipment they require.
The adoption of SAP Business Network by the company’s North American subsidiary also counts as an important factor that gives Eppendorf’s customers confidence in its ability to deliver. The solution simplifies business transactions across selling, invoicing, and payments processes, helping the supplier cement customer relationships through smoother interactions.
Director eBusiness Sales Division, Eppendorf North America
Verifying its capabilities to serve and supply research laboratories
As Eppendorf transacts on SAP Business Network, customers can view its verified credentials, including sustainability certificates. Sarah Paxton, director of the eBusiness sales division at Eppendorf North America explains, “As a partner to academic and commercial research laboratories, we understand it’s essential to have our business capabilities validated. Our standing as a legitimate, reliable, and capable supplier is verified on SAP Business Network.”
“We know the network and the network knows us,” Paxton explains. “So, when a customer comes to us and says that they use SAP Business Network and want to work with us in that space, we’re already speaking their language. And this delivers significant mutual benefit.”
Paxton’s team focuses on creating differentiated procurement capabilities, using the PunchOut feature for catalog management with several dozen customers on SAP Business Network. This feature allows buyers to access Eppendorf’s catalog from their own procurement systems. The team also handles transactions from buyers that use the Spot Buy capability for one-off orders. For other customers that Eppendorf can see transacting on SAP Business Network, its sales team can proactively reach out to them on the network to discuss the merits of using the PunchOut feature with them. Paxton adds, “Being on SAP Business Network allows us to extend our reach significantly beyond what we could achieve on our own.”
Director eBusiness Sales Division, Eppendorf North America
Delivering value beyond price to support customer retention
With customers increasingly shifting to e-commerce, many now reach out to suppliers later in their buying journey, having done much of their research before contacting a supplier. Paxton notes that a major benefit of SAP Business Network is the PunchOut feature, which offers the company visibility into its customers’ buying space. She says, “It simplifies how customers can browse and buy from us while ensuring the information is up to date.”
She adds, “Customers don’t want disruption. So, we’ve created custom tools that help simplify the buying process further. For example, we want to provide a ‘white glove experience’ when customers shop for our products, so we have functionality for real-time stock checks and the ability to verify that products are available in their location. We can pull data from our internal systems and essentially show customers all the things they need to see before they execute a purchase. In this way, we’re able to help them minimize disruption in their business, which helps us minimize disruption in ours because retaining customers adds a layer of stability.”
And thanks to SAP Business Network, the company can amplify the reach of its sales team while ensuring that order information and customer information is accurate. This also helps its customer support people, as they’re fielding fewer phone calls. Paxton adds, “Orders are processed faster, and invoices are paid faster, which helps from a cash flow perspective. We’re also seeing a higher level of customer continuity and retention.”
SAP Business Network also allows Eppendorf to showcase its strengths when it comes to sustainability, highlighting how its solutions can help customers meet their sustainability goals in different ways.
Director eBusiness Sales Division, Eppendorf North America
Continuing its work as a true partner for mutual benefit
SAP Business Network touches many different areas of Eppendorf’s business as a large global supplier, and the company plans to continue working to deliver more efficiency across purchasing operations. For example, Eppendorf is increasingly working with customers on forecasting and planning for long-term orders rather than individual spot orders. This is further helping the company build a deeper level of stability within its business.
Paxton adds, “As procurement takes a more strategic focus in all businesses, it’s critical that even startups set up e-commerce and e-procurement operations from day one. There are clear benefits, and it’s important not to wait until a company reaches a certain size or spend level. So, when our customers ask for advice in this area, we tell them about SAP Business Network and encourage them to get on to the network, now. On SAP Business Network, we get to work together with customers as partners for mutual benefit.”
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Supplier experiences with SAP Business Network (SAP Customer Quote Card)