Most buyers know the benefits of buying office supplies online firsthand—it's faster and more efficient to buy products online and it's easier to track spend. Corporate Express says 80% of its transactions come through its online catalog, and Staples' Kerry Anne Carter, vice president of business-to-business commerce, says 90% of Staples' orders come in electronically.

Office supply catalogs let buyers quickly process orders but good ones should also give buyers tools to make buying even easier for other users. With that in mind, Purchasing recently surveyed several experts to create a list of what to look for from an online office supply buying tool or catalog.

Purchasing card acceptance. Cutting checks, sending them out and waiting for them to clear can cause huge snags in order processing and negate any efficiencies or savings gained by using an online ordering system. P-cards are especially advantageous for smaller orders, as the transactional cost of using a check can outweigh the cost of the goods being ordered. The National Association of Purchasing Card Professionals estimates a p-card can shave off as much as 90% of administrative costs, which can be $50–$250 per order. Vendors encourage buyers to use p-cards, but you should make sure the one used is accepted by the catalog being used.

Approval levels. Office supply distributors know that small orders can be inefficient because of high administrative costs—they are for the distributors as well. Carter says "the reduction of small orders is a big deal, it helps us and it helps customers save money, so the key is to have approval features built-in." If an employee attempts to buy products under—or over—a certain threshold, says Carter, the online catalog should place that order on hold and route it for approval.

ERP integration. While most office supply distributors say their catalogs mesh well with most ERP systems, the catalog needs to be compatible with a procurement organization's ERP system. Accessing an office catalog via the ERP will save the extra step of migrating spend data from a separate online catalog into the ERP—unless, of course, p-cards are being used.

Special designations in product descriptions. Many office supply distributors mark products manufactured by a woman- or minority-owned business. In addition to a diverse supplier directory, Office Max has a tool that analyzes past shopping habits and can suggest similar products instead made by a diverse supplier. Both Office Depot and Corporate Express have responded to consumers' need to track spend on "green" purchases by providing the percentage of post-consumer waste content in the description.