Storefront Types
Overview
SHI One supports six distinct storefront types, each designed around a specific customer use case. Every storefront shares a common set of core capabilities — branding, access control, catalog management, approval workflows, and more — but is tailored with type-specific features and configurations to match the purchasing scenario it serves.
These existing SHI.com capabilities are still being migrated into SHI One Storefronts. These capabilities are available today, through customization requests to your SHI Account Team. Overtime we will introduce self-service management capabilities for Storefronts.
Quick Reference: Choosing the Right Storefront
If your need is… | Use this storefront type |
|---|---|
Standard IT procurement with approval workflows | Procurement Portal |
Employee benefit / personal purchase program | Employee Purchase Portal |
New hire provisioning & hardware refresh | Employee Onboarding / Refresh |
Location-specific, standardized ordering | Site Store |
Multi-region global procurement | Global Procurement Portal |
Integration with your existing ERP/procurement system | Punchout |
Storefront Types
Procurement Portal
The Procurement Portal is the most common storefront type. It serves as the central hub for an organization's IT procurement team to browse catalogs, submit purchase requests, route orders through approval workflows, and track fulfillment. It is designed for companies that want a controlled, policy-driven procurement process with full visibility and reporting.
Type-Specific Features
- Catalog Management — Full control over which manufacturers, product lines, and individual products are visible to buyers
- Approval Workflows — Configurable multi-level approval routing based on dollar thresholds, departments, or user roles
- Budget Controls — Set and enforce spending limits per user, department, or cost center
- Customized Checkout — Mandatory or optional fields (PO number, department code, accounting code, etc.) tailored to the organization's requirements
- Standards & Bundles — Pre-approved product standards organized into folders with custom categories, including discontinued-product identification and approved replacements
- Order History & Reporting — Self-service access to order tracking (open, delivered, invoiced, RMA), serial numbers, shipment details, and full ad hoc reporting
Key Personas
- IT Procurement Managers — Define catalogs, set approval rules, manage budgets
- Buyers / Requesters — Browse products, submit orders, track shipments
- Approvers — Review and approve/reject purchase requests based on workflow rules
- Administrators — Manage user access, storefront settings, and reporting
Ideal For
Organizations with structured IT purchasing processes, approval hierarchies, and a need for catalog governance and spend reporting.
Employee Purchase Portal
The Employee Purchase Portal provides a consumer-like shopping experience within a corporate context. Employees can browse a curated selection of products offered at special employee-discount pricing and purchase using personal payment methods. This storefront is often branded with the company's logo and identity to reinforce the program as an employee benefit.
Key Personas
- Employees — Browse and purchase personal technology at discounted rates
- HR / Benefits Administrators — Oversee the program, manage eligibility, and communicate availability
- Program Managers — Define product selection, pricing tiers, and promotional campaigns
Type-Specific Features
- Discounted Pricing — Special employee-only pricing negotiated by the organization
- Personal-Use Catalog — Curated product selection appropriate for home/personal use (laptops, monitors, peripherals, software)
- Program Branding — Custom branding to reinforce the program as a company benefit
- Simplified Checkout — Streamlined checkout optimized for individual purchases without corporate approval routing
- Eligibility Controls — Access restricted to verified employees via permission groups
Ideal For
Organizations offering technology purchase programs as an employee benefit or perk, enabling staff to buy personal devices at corporate-negotiated rates.
Employee Onboarding / Refresh (New Hire)
The Employee Onboarding/Refresh storefront (also referred to as "New Hire") is purpose-built for day-one readiness. It connects HR workflows with IT procurement so that new hires arrive to a fully provisioned workspace. It also supports device refresh cycles, enabling organizations to proactively replace aging hardware on a defined schedule.
Key Personas
- HR / People Operations — Initiate orders as part of the onboarding workflow
- Hiring Managers — Select and approve equipment for new team members
- New Employees — View and, where permitted, customize their equipment selection
- IT Administrators — Manage standards, configurations, and deployment workflows
Type-Specific Features
- Pre-Day-One Ordering — Orders can be placed and fulfilled before the employee's start date
- Role-Based Kits — Pre-configured hardware/software bundles based on job role, department, or location (e.g., "Engineer Kit," "Sales Kit")
- Configuration Bundles — BTO (build-to-order) configurations including imaging, accessory kits, and welcome packages
- Refresh Scheduling — Track hardware age and trigger refresh orders based on configurable lifecycle policies (default: 3-year refresh cycle)
- Warehouse Integration — Visibility into SHI warehouse inventory levels for standard configurations, with risk-level indicators based on 90-day rolling consumption
Ideal For
Organizations with structured onboarding programs, high-volume hiring, or defined hardware refresh cycles that want to automate and standardize equipment provisioning.
Site Store
The Site Store is designed for organizations with multiple physical locations — such as retail stores, branch offices, warehouses, or clinics — where each location needs to order from a prescribed, limited set of products. The catalog is locked down to only the items approved for that site, ensuring consistency, compliance, and budget control across distributed environments.
Key Personas
- Site / Location Managers — Place orders for their specific location from a curated product set
- Regional / District Managers — Oversee ordering activity across multiple sites
- IT / Operations Administrators — Define and maintain site-specific catalogs and standards
- Facilities / Store Associates — Request replacements for on-site equipment
Type-Specific Features
- Location-Specific Catalogs — Each site storefront surfaces only the products approved for that location.
- Prescribed Reference Sets — Products standardized per location type (e.g., all retail stores get the same POS hardware, all branch offices get the same networking equipment).
- Policy-Driven Product Selection — Product availability governed by organization policies or contracts, preventing unauthorized purchases.
- Standards-Only Mode — Optional policy to restrict browsing to company standards only, hiding the broader catalog.
- Multi-Site Visibility — Administrators can view ordering activity and inventory across all site storefronts
Ideal For
Retail chains, healthcare networks, hospitality groups, distributed office environments, and any organization with multiple locations that require standardized, location-specific ordering.
Global Procurement Portal
The Global Procurement Portal extends the standard Procurement Portal to support multi-region, multi-country procurement operations. It enables global IT organizations to maintain consistent procurement governance while accommodating regional differences in product availability, pricing, currency, compliance requirements, and shipping logistics.
Key Personas
- Global IT Procurement Leaders — Set enterprise-wide procurement policies and standards
- Regional Procurement Teams — Operate within regionalized catalogs and workflows
- Global Finance / Budget Owners — Consolidate spend reporting across regions
- Account Administrators — Manage multi-AX account structures, linked accounts, and regional user permissions.
Type-Specific Features
- Regionalized Catalogs — Separate catalogs per region with region-appropriate products, pricing, and availability.
- Multi-Region Workflow Automation — Approval workflows that account for regional approval hierarchies and compliance requirements
- Consolidated Budget Controls — Enterprise-level budget visibility with the ability to drill down by region, department, or cost center.
- Multi-AX Account Linking — Link multiple AX accounts (by region or business unit) under a single tenant for unified data visibility, with data flowing from linked child accounts to the parent.
- Cross-Region Reporting — Aggregated spend, order, and asset reporting across all regions
Ideal For
Multinational organizations, global enterprises, and companies with regional subsidiaries that need centralized IT procurement governance with localized execution.
Punchout
The Punchout storefront integrates SHI's catalog and ordering capabilities directly into a customer's existing procurement system. Users initiate their shopping session from within their ERP or procurement tool, are routed to the SHI storefront to browse and build a cart, and then return the cart to their internal system for approval and PO generation. This storefront type preserves the customer's existing procurement workflows while providing access to SHI's full catalog and pricing.
Key Personas
- Procurement System Users — Shop SHI's catalog from within their existing procurement tool
- Procurement System Administrators — Manage the punchout integration, catalog sync, and order data flow
- IT Integration Teams — Configure and maintain the technical connection between the customer's ERP and SHI
- Shared / Service Accounts — In some cases, punchout access is managed through shared accounts rather than individual user credentials.
Type-Specific Features
- ERP / Procurement System Integration — Native integration with SAP Ariba, Coupa, Oracle, and other major procurement platforms.
- Catalog Sync — Automated synchronization of catalog data, pricing, and product availability between SHI and the customer's system
- Cart Round-Trip — Users build their cart on SHI's platform and return it to their internal system for approval and PO submission
- Order Data Flow — Order status, tracking, and invoice data flow back into the customer's procurement system.
- ServiceNow Integration — For customers using ServiceNow, integration via Service Bridge enables remote catalogs, order initiation, asset inventory sync, and stockroom updates.
Ideal For
Organizations with established ERP or procurement systems (SAP Ariba, Coupa, Oracle, ServiceNow, Workday) that want to leverage SHI's catalog and fulfillment without changing their internal purchasing workflows.