Once solely confined to bricks and mortar, today the shopping experience has spread to multiple channels - online, mobile, in-store, social and via marketplaces.
Shifting shopping habits and the technologies to support them have introduced new and varied multi-channel complexities for retailers.
So, how are today’s retailers effectively managing all the moving parts?
Many retailers are turning to integrated cloud ERP solutions like NetSuite. Systems like these have been built to manage the diverse customer interactions and sales channels owned by modern retailers.
By allowing data to be consolidated from all sources and managed on a single platform, retailers are able to regain control with a single view of their operations.
In this guide, we explore the needs, challenges, and opportunities in the retail sector, and how NetSuite's cloud-based ERP solutions can help retailers effectively address them.
The legacy business systems challenge in retail
Retail and eCommerce ERP software comes in many forms and sizes. Some retailers continue to rely on on-premises ERP solutions, patching together disparate and home-grown applications that inhibit visibility and creates a range of data and management headaches (not to mention remote access challenges for staff).
Others use cloud accounting systems - such as Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks - supplementing these basic accounting solutions with applications and plug-ins to accommodate their growing retail-commerce operations.
For both scenarios, retailers face a common dilemma - the need for a more integrated, holistic approach that can better streamline operations, improve data consistency, and enhance their overall efficiency.
Because retail business tech is directly related to scalability and growth, growing retailers will eventually find themselves at a crossroads with their existing systems no longer able to support their evolving operational complexity.
This is where Oracle NetSuite comes in.
NetSuite is a scalable cloud ERP suite developed to handle the complexities of both retail and eCommerce operations, equipping retailers with the tools to manage growth, enhance visibility, and streamline their processes.
Traditional approaches often involve using separate systems for accounting, point of sale (POS), warehousing, inventory management, supply chain logistics, and business intelligence (BI). But with cloud ERP, retailers can seamlessly manage inventory, sales, customer relationships, and financial data from a single, user-friendly platform. This means that businesses can do away with the need for separate retail shop accounting software or a standalone store inventory management system to simplify the technological ecosystem while providing retailers with real-time insights and a more agile business model.
Can your current business systems handle the more complicated needs of a growing retail business?
- Are data silos keeping financials, sales, inventory and customer data closed off?
- Are procure-to-pay processes integrated with purchasing workflows, policies, approvals, and audit trails?
- Do you have the capability to automate your order-to-cash processes?
- Do you have a 360-degree view of finances, inc. profitability ratios, inventory margins, liabilities, fixed assets and taxes?
- Do your systems allow multiple currencies, languages, exchange rates and real-time currency conversions?
- Do your systems support compliance with international IT and security standards?
If you answered no to these questions, it is likely time to consider a more powerful solution.
What is Cloud ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)?
Cloud ERP is an online modular software designed to integrate all your critical business processes in one place. It unifies functions like finance, manufacturing, inventory and order management, customer communication, sales and marketing, project management and human resources. With a single centralised system, cloud ERPs generate significant time and financial savings by providing organisation-wide visibility and control.
A quick overview of NetSuite for retail
A single, integrated solution to manage your entire retail business
Complete 360-degree view of the customer across all channels and touchpoints
Support multiple locations, channels and brands from a single platform
A full featured and mobile-ready POS
Powerful ecommerce capabilities on any device
Central management of all pricing and promotions
Real-time inventory visibility across all channels
Cross-channel order management and fulfilment
Marketing tools to target and segment offers
Easy customisation for your specific retail requirements
A lower cost and less hassle than on-premise retail systems
Optimised web stores for smartphones, tablets and desktops
Multi-site and multi-country support from a single account
B2B and B2C web stores on the same platform
Multiple payment options
Dynamic merchandising
Self-service account management
More resources:
Whitepaper: NetSuite for retailers >
What are the high level benefits of cloud ERP for retail?
Operational efficiency | Integrating all retail operations into a single system improves workflow and saves time, allowing staff to focus on more strategic tasks rather than getting bogged down in multiple software systems.
Data consistency | With a unified system, the data consistently flows across various functions like sales, inventory, and financials, reducing errors and improving decision-making.
Real-time insights | A comprehensive ERP system offers real-time data analytics and BI tools, enabling businesses to spot opportunities, make fast decisions and respond to market changes with agility.
Scalability | As the retail business grows, a unified ERP system scales alongside, accommodating new processes and functionalities without the need for additional software.
Cost-effectiveness | While the initial investment in a retail ERP system can be significant, over time, it delivers ROI by reducing the need for multiple software licenses, integration costs, and maintenance fees for several systems. Along with the less tangible benefits of efficient and productive processes and workflows.
What is the application of ERP in retail industry?
Let’s now look at some of the capabilities NetSuite brings to retailers in a little more detail.
Cloud ERP improves inventory and supply chain visibility
Losing control of inventory is a key challenge for retailers of any size. It can lead to unhappy customers waiting on their orders, failure to manage supply and demand, unnecessary cost and ultimately, reduced profit.
Investing in cloud ERP turns the complexity of inventory into a foundation for growth in sales and on-time delivery.
The optimised order management and fulfilment processes tightly drive the order process from quote to eventual fulfilment. Sophisticated multi-location manufacturing, inventory management and fulfilment ensure continually efficient operations. And for procurement , the entire process is streamlined across the complete procure-to-pay process comprising workflow management, approvals, vendor self-service and payment.
- Real-time data updates allow you to track inventory levels, orders, and supply chain activities as they happen.
- With data centralised from various business functions, you get a unified view of inventory and supply chain operations for more accurate and consistent information.
- Advanced analytics and reporting tools built into cloud ERPs can analyse large volumes of data to identify trends, forecast demand, and optimise inventory levels, reducing the risk of stockouts or overstocking.
- Cloud-based ERPs facilitate better collaboration among different departments and external partners like suppliers and logistics providers which leads to more efficient supply chain management.
- Cloud ERPs can scale to meet increased data volumes or additional functionalities without the need for significant infrastructure changes.
- With just an internet connection, staff and management can flexibly monitor and manage inventory and supply chain operations from anywhere.
Scaling your retail operations is easy with NetSuite
Any retail business that wants to make a name for themselves in the global expansion game needs the right tech to support these ambitions (in order to avoid costly mistakes).
While NetSuite provides cloud financials, CRM, ecommerce, HCM and professional services automation, NetSuite OneWorld supports retailers looking to expand into new regions by providing complete multi-subsidiary management, multiple languages, currencies and support for local accounting regulations. In addition, businesses running on NetSuite can populate a single chart of accounts across subsidiaries, or use separate charts-of-accounts for each company within a single instance. In other words, you don’t need an entirely new instance to support multiple entities - like you do with Xero.
More resources:
You can harness the power of retail integration and extensibility
NetSuite is a robust and adaptable technology platform that allows businesses to customise and adjust the system to align with their needs and unique demands of their industry. Through the use of configurations, customisations, extensions and third party applications, you can modify existing features, add new functionalities, or integrate with other systems to ensure that the platform serves your operational needs.
More resources:
Blog: Why your retail business needs an ERP solution for eCommerce integration >
You get uninterrupted visibility of your customers
NetSuite gives a complete, 360-degree perspective of each customer. You'll have access to their entire purchase history and all interactions with your company - whether online, in a physical store, or through a sales representative. With so much detailed insight right on the customer record, it’s possible to develop personalised marketing strategies tailored to unique buying behaviour and demographics.
NetSuite also offers convenient self-service options, allowing customers to view their online purchase history, reorder products, and access 24/7 support.
Together, these capabilities give you the tools to deliver tailored services, foster lasting customer loyalty, and ensure an engaging and relevant brand experience.
You can build online shopping experiences with SuiteCommerce
NetSuite SuiteCommerce enables retailers to connect every step of a multi-channel, multi-location business - from ecommerce, POS and order management to merchandising, marketing, inventory, financials and customer support.
It also supports the creation of tailored and sophisticated websites for customers visiting on any device – desktops, smartphones and tablets. The website is directly integrated with the NetSuite platform - eliminating the need for manually transferring orders from your online store to inventory, shipping, and accounting systems.
SuiteCommerce also simplifies promotions, ensures consistent tax and shipping rates for both online and offline sales, and allows you to manage multiple online stores and catalogues in one place. When you are ready to expand into new territories, the global capabilities support multiple languages and currencies, and handles international shipping documentation.
NetSuite: A complete cloud ERP solution for Retail
NetSuite Core
Within a single, powerful platform you get comprehensive financials and accounting functionality, and customer-facing CRM capabilities all backed by real-time reporting and analytics.
NetSuite OneWorld
NetSuite OneWorld delivers a real-time, unified global business management solution for enterprises that manage multinational and multi-subsidiary operations— at a fraction of the cost of traditional on-premises ERP solutions.
NetSuite Financial Management
NetSuite financial management seamlessly integrates with all NetSuite order management, inventory, CRM and ecommerce functions to streamline critical business processes, such as quote-to-cash, enabling everyone to work from a single source of finance, sales and customer data.
NetSuite Advanced Inventory
A broad array of capabilities to optimise inventory availability and levels such as demand based inventory replenishment, enhanced inventory visibility and the ability to streamline core processes using automated workflows.
NetSuite Demand Planning
The right balance of powerful functionality and ease-of-use, demand planning gives you the ability to predict required inventory based on historical demand or sales forecasts therefore reducing inventory and lead times and increasing turns.
SuiteCommerce Advanced
A full-featured ecommerce solution that supports multiple brands, languages and currencies while unifying ecommerce with your core operational business systems to deliver a panoramic view of customer, orders, inventory and other critical business data – on a global scale.
Marketplace Integrations
Sell on global marketplaces such as Amazon or Tmall and experience order fulfilment, accurate product availability, and real-time order statuses aligned to your back office.
Explore more retail specific resources:
What is the secret sauce of fast retail brand growth? >
The environmental sustainability of an ERP for your retail business >
Why financial tracking software is essential for retail modernisation >
EBOOK: Building the foundations of great customer experience >
EBOOK: Critical components to achieving the prefect order >
Webinar recap: Key takeaways for international retail expansion with MAAP and Tiger Mist >
Which retail companies use NetSuite?
Global icon Aēsop, leading tea brand T2, uniform suppliers Cargo Crew and textile homewares powerhouse Linen House all run on Netsuite.
Below we dive into more about their cloud ERP transformations.
NetSuite: The Aesop story
Aēsop approached Annexa to assist with a new cloud-based ERP system. High levels of historic and projected growth had alerted Aēsop to the growing limitations of the company's 12 disparate on-site software systems. To support their speed of global expansion and bring global real-time visibility into their inventory, data and operations across the world, they required a unified solution. The answer was NetSuite OneWorld.
NetSuite: The T2 Story
T2 is a luxury tea brand with over 100 retail outlets operating across Australia, New Zealand, UK, USA and Singapore, and selling online through Amazon and Tmall marketplaces.
But let’s rewind. To get where they are today, T2 first needed to transform their enterprise architecture with a cloud solution that could unify back office with core retail processes in a single platform, and ultimately support their global ambitions.
T2 selected NetSuite OneWorld and SuiteCommerce Advanced, engaging NetSuite partner Annexa to design and deploy their solution. Today, at the centre of T2’s fast-growing retail and wholesale business lies an integrated commerce solution that links their front and backends, provides a single view of the customer, enables delivery of a consistently outstanding customer experience, and is flexible and scalable.
NetSuite: The Cargo Crew Story
Cargo Crew are one of Australia’s most well-recognised and innovative uniform suppliers. By replacing once bland and predictable uniforms with high quality, modern uniforms – all sold direct to business customers, without the need for a middleman – they quickly earned a reputation as true industry disrupters.
Discover how B2B retailer and wholesale distributer, Cargo Crew unlocked the value of NetSuite to maintain their competitive edge and scale up their distribution operations while avoiding the risks that come from expansion.
NetSuite: The Linen House Story
Annexa collaborated with Australian textile homewares powerhouse, Linen House, to help them shift from a cumbersome, growth-inhibiting on-premise solution to NetSuite OneWorld. What followed was an incredible uplift in efficiency and significant growth that saw them expand from two retail stores to 16, in just 2 years.
More Resources:
Discover how Cargo Crew & Linen House unlocked the value of cloud technologies to maintain their competitive edge and scale up their distribution operations while avoiding the risks that came from expansion.
EBOOK: Transformation Story: Linen House & Cargo Crew >
Are you ready to move from challenge to opportunity in retail?
Retailers are facing a choice - continue to use multiple point solutions, using a traditional back-end ERP and bolting on front-end pieces, or adopt a modern, cloud-based business system such as NetSuite that can scale for unlimited global expansion.
How Annexa help your retail business grow with NetSuite
As a trusted NetSuite partner, Annexa has helped many retailers prepare to enter new markets as smoothly and simply as possible through smart, agile and practical systems.
We can help your business navigate the new technologies needed to support growth and global success. We also have expert knowledge on how to do business in international regions and can share our first-rate understanding of growth strategies for those just starting out. This helps align your business with a solution to meet your goals, while leaving room for future growth.
From streamlining processes to enhancing operational efficiencies, reducing costs to improving business visibility, a NetSuite ERP is consistently the preferred platform for businesses looking to grow, expand globally and power-up their retail success.
To learn more about our end-to-end NetSuite retail solutions and how we can support your expansion goals, contact Annexa today.
