With NRF occurring this week, NetSuite reminded retailers how its software platform differentiates from other vendor solutions. NetSuite is already recognised as a powerful financial management solution. It has an eCommerce module that many retailers use but with the flexibility to integrate with other leading solutions. It reminded attendees that with NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, customers have a tool that can draw value from their data.
The challenge for many organisations, as CData research recently showed, is that they have lots of data. Still, it is often disconnected in silos, or users are restricted from accessing it easily due to complex permissioning. With a single business platform, NetSuite provides an integrated solution that also holds the data in a single location. Which the NetSuite Analytics Warehouse can then take advantage of. Powered by AI, the analytics warehouse can surface insights that are not immediately obvious, and many retail customers are taking advantage of this, including Feetures, Hudson & Canal, and Thread.
Sam Levy, Senior Vice President of growth and operations at Oracle NetSuite, commented, “To keep up with shifting consumer demands, increasing industry competition, and on-going economic uncertainty, retailers need agile processes and fast access to business insights. With NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, retailers can quickly make sense of business data to make more informed decisions to help manage costs, attract new customers, and create new revenue streams.”
Feetures
Feetures was founded in 2002 and implemented several NetSuite modules as the company grew. The retailer produces and sells socks that support runners and athletes in their pursuit of active, healthy lifestyles. NetSuite has supported its international expansion, and it now sells in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Germany, Denmark and Japan and exports to partners in other locations.
It has implemented NetSuite ERP, NetSuite Inventory Management, NetSuite Procurement, NetSuite Demand Planning, NetSuite CRM, NetSuite Connector, NetSuite Analytics Warehouse and NetSuite SuiteAnalytics Connect. Using the analytics warehouse, it has brought together data from NetSuite, Shopify, Google Analytics and other software applications in use to deliver a better understanding of consumer trends, inventory management and financial performance.
Daniel Roath, IT Manager, Feetures, commented, “As we continue to grow our global footprint, data visibility is critical to our financial and operational success. NetSuite helps centralize our data and provides automated insights to help fine-tune product strategies, improve cash flow forecasting, and optimize warehouse staffing.”
Hudson & Canal
Hudson & Canal used NetSuite from the offset. Founded in 2017, the B2B eCommerce manufacturer of home furnishings has used NetSuite Analytics Warehouse for some time. It uses the solution to collate data from multiple sources to optimise decision-making. Hudson & Canal found that the time to value for the solution was rapid. Data pipelines feed into data objects to deliver access to current and historical data. It uses personalised dashboards to deliver role-based insights and KPI metrics. It has also allowed the business to ask business questions about the dataset and find answers to questions that it doesn’t think of. One area that NetSuite helped improve was reducing the time spent required on the analysis of landed costs and accruals from four hours to ten minutes every week! It presented its experiences in this video.
Marc Sculler, Chief Executive Officer of Hudson & Canal, said, “As our business has grown, the number of data sources has also escalated. NetSuite helps us make sense of the data, improves productivity, and enhances team collaboration. Data-driven insights from NetSuite have helped us analyze sales performance, right-size inventory, and further optimize profit margins.”
Thread
Thread has leveraged the power of NetSuite with the insights of the Analytics Warehouse to evolve its business. The company uses data from new sales channels, retail locations, and product lines to help scale its business. It has been able to introduce new products to meet growing customer demand. The Analytics Warehouse has helped to improve forecasting to improve stock levels and reduce stockouts at retailers for its bags and accessories.
Mitch Sanders, Chief Operating Officer of Thread, said, “To continue our rapid growth, we needed accurate and real-time data visibility across all our sales channels. With automated insights from NetSuite Analytics Warehouse, we can anticipate buying behaviors, ensure the timely fulfillment and delivery of inventory, and avoid the risk of stockouts or overstock.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Data is critical for retailers in a modern environment which is in constant change. The NetSuite platform can provide the financial heart of an organisation. It also has a rich ecosystem of partners and connectors to integrate with many other leading applications. The Data Analytics Warehouse enables customers to draw together the data from those disparate locations. It can then analyse it at a level that allows organisations to have the flexibility they require today.
The three examples above have built and grown their businesses on NetSuite and will continue to do so. With a lull for retail, following the rush of the holiday season, organisations have a limited amount of time to plan for next year. Part of that planning may be to consider the applications currently in use and whether they are fit for purpose. NetSuite is one option that could be an alternative and better solution.
