How can physical stores compete in an age of online shopping?
Next-Generation Stores.
This is the solution.
To build their next-generation stores, merchants are turning to business software solutions such as Oracle NetSuite.
Oracle NetSuite, a business management tool, improves efficiency across all locations through a single system.
This review will show you how Oracle NetSuite can grow your retail business.
What is a Next-Gen Store?
While the ecommerce wave continues its destruction of brick-and-mortar shops, smart physical store owners are adopting what Oracle calls the next-generation store.
Next-Gen stores transform traditional brick-and-mortar shops into unforgettable shopping experiences. These are also points of purchase:
- Inspire buyers
- Sellers can test various buying experiences
- Online purchases can be made with product pickup
- Assist shipping and return contacts
- Provide help desk solutions
Next-Gen furniture brands, for example, use extended reality (XR), which allows them to place appliances directly in a customer’s home. XR is a more efficient testing and trial process than Amazon’s “zoom”.
Shoppers can interact with jewelry stores through augmented reality by using interactive screens at their showcase counters. Next-Gen stores allow fashion shoppers to try on outfits while standing in front a VR smart mirror.
There are many ways technology can be used to provide a personalized and better shopping experience for Next-Gen customers in Next-Gen stores.
What is Oracle NetSuite?
Oracle NetSuite provides a cloud-based, intuitive business management platform. The requirements of your business will determine the extent of what you get out of Oracle NetSuite.
NetSuite’s platform can be customized based on industry, role, business type, and current business software.
NetSuite is an ERP platform at its core. It makes it easy to make quick, accurate and efficient business decisions that will help you save time and money while managing your daily business tasks.
Additional products include add-on modules that complement the ERP framework and provide precise business intelligence and automation.
Who can use Oracle NetSuite
Small businesses and medium-sized businesses use NetSuite. Global enterprises that have multiple locations or large staff numbers can also use NetSuite.
These three types of businesses employ NetSuite to streamline their business processes across multiple industries such as:
- Consulting and professional services
- Marketing agencies
- Distribution and retail brands
- Manufacturing
- Education
- Energie
- Financial services
- Hospitality, Transport, and Logistics
- Non-profit
- IT and Tech
These users all run different types of businesses:
- Startups,
- Family-owned,
- Fast-growing,
- Enterprises, to
- Companies that are venture capital- or private equity-backed
You have the option to choose which NetSuite products are available on your platform. You can choose what is most important for your industry, business type, and role within the company.
NetSuite also offers a module that can be built on top of your existing business software. This option will likely target the areas that need improvement. NetSuite could integrate with third-party software on-premise to increase your efficiency.
Oracle NetSuite
These are the things you can expect from NetSuite:
The platform can be accessed from any location that has an internet connection and a web browser.
After you login to your account, the dashboard displays all pertinent data summaries for your chosen product subscription.
NetSuite organizes data sets into expandable interfaces called “portlets”. Portlets give you a snapshot of your business’ day-to-day activities. You can see KPIs, Scorecards and Metrics, as well as revenue, customer data or invoice-related information.
To view the details of summaries displayed on the dashboard, click on any portal. NetSuite allows you to modify the calculation and data sets that are displayed or use one of its preset formats. All visualizations are live and updated in real time.
All transactions, client information and employee data that you input at any one time will be reflected across the entire system.
NetSuite’s home dashboard shows data sets that are relevant to each user’s role within the company. The home dashboard of the CFO would display a lot financial data. The COO would show data related to service automation, project management, and other ERP sets.
NetSuite dashboard can also display data for specific times, locations, or business channels. In the “Consolidated” setting, users can view data for individual channels or all the enterprise’s subsidiaries.
It is similar to viewing the periodic transaction summaries in Sage-50 dashboards. NetSuite handles a larger part of your business process and allows you to visualize more data.
Oracle NetSuite Features
Oracle NetSuite can be described as a buffet of business management tools. Each NetSuite feature is an individual product. Some features are created in-house by NetSuite while others are third-party.
Each product can help you improve efficiency in various areas of your business.
These are the key features of NetSuite:
Enterprise Resource Planning
NetSuite integrates with other modules such as the SuitePeople product to allow users to manage their daily activities in one place. It manages procurement, production orders, inventory, logistics and financials as well as HR in a very efficient way.
Enterprises can use the Global Business Management functionality, which includes the ERP, SRP and Global Ecommerce features, to manage multi-location businesses.
Accounting
Accounting processes can be tedious to manage manually, and it is much more difficult to automate with cheaper legacy platforms.
NetSuite Accounting software manages revenue recognition, billing, global accounting, consolidation, finance and planning. It also monitors compliance, risk, governance, compliance, and risk. It can integrate with legacy accounting software on-premise to automate payroll management and data visibility.
Business Service Automation
This feature is useful for service businesses, agencies, or service sections of product-based companies. This feature allows you to automate your service project management by integrating client data visibility, billing, accounting, resource and analytics.
Project management uses NetSuite ERP + PSA or the PSA modules to automate service automation. As you need it, you can add additional modules.
Marketing
This functionality combines the CRM and Email Marketing modules to personalize customer engagement. Email marketing accounts for 20% of traffic to your ecommerce channels.
This feature allows you to view customer correspondence history, customer data and customer preferences in one unified system.
58% brands are personalizing shopper interaction using better data collection systems and analysis systems. Brands that provide them with relevant and unique content are able to engage 63% of customers positively.
This feature can be used to invent customer support and marketing.
Business Data Analysis
This feature integrates NetSuite’s embedded analysis, real-time visualization and business intelligence modules.
Business intelligence will analyze and generate real-time data from every location and channel of your business.
Order Management
You can manage your order fulfillment through multiple channels with the platform. The platform promises consistency for both you and your customers.
NetSuite’s order management allows users to see all of their inventory across all channels.
Pricing and Promotions Management
Customers can automatically manage pricing and promotions across all channels. This feature allows you to do this:
- Manage and define discount codes
- Set multiple pricing levels,
- Use different currencies,
- Different pricing and promotion options can be set
- Controls allow you to automate pricing and promotions
- Organize your pricing per channels
NetSuite – Build Your Next-Gen Store
It is normal to be worried that eCommerce sellers’ increasing popularity will cause a disruption in retail.
Data shows, however, that ecommerce continues to grow.
75% shoppers buy online at least once per month and 63% all shopping begins online. However, 49% of shoppers believe that online shopping is lacking in the ability to physically experience a product.
Next-Gen stores will be relevant in the ecommerce age because they allow for better integration between online and offline channels. NetSuite software allows you to achieve this level of connectivity.
These Next-Gen store strategies will allow you to engage shoppers better and offer a deeper brand experience.
Next-Gen Store Strategies
Here are some strategies to transform the in-store experience of your customers
- Omnichannel Retail: While many digital brands have opened offline stores, they aren’t closing down their online shops. They are instead leveraging their online stores to offer a more personalized and integrated in-store shopping experience.
An integrated omnichannel retail structure is the best Next-Gen strategy. It will allow you to sell to a wider customer base.
- Many store formats: One innovative use for Next-Gen stores are to offer physical locations for testing, trial, return and pick up, product localization, and immersive experiences.
Future-proof ways to shop in a physical store include experience, event and flagship stores.
- Centralized Resource Management: Collect all of your business data from both online and in-store POS and view them on a single system. All business processes can be hosted in a single system to access the information you need to create Next-Gen business intelligence.
- Experience retail: More than 78% of consumers prefer to spend money on experiences or events. Demo events, launches, and loyalty parties can help build a brand around you and engage customers with your business.
- Empowered employees. Arm your retail staff, greeters, and employees with the tools they need to engage in-store shoppers. A centralized POS in-store that provides relevant content for shoppers at checkout.
Your stores will be more attractive to buyers if you empower your employees to personalize shopping and offer suggestions based on customer preferences.
There is no single strategy that will work for everyone. Your type of business will determine what you run with.
What can Oracle NetSuite do for you?
The Oracle NetSuite system will bring benefits to your retail business in the following ways:
- Scalability NetSuite’s improvement in business practices efficiency will allow you to increase sales, profit margins, and expand your operations.
NetSuite’s suiteCommerce product, which has an omnichannel feature, centralizes retail across multiple channels.
- Real-time visibility: You can manage all aspects of your global business from one central system.
Business decisions can be made easier with the Business Intelligence feature. It allows you to generate and instantly report data.
- Increase efficiency in processes: When you use NetSuite to manage marketing, customer service, CRM, resources and projects, you can save time and money. Use NetSuite to automate accounting, financial reporting and other business processes.
These benefits make it possible to open a Next-Gen “buy anywhere, get anywhere” store.
Learn more about how NetSuite could help you create a Next-Gen retail shop.
The Toad&Co Example
Toad&Co plans on opening 20 new physical shops, despite everyone worrying about the loss of sales from physical stores.
Toad&Co supplies apparel to over 800 US stores. They also sell directly to customers through their online shop.
They are transforming traditional stores into Next-Gen stores based on the fact that most people still shop in-store. It is their strategy to create brick-and-mortar shops that are connected to other areas of the buyer’s journey.
Kelly Milazzo is Toad&Co’s Vice President of Operations. She says that the key to their success is giving customers a seamless brand experience.
They decided to ditch their on-premise technology, which couldn’t provide real time data visualization for NetSuite’s unified cloud-based commerce system.
They were able to concentrate on product development by implementing NetSuite’s core ERP as well as the SuitCommerce feature.
Oracle NetSuite Pricing
ERP systems can be expensive. Prices depend on the type of deployment and integration.
Your choice of features will determine the cost of your NetSuite subscription. Based on your needs, product modules can be added. Product pricing is affected by user role, total number of accounts, add-on module count, and length of contract.
However, NetSuite can be used for retail purposes. You should expect to pay the following implementation fees:
- NetSuite core ERP The cost for a basic NetSuite ERP licence is $999 with a $99 monthly user access fee.
- NetSuite SuitCommerce Standard To add this module to your base ERP functionality, it will cost you up to $2,500 per month.
- NetSuite SuitCommerce Advance: a subscription to this service will cost more than $5,000 per month.
- Additional implementation costs: Includes customization, training, consultation, and other costs.
Contact Oracle NetSuite to receive a complete quote for the features that you choose.
Support for NetSuite users
NetSuite prospects and users have excellent customer service. They offer information about their service locations in the US as well as foreign offices in more than 28 countries.
NetSuite provides three levels of support for users and post-implementation support, depending on the size of your business and subscription.
- All customers are assigned an account manager and have 24/7 access via SuiteAnswers to self-serve support. They can also submit cases online or by phone.
- You will have greater access to the premium support, which you may need as your business expands. You will have access to a technical support center that can be reached at any time, as well as four authorized support contacts, weekend coverage and routing to specific product areas.
- NetSuite offers an advanced customer service service that allows NetSuite’s customers to assign a team to support, maintain, optimize and sustain their system.
NetSuite offers a wide range of product training resources that will help you get to know the product DIY-style.
Unified vs. Point Retail Software
Which retail software should you choose?
An Accenture report shows that 75% of consumers are more likely to buy from you if they know their names. Your past purchases are also a plus for shoppers.
Access to real-time updates is essential for your Next-Gen store, regardless of channel, to reach this level of responsibility.
You can access customer data, inventory and financials to help manage buyer relationships and improve business processes across all sales channels.
These resources can be managed from one central system. It is best to use cloud-based systems. It would be impossible to use legacy ERP systems on-premise.
Why use Oracle NetSuite Retail Solution
Oracle NetSuite offers a complete eCommerce business management solution. There are many benefits to using NetSuite’s retail platform:
- It supports multiple business models (B2C/B2B or D2C) in one system.
- All channels covered by centralized order management and Instore POS
- For informed business decisions, real-time data visibility
- You can access a single cloud-based SaaS platform that you can access from anywhere. There is no additional infrastructure cost for on-premise solutions.
- CRM and centralized shopper engagement
- One system for efficient inventory management
- You can customize the features and third-party SuiteApps in a highly customizable way
Cons
These are some of the potential problems with Oracle NetSuite:
- NetSuite’s multimodule system has some third-party modules that perform poorly.
- NetSuite is a SaaS Product and does not offer an on-premise product. It cannot be installed or managed locally.
- You can get customized user support depending on your plan. Basic plan users won’t receive as much help as advanced plan users.
- NetSuite allows you to integrate with many business tools. It’s an advantage, but integrations can be problematic if third party software isn’t updated as needed.
Conclusion
It is unlikely that eCommerce retail’s growth will slow down. This is not due to increasing accessibility, personalization and engagement, customer support, product location, and innovation in MarTech driving this growth.
It’s also possible to envision an increase in online presence at offline stores as digital brands grow.
The best way to keep brick-and-mortar stores relevant is to revolutionize the in-store shopping experience. NetSuite may be the most powerful software on the market to help you protect your physical store for the digital age.
