NetSuite Launches B2B Storefront Services By Michelle Megna
March 13, 2007
NetSuite, Inc. today unveiled an e-commerce platform designed specifically to meet the needs of B2B companies. The new offering includes features such as quantity pricing, minimum-order amounts, invoicing with customer terms and credit limits and advanced inventory management.
"We've seen the need for this from our existing customers in wholesale, so we're supplying them with additional functionality, as well as reaching out to new customers," said Baruch Goldwasser, senior product manager. "While any e-business wants to maintain a good relationship with customers, the aim of business-to-business relationships is to nurture an ongoing partnership, and NetSuite wants to help solidify that relationship."
The NetSuite B2B e-commerce platform addresses the challenges faced by such businesses by offering a real-time solution that integrates accounting, warehouse, marketing and support within a single system, according to the company, a provider of on-demand, business- management software.
Key features of the B2B offering include:
Integrated Web Store, Order Management: The NetSuite Web store offers password-protected sites as well as registration and login functions. Order management capabilities include an integrated approve/fulfill/bill order workflow, real-time integration to multi-location inventory and order fulfillment including pick, pack and ship.
Complex Pricing, Flexible Payment: Volume, term, and contract/customer-specific pricing, as well as minimum order amounts, address the pricing needs of business-to-business relationships. NetSuite supports both credit card payments and invoicing based on customer terms and credit limits. It also supports payment through Level 2 credit card purchasing (P-Cards) and standard bank credit cards.
Advanced Inventory Management: With real-time, two-way inventory management and multiple back-order preferences, customers have visibility of inventory status and have alternate choices when backordering.
Personalized Websites for each Customer: The B2B upgrade supports personalized content and pricing so businesses can create customized Web sites. Different items, pricing and content can be displayed to different customers based on their price level, customer grouping or purchase history.
Integrated Shipping with UPS and FedEx: NetSuite has integrated UPS Online Tools and FedEx Shipping, including dimensions, estimated cost and label printing. NetSuite also integrates real-time shipment tracking for simpler order status and shipment location tracking in one system.
Drop-Shipment/Special Orders: The new version for B2B supports drop-shipment and special orders for fulfillment directly from suppliers. This enables alternate fulfillment for out-of-stock products, the ability to manage sales without holding inventory and the ability for customers to purchase special orders.
Returns: NetSuite facilitates returns with online return merchandise authorization, on-site receiving, put-back accounting and the ability to credit the account or replace with alternate products.
Customer Self-Service: B2B owners can let preferred partners access password-protected customized sites where they can place new and repeat orders, view order status, order history, track shipments, submit trouble/support tickets, review support history, search transactions, pay invoices and read the knowledge base for online help, product and service documentation and more.
Customer Analytics: Companies can see exactly what items are in their customer's shopping cart and what items they have viewed. They can also review up-sell recommendations based on what their other customers have purchased. "For B2B owners it means you can drill down to a specific customer, see exactly how long they visit, see what's in the cart at the moment and get detailed real-time data you can use," said Goldwasser.
Partner Management and Affiliate Marketing: Business owners can associate customers by referring partner code or URL. They can track commission and ROI for each partner from online sales. The self-service Partner Center allows selling partners to manage leads, joint customers, orders and cases. Partners can search the online Knowledge Base for product and service documentation and training. The Partner Center can also be a repository for up-to-the-minute sales and marketing collateral.
These e-commerce features are available immediately in the standard NetSuite service, without additional charge. NetSuite starts at $499/month and $99 for each user per month. Web Site Creation and Management and Multiple Site/Multiple Company functionality is currently in development and will be available in the second quarter of 2007.
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