Over 47% of surveyed Australian wholesale businesses plan to expand or diversify their distribution channels in the next year. To thrive in this evolving market, wholesale distributors must maintain efficiency, manage the intricacies of supply chain networks, and ensure exceptional customer experiences. NetSuite provides an adaptable cloud-based solution, offering the features and scalability needed to tackle the unique complexities of wholesale distribution.
Inventory Optimisation for Uninterrupted Sales
Wholesale distributors manage large, often multi-location inventories. Maintaining the correct quantities of the right stock, at the right time, while avoiding understocking or excessive inventory waste, is a constant balancing act. Incorrect inventory management can lead to delays in getting products to customers, hurting your hard-earned reputation.
NetSuite simplifies inventory management through advanced demand planning. Machine learning algorithms and historical sales data provide insights to improve predictions and ordering processes. Real-time inventory levels across all warehouses give accurate, current stock quantities. Integrated stock allocation, reordering, and safety stock level settings offer tools to control costs and avoid stockouts.
Gaining Supply Chain Visibility for Seamless Operations
Australian wholesale distributors often rely on multi-faceted supply chain relationships. These may include external suppliers, contract manufacturers, and in-house production. Lack of transparency within these networks can lead to costly bottlenecks and missed delivery deadlines.
NetSuite helps manage supplier relationships with dashboards for tracking vendor performance and purchase orders. Detailed insights into lead times, landed costs, and historical fulfilment help drive future business decisions. The ERP’s workflow automation, combined with electronic communication with suppliers and warehouses, fosters efficient, reliable movement of goods and materials.
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The NetSuite Approach to Streamlining Wholesale Distribution Organisations
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Delivering Delightful Customer Experiences
For wholesale distributors, providing an intuitive, streamlined customer experience is crucial to retention and long-term growth. Traditional B2B ordering, often through spreadsheets or email, results in frustrating errors and time wasted for both customer and distributor.
NetSuite’s B2B eCommerce portal gives wholesalers an opportunity to modernise their customer interactions. Customers can quickly see item availability in real-time, independently place orders, and gain visibility into shipments from warehouses. Personalised pricing, automatic promotions, and detailed customer dashboards improve the buyer experience. This level of convenience translates to greater customer loyalty.
Delivering Delightful Customer Experiences
For wholesale distributors, providing an intuitive, streamlined customer experience is crucial to retention and long-term growth. Traditional B2B ordering, often through spreadsheets or email, results in frustrating errors and time wasted for both customer and distributor.
NetSuite’s B2B eCommerce portal gives wholesalers an opportunity to modernise their customer interactions. Customers can quickly see item availability in real-time, independently place orders, and gain visibility into shipments from warehouses. Personalised pricing, automatic promotions, and detailed customer dashboards improve the buyer experience. This level of convenience translates to greater customer loyalty.
Reporting and Analytics to Power Success
To thrive in wholesale distribution, organisations need clear and timely insights into their operations. However, with data often residing in separate siloed systems and spreadsheets, getting a holistic view of performance can be difficult.
NetSuite offers dashboards and robust reporting tools, providing the flexibility to track business health in real-time. You can choose a pre-built dashboard relevant to your role or configure custom views designed for your specific needs. Analyse detailed reporting on order volume, sales margins by product line, warehouse performance, and more to make informed, business-critical decisions.
Gaining Supply Chain Visibility for Seamless Operations
Australian wholesale distributors often rely on multi-faceted supply chain relationships, including external suppliers, contract manufacturers, and in-house production. Manual tracking of materials across this network is incredibly labour-intensive. Lack of transparency leads to costly production bottlenecks, unexpected material shortages, and missed delivery deadlines – potentially harming your reputation with customers.
NetSuite addresses this by establishing a central hub for managing supplier relationships. Dashboards track vendor performance metrics, purchase orders, and lead times. Landed cost calculations become more accurate, helping manage imported goods. NetSuite tracks goods from origin through shipment to your fulfilment centre, providing a full chain of custody for quality control. Workflow automation reduces time spent on administrative work, and electronic communication with suppliers and warehouses boosts the reliable movement of goods and materials.
Managing Complex Pricing and Profitability
Wholesale distributors manage various customer tiers, complex promotions, volume-based discounts, and contract pricing variations that fluctuate over time. Relying on manual or spreadsheet-driven processes significantly increases calculation errors and inconsistencies. Additionally, without visibility into true production costs, businesses have difficulty determining accurate profitability in this sector.
NetSuite offers sophisticated solutions for handling various pricing scenarios. Tiered pricing structures, customer-specific pricing rules, and real-time pricing calculations can be managed directly within the ERP system. Additionally, the advanced promotions engine caters to wholesale operations with volume discounts, limited-time offers, and personalised bundles. Integration with warehouse and manufacturing data feeds helps wholesalers quickly pinpoint their true cost of goods sold (COGS). This insight, combined with detailed reporting on profits by product line or customer, assists in maximising profit margins and ensuring long-term sustainability.
Streamlining Financial Processes and Regulatory Compliance
Invoicing in wholesale often deals with large quantities and variations in terms, adding complexity to the finance team’s work. Furthermore, Australian taxation codes including GST require proper reporting and management, which becomes time-consuming when done manually. Failing to comply with specific wholesale distribution regulations can have serious consequences.
Streamlining Financial Processes and Regulatory Compliance
Invoicing in wholesale often deals with large quantities and variations in terms, adding complexity to the finance team’s work. Furthermore, Australian taxation codes including GST require proper reporting and management, which becomes time-consuming when done manually. Failing to comply with specific wholesale distribution regulations can have serious consequences.
NetSuite’s cloud-based system tackles these complexities with pre-built reports for sales tax calculations, automatic invoice generation, and electronic payment capabilities that integrate directly with Australian banks. Advanced revenue recognition features support ASC 606 and other specific regulatory standards. Integrated audit trails ensure a verifiable history of transactions for compliance purposes. By streamlining these processes, your finance team gains efficiencies and minimises the risk of regulatory missteps.
Scalability and Adaptability to Future-Proof Your Business
Wholesale distribution needs change rapidly due to shifts in customer demand, new product entries, or expansion into alternate channels. Outdated, point-solution systems lack the flexibility to quickly adapt to such change, ultimately bottlenecking business growth. In contrast, businesses struggle with overly customised legacy ERP systems that make modifications an extensive, expensive endeavour.
NetSuite’s cloud-based system is inherently scalable and adaptable. As your wholesale business grows in volume, NetSuite easily handles additional product lines, sales orders, and customers without performance impact. NetSuite’s modular nature allows for new functionalities to be seamlessly added as your business expands, such as CRM software, additional warehouse management solutions, or eCommerce portals. Additionally, NetSuite’s regular software updates ensure that your system is always current with the latest features, security enhancements, and changing regulatory compliance requirements. This flexibility eliminates the need for costly system overhauls or complex system replacements every few years.
The Wrap Up
Wholesale distributors face increasing pressure to be agile, efficient, and always focused on customer satisfaction. NetSuite’s cloud-based ERP software acts as a single source of truth, consolidating inventory data, financials, supply chain processes, and customer experiences within one comprehensive platform. With NetSuite, you can improve decision-making across the organisation, boost customer loyalty, and future-proof your wholesale distribution business in Australia’s competitive marketplace.
Ready to elevate your wholesale distribution operation with a powerful, adaptable ERP solution?
DWR, a leading NetSuite partner, brings deep industry expertise and proven implementation success to the table. Our specialists understand the complexities of the wholesale sector and will collaborate with you to tailor NetSuite to conquer your unique operational challenges. Let’s get started! Contact DWR today for a personalised consultation and see how NetSuite can revolutionise your business.
FAQ for NetSuite Wholesale Edition
We have existing systems for key operations. Is it really worth switching to NetSuite?
The value of NetSuite lies in its ability to consolidate data and functionality into a single platform. Streamlining processes through tighter integration saves time, lessens reliance on manual workarounds, and dramatically reduces risks associated with disconnected data. Your team experiences enhanced clarity across every area of your wholesale distribution business.
Our wholesale pricing strategies are complex. Can NetSuite handle them?
NetSuite caters to the intricate aspects of pricing within wholesale distribution. It flawlessly navigates customer tiers, volume discounts, and negotiated contract pricing alongside promotional schemes. Real-time calculations ensure accuracy on complex orders, improving both customer satisfaction and your bottom line.
Can NetSuite integrate with our existing warehouse management system (WMS)?
In many cases, yes! NetSuite provides robust tools for integration. If your current WMS offers integration functionality, the likelihood of it connecting seamlessly with NetSuite is high. If not, DWR can explore ways to streamline your processes or help evaluate if upgrading or replacing your WMS is suitable.
