As your eCommerce company grows, you need better tools to manage it. When Oracle expanded its NetSuite software to encompass order management and fulfillment, it created an excellent opportunity for integrated multichannel management. NetSuite order fulfillment makes it easy to manage every aspect of your business from supply chain through eCommerce fulfillment and beyond.
How NetSuite order fulfillment connects the dots for growing eCommerce companies
Few successful eCommerce businesses rely on just one sales channel. Today, a top online brand is likely to sell well beyond its own branded website. Your company might have a store on the Amazon marketplace, product listings on retail shopping sites like Walmart and Wayfair, and wholesale sites to brick-and-mortar stores.
Sales aren’t the only source of complexity for a growing brand. Your business may also have inventory in multiple locations, including in-house distribution centers and 3PL warehouses.
Robust order fulfillment software, like NetSuite, allows you to manage complex operations from a central hub. And that gives you the space to work on expanding your market share and creating a thriving enterprise.
Features of NetSuite for Order Fulfillment
NetSuite order fulfillment software has numerous features that help you understand and manage your supply chain, from manufacturing and purchasing through order management. Here are some ways that NetSuite can support your order fulfillment.
Supply chain management
NetSuite gives you increased supply chain visibility, with capabilities to manage and track purchase orders and lead times. With data at your fingertips, you can optimize your supply chain operations, which can help you reduce costs.
Inbound logistics
You can track containers with NetSuite Inbound Shipment Management, plus set quality assurance standards that dictate inspections of inbound inventory.
Inventory management and cycle count planning
The inventory visibility you gain across all your warehouses and distribution centers helps set inventory and reorder levels. Inventory forecasting that optimizes your stock levels is critical to the financial health of your business.
In addition, the NetSuite Inventory Count feature helps you plan for cycle counts that facilitate accurate inventory management.
Order management
NetSuite order fulfillment software includes features to turn your sales revenue into improved cash flow. Plus, the software streamlines your returns process, which is crucial to customer satisfaction.
Warehouse management and outbound logistics
If you operate a fulfillment warehouse, the NetSuite package includes a warehouse management system feature that helps you optimize pick and pack and shipping.
Financial and operations management in one ERP
NetSuite’s financial management capabilities dovetail nicely with its order fulfillment features, allowing you to connect operational efficiency with sound financial stewardship of your eCommerce business.
How NetSuite order fulfillment + Red Stag Fulfillment enhance your operations
NetSuite order fulfillment software gives you more capacity to manage rapid growth in your eCommerce business, but that’s only part of the equation. If your fulfillment doesn’t meet consumer expectations, that will create a drag on your business, slowing your expansion. You need to partner with a superior third-party logistics company that can provide a level of service that will win you rave reviews and take the burden of managing fulfillment off your to-do list.
Red Stag Fulfillment is one of the top-ranked fulfillment companies in the U.S. Here are just a few of the ways that RSF can help you leverage NetSuite order fulfillment to build a thriving online business.
Superior onboarding support
We know that switching fulfillment companies can be challenging, so we do everything we can to make the transfer easier. Red Stag Fulfillment has a team that does nothing but onboard new clients and set them up for success. Our onboarding staff manages your account through testing and the first weeks you ship with us until we’re sure that your orders are flowing from our national fulfillment warehouses without a hitch.
“I take them through everything from getting to know the client and their product, setting them up in the system, all the way through shipping their first orders with Red Stag.” — Mike Williams, Red Stag Fulfillment Onboarding Specialist
That includes integrations. Once you provide the necessary NetSuite keys, an onboarding specialist can create an integration to connect you to our warehouse management system (WMS) in about a day using a middleware solution. If you’re making a custom API, the timeframe will be longer, depending on your IT team, but the RSF onboarding team will provide support for every step of the process.
Multi-channel fulfillment services
Red Stag Fulfillment can handle pick, pack, and ship for all your sales channels. We offer same-day fulfillment for online orders, and we can ship to the specifications of retail platforms and marketplaces, including Walmart, Amazon, and many more. And we provide palletized shipping for bulk and wholesale orders.
Inventory accuracy
NetSuite gives you greater visibility into your inventory across all your warehouses, but you’ll be working with bad data if a 3PL inventory count is wrong. Red Stag Fulfillment recorded an inventory accuracy rate of 99.991% in 2021. When you partner with Red Stag and NetSuite, you get accurate data in real-time to run your business better.
Inbound and outbound fulfillment guarantees
Red Stag Fulfillment doesn’t aspire to fulfillment accuracy — we guarantee it. Our fulfillment guarantees include:
- We will have inbound shipments put away and ready to pick within two business days or we will pay you $50.
- Outbound order shipping will meet your service-level agreement, or we will pay you $50. We offer two same-day fulfillment service levels, with cutoffs at 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm ET, as well as next-day fulfillment. We met this commitment 99.965% of the time in 2021.
- If we make a mistake on an order, we’ll fix the problem and pay you $50. In 2021, we shipped many thousands of parcels for our clients with a 99.976% accuracy rate.
Ongoing integration support for NetSuite order fulfillment
Our integration support doesn’t stop once onboarding is complete. Red Stag Fulfillment has an integrations support staff that can answer your questions and help you adapt your integrations as your business grows.
“Not everybody does as comprehensive integration support as Red Stag Fulfillment. We have an entire team on the technical side, and that allows us to be flexible and adaptable.” — Chris Mortl, Red Stag Fulfillment Sales Executive
Two ways to connect Oracle NetSuite to the Red Stag Fulfillment WMS
Red Stag Fulfillment works with many clients that use NetSuite order fulfillment software to manage their omnichannel fulfillment.
There are two ways to connect NetSuite to Red Stag’s WMS: through a middleware app or directly via a customer API. We spoke with Patrick Molter, RSF Integrations and Applications Manager, about the pros and cons of each approach.
Pros and cons of middleware
There is a ready-made connection from Netsuite to Red Stag Fulfillment’s WMS through DropStream middleware. You can also connect through a wide range of middleware providers, so you aren’t required to use DropStream.
The pros of connecting NetSuite through middleware
- It is faster. You can have the integration up and running as little as a day, particularly if you have a previous connection to the WMS software Red Stag Fulfillment uses.
- It’s plug-and-play. The integration through DropStream is ready to go. Middleware is an easier route if you don’t have an internal tech team.
- The upfront costs are lower. You’ll have no development costs when you use middleware, unless you need customization.
The cons of using middleware for a NetSuite integration
- Lack of real-time data. Molter notes that DropStream pushes order information to the Red Stag Fulfillment WMS every 15 minutes and pushes inventory data and shipping updates back to clients once an hour.
- Lack of flexibility. DropStream and other middleware have some customization options, but they are limited.
- You pay a monthly fee. Although it’s inexpensive to get started with middleware, you’ll pay each month for the NetSuite connection, which adds up over time.
Of course, starting with middleware doesn’t mean you’re locked into that solution. “You can always switch to an API integration later,” Molter says. “You shouldn’t have any downtime when you make that switch.”
Pros and cons of API development
To create a custom API, you’ll need internal or third-party tech support to write the code. The time it takes to craft the API connection will depend on the speed of your development team.
Pros of integrating NetSuite via API
- You only pay once, so you could save money in the long run. “The cost is up front because once you’ve built it, you’re done,” Molter says. Over time, API development could have the same cost as middleware or even be less expensive.
- Customization options are infinite. With your custom-built API, you can create an integration that serves the unique needs of your business. And you can adapt your API as your business grows.
- You get data in real-time. With an API connection, “our system pushes updates, as available, through webhook subscriptions,” Molter says. You set up a subscription in NetSuite to specific topics: orders, shipping, inventory, etc. Anytime the RSF system has an update to that topic within your merchant ID, our system immediately pushes the data to yours. Molter notes that this is a fast and efficient way to share fulfillment and inventory data.
Cons of creating an API key to connect NetSuite to Red Stag Fulfillment
- It takes more time to set up. Williams, the RSF onboarding specialist, notes that the time it takes to create an API connection can vary widely. “I’ve seen that take six months before for a client, and I’ve seen it take a week,” he says. Molter notes that the time frame depends on the client’s development team but is typically between 30 and 60 days. He says, “We have all the API documentation ready on the Red Stag side. It doesn’t take us long to do testing and respond to questions.”
If you need to get started quickly with Red Stag Fulfillment, middleware is the fastest choice, but you may want to consider an API connection in the long term. In addition to Netsuite integration, we also offer a native plugin for Shopify and integrations with all other major eCommerce platforms through middleware or API.
Why clients choose Red Stag Fulfillment
Red Stag Fulfillment is a top choice for eCommerce brands that use NetSuite order fulfillment software because we provide superior service that can help your business grow and scale. We know that our success depends on yours, so we’re committed to working with you to provide the best fulfillment services for your customers.
“Red Stag Fulfillment has been exactly what I’d hoped for when I started. I never envisioned that we would have had this much growth — and they have grown with us seamlessly.” — Tony Stucker, CEO of Pop-A-Shot
“Part of growing a business is finding the bottlenecks and being able to open up those flows so that when you 10X, you can do so without the operational bottlenecks. Having someone like Red Stag who has the team, the know-how, and the experience to help you remove those obstacles is crucial.” — Kyle Marquardt, Co-Founder, Homestead Brands
More about Red Stag Fulfillment integrations:
- Your Complete Guide to ECommerce Integration
- Best SPS Commerce Order Fulfillment
- Order Fulfillment for CommerceHub
