You missed the SuiteWorld19 conference? I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it. For most retailers, it’s not worth the trip.
Why? Well, for starters it’s too broad. Then it’s a little more broad. Finally, it’s – well you probably can guess it – even more broad!
NetSuite’s annual SuiteWorld conferences have become the event for some retailers. It’s something that some retailers aspire to attend. A milestone achievement for them. For these retailers, NetSuite is the pinnacle of business operations software. Ultimately, if you have NetSuite watching your operations, you’ve made it.
Why, then, do keynote speakers for the 2019 event include Shaq and Jason Sudeikis? Both men are great at what they do, but what insight can a basketball hero and a famous comedian offer the world of retail?
Sure, they may have plenty of words of wisdom and ooze motivation, but retailers need more. With the fresh challenges that growing retailers face, you probably don’t need motivation - you need guidance and solutions.
Before I continue, I’m not here to bash NetSuite or their very popular event. Quite the contrary. We believe NetSuite is really good at what they do and solve very real problems for their customers - even some that we at RetailOps don’t solve ourselves.
However, like most things in life, this all comes at a price - and not always a monetary price either.
As you will know by now, NetSuite is broad by design. They intend to have their tentacles in every little piece of your organization. NetSuite is meant for retailers that are also manufacturers, or at least have full control of their own manufacturing process.
They are for the retailers that require tracking of a product from the sourcing of its raw materials to the moment that the consumer possesses the finished product and even how they use it. Brands such as Nespresso are a fine example.
However, as I mentioned earlier, all of this comes at a hefty price, both monetarily and organizationally.
In our experience, NetSuite is less suitable for retailers that are primarily focused on selling post-manufactured finished goods direct to the consumer. In fact, in this scenario, NetSuite can typically be overkill and, in some cases, they can even cause more harm than good.
If you are an eCommerce retailer, you will typically fall into the NetSuite-is-overkill bucket.
Instead, you should focus on the type of retail-focused processes you are implementing. This is where NetSuite struggles and is too broad for most. NetSuite doesn’t have ready-to-go processes made for most retailers. You are expected to build the NetSuite integration around your organization and your processes (for better or worse), which, on average, can take 12 months to implement.
To shed a little light on the other side, RetailOps is hyper-focused on the direct-to-consumer retailer. We have proven, ready-to-go processes that are backed by millions of successful orders and fulfillments.
RetailOps has processes for eCommerce, brick-and-mortar, JIT, dropship, single and multi warehouse, multi channel selling - and everything in between.
Additionally, because we are hyper focused on the direct-to-consumer retail experience, we can get customers live in less than a third of the time it takes NetSuite, at a much, much lower cost.
So, if you missed this year’s SuiteWorld I wouldn’t feel so bad (unless, you still need to add Shaq’s signature to your autograph book… then you’ve missed a prime opportunity!).
If you believed that SuiteWorld was the pinnacle of retail conferences and at the forefront of what’s happening in eCommerce in 2019, then we hope this article has at least shaken that belief a little.
In fact, you may want to look elsewhere for your retail insight - such as our RetailOps Connect conference!
The two-day RetailOps Connect event starts on August 1st in beautiful San Diego! Our inaugural event brings together some of the world’s heaviest hitters in the direct-to-consumer space. You won’t find any A, B, or even C-list celebrities (sorry George Foreman) giving motivational talks here. Instead, you will find real retailers of all shapes and sizes discussing what is actually happening in retail and what is being done to stay ahead of the curve.
Want to attend RetailOps Connect? Spaces are very limited, so add yourself to our early waitlist!