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NetSuite launches B2B ecommerce platform targeting companies of all sizes

Multi-Billion Dollar B2B Companies Standardize End to End Ecommerce Operations on NetSuite

SAN MATEO, Calif.—March 13, 2007—NetSuite, Inc., the leader in on-demand business management software, today unveiled a B2B ecommerce platform consisting of advanced functionality that extends the benefits of Software as a Service (SaaS) applications to companies' B2B ecommerce operations. Designed to address the needs of today's complex B2B businesses, the NetSuite® B2B platform encompasses sophisticated features — including quantity pricing, customer price levels, minimum order amounts, invoicing with customer terms and credit limits, easy re-ordering, and multiple webstore capabilities that allow the same company to create different sites for their B2B and B2C customers. With the NetSuite B2B ecommerce platform, companies of all sizes can run their end-to-end B2B ecommerce operations without having to go through the pain and high costs of developing complex custom applications or tying together different ecommerce point solutions. Additionally, NetSuite also announced that multi-billion dollar companies such as Cartridge World and Linear Technology have standardised their B2B ecommerce operations on NetSuite (please see the accompanying releases). For detailed information about the NetSuite B2B ecommerce platform, please visit www.netsuite.com.au/ecommerce2007

To stay competitive, it's extremely important for businesses to find innovative sales channels in today's economy. In contrast to business-to-consumer relationships, the aim of business-to-business relationships is to build ongoing partnerships. NetSuite helps solidify these relationships with built-in customer management tools enabling a 360 degree, multi-channel view of the customer while addressing the challenges faced by businesses running their B2B ecommerce operations on multiple disparate software solutions — one for their shopping cart; one for contact management; one for their re-seller channel; one for customer support/service; one for shipping; one for warehouse management; one for inventory management; one for invoicing — the list goes on. As a result of these disparate point solutions, their Web stores are neither integrated with the customer-facing aspect nor with their back-end accounting and inventories, leading to laborious data re-entry and often resulting in errors created in the transition between each business process.

The NetSuite B2B ecommerce platform addresses the challenges faced by B2B businesses by providing a real-time, end-to-end ecommerce solution, tightly integrating the accounting, warehouse, marketing, and support departments within a single system:

• Integrated Web Store, Order Management: The NetSuite Web store offers password-protected websites as well as registration and login facilities. Order management capabilities include an integrated approve/fulfil/bill order workflow, real-time integration to multi-location inventory, and order fulfilment including pick, pack and ship.
• Complex Pricing, Flexible Payment: Volume, term, and contract/customer-specific pricing, as well as minimum order amounts, support the complex pricing needs of business-to-business relationships. NetSuite supports both credit card payments and invoicing based on customer terms and credit limits. NetSuite also supports payment via 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 true visibility of inventory positions and have alternate fulfilment choices during positions of product backorder.
• Personalized Websites for Each Customer: NetSuite supports personalized content and pricing for each customer. 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 for shipping preparation 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: NetSuite supports drop-shipment and special orders for fulfilment directly from suppliers. This enables alternate fulfilment, for out-of-stock products, the ability to manage sales without holding inventory, and the ability for customers to purchase special orders.
• Returns — Without the Headaches: NetSuite facilitates returns with online RMAs, on-site receiving, put-back accounting and the ability to credit the account or replace with alternate products.
• Customer Self-Service: NetSuite enables companies to empower preferred partners with a password protected, customer-specific, portal-based, self-service centre 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 Close Sales: NetSuite helps its customers close sales with customer web activity data and upsell recommendations. Companies can see exactly what items are in their customer's shopping cart and what items they have viewed. They can also review upsell recommendations based on what their other customers have purchased.
• Partner Management and Affiliate Marketing: Because channel sales are critical to companies' go-to-market strategies, NetSuite gives partners secure anytime, any place access for the extended enterprise. Companies 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.

"B2B exchanges were the rage a number of years ago because companies figured out that the Internet was the natural platform on which businesses could collaborate together," said Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite. "While manually entered inventory, demand plans, and auctions came to fruition, direct sales and support were stifled because of the isolation from companies' automated business processes supported by order management, accounting, inventory management, and the ability to fulfil orders. NetSuite has taken that strategic intent and furthered it by incorporating those collaborative capabilities into the industry's first on-demand platform for B2B ecommerce."

As more and more companies sell to both businesses and consumers, those companies seek a unified platform for both B2B and B2C ecommerce. NetSuite provides a single platform for B2B and B2C ecommerce with built-in handling for all key processes from eBay integration, up-sell and cross-sell personalization and sophisticated B2C promotional tools to secure registration, negotiated contract price enforcement and extended enterprise partner management for B2B business. Ecommerce operations seamlessly interact with back-office inventory, warehousing and shipping in addition to front-office customer interactions, enabling a business to have the complete visibility needed to compete and grow their top line revenue while managing their costs with an eye to profitability.

Pricing and Availability: These ecommerce features are available immediately in the standard NetSuite service, without additional charge. NetSuite starts at $499/month and $99 for each user per month. Website Creation & Management and Multiple Site/Multiple Company functionality is currently in Beta version and will be generally available in the second quarter of 2007.

For more information about NetSuite, visit: www.netsuite.com.au.

 

NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service-marks of NetSuite, Inc.