Australia Post SuiteApp to Integrate with NetSuite to Provide Real-Time Visibility into Delivery and Collection for Merchants and Omnichannel Commerce Businesses, Aiming to Drive Business Efficiency and Customer Satisfaction
NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry’s leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that NetSuite and Australia Post have partnered to deliver an integrated solution for merchants and omnichannel commerce businesses using postal services in Australia, enabling them to manage their mission-critical business operations with one cloud system—from financials, inventory management, order management, ecommerce and warehouse management, to fulfilment, delivery, collection and customer relationship management (CRM). Australia Post and NetSuite plan to collaborate and build the Australia Post SuiteApp on top of NetSuite’s cloud business management suite, leveraging its powerful SuiteCloud development platform. The integrated solution aims to transform parcel delivery and collection processes ranging from parcel rates, label printing, parcel dispatching and track and trace, to parcel lockers and parcel collect—all in the cloud, in real-time and via any device.
Integrated Solution Combines Strengths of Australia Post and NetSuite, Creating Game-Changing Impact on Australian Merchants and Omnichannel Commerce Businesses
“NetSuite is one of our first partners to support our customers to be more connected,” said Andrew Walduck, CIO and Executive General Manager, Information, Digital and Technology, Australia Post. “Australia Post has invested in systems, tools and partnerships to ensure that our digital capabilities grow our customers’ businesses now and in the future. Our change is reliant on our ability to adapt to our customers changing wants and needs. Connectivity is therefore very important and NetSuite provides us with a great partnership which will deliver on our commitment to provide the services and products our customers and community want.”
The integrated solution is expected to combine the strength of Australia Post’s vast delivery system and NetSuite’s unified cloud business management platform to give Australian merchants and omnichannel commerce businesses a single cloud solution that seamlessly connects every step of an omnichannel commerce business—from ecommerce, POS, order management, merchandising, marketing, inventory, financials and customer service, to shipping, delivery and collect across multiple touch points—web, brick-and-mortar stores, mobile—all in real-time and in the cloud. The goal is for the first time in Australia, for omnichannel commerce businesses and merchants to be able to manage mission-critical business processes and the whole delivery process from order to payment to lodgement and label creation—all from within NetSuite and without having to leave the NetSuite platform and go to the Australia Post website to create the order and make a payment.
“We engaged with NetSuite because of its strong position in the Australian ERP market, together with its market-leading omnichannel ecommerce platform,” said Ben Franzi, general manager of Sales, Global Ecommerce Platforms for Australia Post. “We wanted our solutions to be integrated into the NetSuite platform so when a merchant deploys NetSuite’s leading cloud solution they are fully engaged with the range of services we can provide. At the same time, consumers want more choice and control at the checkout, so this app provides them with far greater collection options, which will hopefully drive sales for merchants that are able to offer these options to their customers.”
The planned range of Australia Post services that are expected to be available through NetSuite include:
Parcel lockers – customers can click and collect from thousands of convenient locations 24/7.
Parcel collect – links a merchant to Parcel Lockers and Australia Post retail stores to send the correct parcels to a particular locker for customer retrieval.
Parcel rates – provides merchants with accurate information about shipping/delivery costs to determine how best to offer shipping, particularly important for merchants considering free shipping nationally, bundle pricing and flat rates.
Track and trace – provides the receiver with a tracking number to track the product on the Australia Post website.
Print label – enables merchants to lodge directly off their website rather than having to jump into a separate application.
Dispatch parcel – enables merchants to send a parcel with Australia Post.
Kitchenware Direct is the First Retailer to Leverage Power of NetSuite and Australia Post 24/7 Parcel Lockers
As an initial pilot of the impending Australia Post SuiteApp, Kitchenware Direct today launched the first of the service integration points – the Australia Post Parcel Locker Widget, giving its customers the convenience to collect their purchase from the fast growing network of Australia Post lockers. The retailer has been a NetSuite customer since 2008, leveraging NetSuite SuiteCommerce to power 10 B2C and B2B ecommerce storefronts, with back-end support for financials, inventory management, order management, distribution, marketing, customer relationship management and other core processes.
“As an online business with 10 branded ecommerce sites under our umbrella, we are always looking for new ways to provide convenience to our customers and we jumped at the opportunity to leverage Australia Post’s parcel lockers through our NetSuite platform,” said Peter Macaulay, managing director of Kitchenware Direct. “Many of our customers are not home during the week when their goodies arrive and there’s nothing more inconvenient than trying to get to the post office to collect it, especially when you work full time. This new service takes that pain away for our customers and gives them the guarantee to receive goods purchased at a time and place convenient to them.”
According to Mark Troselj, managing director of APAC and Japan for NetSuite, “Inventory-based businesses have pressing challenges, such as determining how to lower the costs of inventory management and order fulfilment, while also meeting the increasing demands of customers. By integrating Australia Post’s parcel collection and delivery functionality into our cloud-based business management solutions and ecommerce suite, we enable merchants to manage product fulfilment from one application with full visibility into the entire process. This not only makes the process more efficient and automated, it eliminates time spent transferring data between systems and the associated data entry errors.”