Integrating Shopify with NetSuite: So you’ve taken the plunge and implemented Shopify to boost your ecommerce business. And you’ve also taken steps to streamline your business practices by managing them with NetSuite. But now another quandary faces you. While both systems are excellent, you are managing two separate platforms. And here’s the kicker; just the work involved in keeping track of these two separate platforms is significant. It takes time and focus and energy.

This process, you were assured, would make your business faster, smoother and easier to scale. But somehow, it’s not happening as well as you envisaged. Because, you are now spending more time managing your bookkeeping and data flows, than you are interacting with customers and selling your products.

Integrating Shopify with NetSuite

The solution is integration between your systems, so that the workflow and data analysis are gathered from a unified source. But how easy and successful is it, to combine the forces of NetSuite and Shopify for a single, common cause? Actually, it’s more successful than you’d expect.

You can automate the vast majority of your processes – especially those integral features such as order fulfillment, pricing, inventory updates and fiscal reports. By automating the process, you immediately cut out the time-consuming date entry, thus reducing the chance of mistakes and increasing processing times.

Once your operations are running more smoothly, it’s the customers that reap the benefit. And delivering on customer expectations – and exceeding those expectations, are the key steps to growth and scaling your business. Not only that, but by using your workforce more efficiently, you’ll save money, and increase profits at the same time. Read on for our top three tips on integrating NetSuite with Shopify.

Choose the correct approach

Like any project, the success is established at the planning stage. It’s important that you manage the NetSuite and Shopify integration with care. Getting two data flows from two different platforms to ‘talk’ to each other, isn’t easy. Nor is it a task for the inexperienced.

Let’s face it, NetSuite and Shopify aren’t designed to communicate in such a way. Both systems store data differently. But it’s certainly not impossible. Here are a few points to consider when putting together your action plan. Ultimately, planning your integration is a key stage in making it a successful transition.

 

Data forecasts: What are your predicted forecasts for growth – and is your ideal solution, one that manages scalability in terms of customer volume, orders and products.

 

Define your customer: Who are you targeting – which sector (b2b, b2c or business to government?)

 

Consider your suppliers:  How does your current system work in terms of ordering, invoicing etc. Can you consolidate that workflow?

 

Factor in your budget: There will be an expense to all this. How much can you realistically invest in getting the most out of this integration?

 

Tech support: What kind of back-up do you have technically, to assist this process? Would it be prudent to allocate additional budget to this course of action?

 

Decide upon the integration method

There are three ways in which you could integrate Shopify with NetSuite – and each of them presents several challenges. But your business structure and requirements should dictate which method works best for your situation. The first option is an SaaS-based integration platform that joins the two work and data flows of each system. The second option is a custom-built integration – but this is deeply technical and requires specific expertise in carrying out the tasks required. The third option is point-to-point integration. This is an out-of-the-box solution that works best for smaller retail operatives. It’s not a suitable solution for a larger concern because the features and capabilities are limited.

Select your integration service provider carefully

Not all NetSuite experts are expert at Shopify to NetSuite integration. Therefore, it’s important to do your research in terms of who is best suited to carry out your project. Ask for references and a customer portfolio. Ask about which implementations and integrations they have carried out before.

RXD Systems, for example, are experts in retail and NetSuite integrations and implementations. That means we know exactly which processes will best suit your type of business. Our NetSuite consultants are expert in NetSuite and Shopify management. For more information, contact us today.