NetSuite 2023 Release 1 includes enhancements to help ensure that your customers’ digital experiences exceed their expectations across multiple touchpoints.
Regardless of which sales and support channels are in use, most companies rely heavily on their ERPs to serve as the backbones of the business and a key source of customer information. By combining customer relationship management, configure-price-quote tools, and ecommerce solutions with inventory and financial management, NetSuite empowers businesses to identify, connect with, and serve their customers consistently and reliably, even as the customer moves among channels and modes of communication.
Intelligent Recommendations in NetSuite CRM
Intelligent Recommendations use machine learning to understand your customers at both a micro and macro level and then to suggest products they may be interested in and are likely to buy. These personalized recommendations are based on data from sources including purchase histories, transaction correlations, complementary item combinations, and customer behavior.
In previous releases, these automated suggestions were limited to SuiteCommerce web stores and Sales Orders and Estimates in CRM and could be used only by accounts with a large number of inventory items and historical transactions. Following a successful rollout, we are pleased to announce that the 2023.1 release will expand these capabilities. Intelligent Recommendations will now be available for most accounts to enable, regardless of transaction history and inventory size. Additionally, the Intelligent Recommendations feature can now be used on the Opportunity record, as well. With these enhancements, sales representatives can benefit from Intelligent Recommendations much earlier in the sales funnel, increasing the potential for upselling and cross-selling and thereby increasing average deal size.
In addition, this release includes two new recommendation algorithms for use in NetSuite CRM or SuiteCommerce.
The first, called “Alternative Items,” suggests similar items to add to the order when the desired quantity of an original item is not in stock.
The second new type of recommendation is called “Buy Again.” NetSuite analyzes customer purchase histories to ascertain whether particular items are bought at regular intervals. If so, Intelligent Recommendations can recommend products that tend to be repurchased but haven’t yet been added to the item list on the Opportunity, Estimate, or Order. The system uses machine learning to improve recommendations over time by gathering data on how frequently a customer purchases various items and offering recommendations according to their purchase cycles.
Added Capabilities in NetSuite CPQ
NetSuite CPQ(opens in new tab) adds capabilities to NetSuite that increase the efficiency of the sales processes.
For example, Granite Partners(opens in new tab), a Minnesota investment firm that buys established local businesses, has several companies that sell premium products and services with complex rules for customization and pricing. Granite previously relied on price books, spreadsheets, and design software to gather all the information required for compatible designs and quotes. Two of Granite’s companies recently added NetSuite CPQ to automate these steps, leveraging a configurable rules engine. With NetSuite CPQ, these midsize companies greatly improved accuracy through the supply chain and reduced cycle times, helping them compete with larger rivals.
“We’ve seen growing accuracy and growing speed, which allow for greater revenue growth with the same number of sales and manufacturing employees because we aren’t focusing on rework. NetSuite CPQ allows for greater pricing power and greater cost management and margins over time.” – Rick Bauerly, Founder and CEO, Granite Equity Partners
CPQ Configurator Logic with the QA Ruleset Helper
NetSuite CPQ’s product configurator helps businesses capture complex customer requirements and ensure that not only are configurations manufacturable, but also that accurate prices and final quotes are generated.
Preparing the rules that govern this manufacturability can be a complex and time-consuming process, so the 2023.1 release includes a new dropdown helper on the ruleset maintenance page that allows you to select pairs of questions and answers. This helper not only improves the user experience but makes building configuration rules faster, easier, and less error-prone.
CPQ User Access Restrictions
The CPQ maintenance UI is an essential tool that administrators use to create, maintain, and update their instances of CPQ. With 2023.1, it is now possible to limit access to the CPQ Maintenance UI to specific individuals or groups based on role, company, or department, ensuring only authorized users make configuration changes.
SuiteCommerce Theme Support
In 2023.1, improved integration between SuiteCommerce and NetSuite CPQ means colors used on a site’s theme are automatically used when launching a CPQ configurator from the web store. This maintains a consistent experience for shoppers.
SuiteCommerce Enhancements
SuiteCommerce makes it easy for companies to launch and maintain a B2B ecommerce store. Whether it’s your only online presence or a new B2B wholesale portal to complement your existing B2C site, SuiteCommerce provides a turnkey, self-service way for business customers to buy products on their own time.
Once it started manufacturing and distributing its own products, home goods company The Royal Standard(opens in new tab) decided to launch a new B2B wholesale channel in addition to its ecommerce and retail stores. By managing inventory and ecommerce in a single system, The Royal Standard reduced the opportunity for error that it faced when teams were making duplicate, manual updates to two separate systems when, for example, adding new items or changing prices. These efficiencies enabled the retailer to open more sales channels without increasing headcount.
“NetSuite has allowed us to increase revenue 43% over the past four years while keeping payroll expenses relatively flat – only a 6% increase in the same time period. We launched two ecommerce sites and opened two stores with minimal increase in staff. This has resulted in our most profitable years since launch.” — Emily Dykes, Vice President, The Royal Standard
SuiteCommerce ACH Payments Support
ACH payments are funds electronically transferred between bank accounts. Using ACH can minimize transaction fees as these payments do not pass through costly credit card processing networks. ACH is usually faster than other payment methods as well, improving cash flow for your business.
Previously in SuiteCommerce, this functionality was only supported in My Account when customers made payments against outstanding invoices. In the 2023.1 releases of SuiteCommerce and SuiteCommerce Advanced, ACH payments are now supported in the checkout flow. This means that you no longer must accept a sales order on credit before invoicing a customer who wishes to take advantage of ACH — it is now a payment option in the checkout, so customers can use it right away.
SuiteCommerce Google Analytics 4 Support
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the long-awaited successor to Google’s popular analytics service called Universal Analytics (UA). As third-party analytics services, both UA and GA4 can provide valuable information to website operators about their visitors, including insights and analysis about ecommerce activity.
However, Google is actively deprecating UA on July 1, 2023, so website operators need to migrate to the new GA4 service. SuiteCommerce and SuiteCommerce Advanced web stores can now take advantage of GA4 by using our recommended implementation through the Google Tag Manager Editor extension or, alternatively, a native integration. It's important to act soon if you wish to continue using Google’s analytics service beyond the deadline date.
Discover How NetSuite 2023 Release 1 Can Help You
For more information on the full list of features and how to use them, check out the release notes.(opens in new tab)
Most importantly, don't forget to request your Release Preview(opens in new tab) test account for hands-on access to see how new features will work with your data, workflows, and customizations.
The preceding is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions. The development, release, timing, and pricing of any features or functionality described for Oracle’s products may change and remains at the sole discretion of Oracle Corporation.