In 1997, husband and wife team Carla “Regina” Zajac and Jimi “Andrew” Slaven turned their passion for art into Regina Andrew Design(opens in new tab), a wholesale manufacturer specializing in lighting, furniture and other home décor. Running on siloed, legacy systems for years, the couple knew the company would ultimately need to improve its inventory management and streamline operations, while continuing to provide a best of class customer experience.
Regina Andrew Design chose the NetSuite unified cloud platform, replacing its legacy systems with NetSuite’s ERP, ecommerce(opens in new tab), inventory and order management(opens in new tab), CRM and WMS. The unified cloud-based solution allows the company to process orders faster, lower operational costs and deliver an engaging online experience for its B2B buyers.
Optimizing Inventory Management
One of the biggest challenges for the growing company was the inventory management of more than 1,000 SKUs that turn over 30 times a year.
“When we introduced new products it was a lot of manual work,” said James Bonomo, Chief Operating Officer. “Another major issue was that our old system lacked the ability to show real-time inventory data.”
Now that it has a single source of inventory data with NetSuite’s warehouse management solution, Regina Andrew Design has been able to better manage their inventory and increase warehouse efficiencies. An EDI SuiteApp solution from NetSuite partner SPS Commerce streamlines transactions with major retailers such as Neiman Marcus and Lamps Plus.
B2B Functionality with a B2C Experience
With customers ranging in size from individual designers to large retailers, Regina Andrew Design looked to the website to better support its buyers. Leadership knew they needed to provide an online experience that felt like a B2C website, but with the added functionality B2B buyers need.
They replaced a Magento ecommerce site with NetSuite SuiteCommerce(opens in new tab) and saw sales increase in the first month. “It was like night and day,” said Bonomo. The new website displays detailed product information, images, related items and other product suggestions.
To support retail partners, the website provides a store locator for consumers interested in their products to search for retailers in their area. Bonomo also likes the integration with FedEx and UPS that offers real-time rates and allows customers to decide how they want orders shipped. With the previous system, it was limited to flat-rate percentages based on zones.
Once a buyer logs into the website they can see their account pricing, get real-time current and future inventory availability and place orders. Account management has also been streamlined. Clients can now view their account balances, apply credits and make payments to outstanding invoices.
Another new feature is the ability for designers to create project lists. Designers can easily manage multiple projects, add items appropriate for each project and purchase. With extensive product information and detailed images, designers can use the website as online tear sheets and even disable pricing information when presenting to clients.
Empowering Sales Representatives
The SuiteCommerce website has also transformed the role of the sales representatives at Regina Andrew Design. Instead of taking and processing orders manually, sales representatives can focus time on value-add services and building brand loyalty.
“We can’t be everywhere,” said Bonomo. “The new website has empowered our customers and given them the opportunity to order 24/7 – when it’s convenient for them.”
With real-time visibility into what customers are buying, sales representatives can spend time understanding individual customer preferences and serve as more of a consultant to customers. This enables reps to suggest new products to customers that are similar to items they’ve previously purchased. Spending less time on administrative tasks also enables B2B sales reps to spend more time engaging with new buyers to increase awareness and sales of the brand.
“By implementing the NetSuite unified cloud-based system, we have lowered IT costs, streamlined our business and improved the customer experience,” said Bonomo.
Learn more about creating rich and engaging online experiences with SuiteCommerce(opens in new tab).