Fusion5 (formerly Liberate I.T.) partnered with Ecostore to begin replacing their dated ERP with a NetSuite Financial solution – before evolving to integrate manufacturing, pricing, and third-party logistics (3PL).
Ecostore’s products have claimed pride of place in many homes across Australasia. Since launching in New Zealand in 1993, Malcolm and Melanie Rands’ vision of creating alternative cleaning and personal care products that were better for people and the planet has steered Ecostore’s growth and innovation.
With manufacturing in Auckland, and highly awarded and eco-certified products distributed across APAC, Ecostore’s success has depended on their strong values-led approach, and a need for cohesive, transparent data across their multi-subsidiary.
Fusion5 (formerly Liberate I.T.) partnered with Ecostore to begin replacing their dated ERP with a NetSuite Financial solution – before evolving to integrate manufacturing, pricing, and third-party logistics (3PL).
Why Ecostore chose NetSuite ERP
In the years leading up to 2017, Ecostore expanded its manufacturing capabilities, made the leap to Australia, brought its products to China, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines, and developed a network of 50+ ‘green stores’ across New Zealand where customers could refill their favourite Ecostore products.
As Fox explains, the ERP they had in place was starting to show signs of strain against the pressure of Ecostore’s growing demands.
Ecostore needed something that could grow with them. Together, Fusion5 and Ecostore developed a plan to implement NetSuite Financials with integrations to manufacturing and demand planning. With the help of EDIStech, third-party SuiteApp partner, Fusion5 rolled out an electronic data interchange (EDI) that links with many of Ecostore’s customers in NZ and AU with its Australian-based 3PL.
What we had did the basics, but it didn’t allow us to dig into the details. There wasn’t enough reporting on the manufacturing side; we couldn’t see issues before they happened. We were stuck in ‘reactive’ mode, and that didn’t allow us to grow.As an older product, the ERP we were using wasn’t quite up to the job as we grew and our needs changed. We had trouble making sure everyone could log in at once, and issues with the depth and detail of data we had access to. If we had stuck with it, we’d have been stuck with a lot of bolt-ons that weren’t quite fit for purpose.
The key benefits of NetSuite
Central to Ecostore’s business is manufacturing – however, when Fusion5 first started rolling out NetSuite for Ecostore in 2017, the ERP needed some adjustments to incorporate manufacturing alongside NetSuite Financials.
“The sheer amount of data available through NetSuite – and the capacity to work with that data – has shown us where we can see changes happening and where we can better hone our processes. It’s improved our reporting and data integrity – and enabled us to dig into where we can find improvements.”
Like many manufacturing businesses across the world, Ecostore has seen some fluctuations in materials since the beginning of 2020, thanks to Covid, and ongoing global supply chain challenges. However, as Fox notes, NetSuite has the ability to give Ecostore better insight into what these unexpected changes in the supply chain mean for end consumers, and to analyse and identify one-off events and trends – features they’ll soon be taking full advantage of. This supports Ecostore’s goal of transparency in all parts of the business.
And given that Ecostore operates across Asia-Pacific, NetSuite’s native ability to manage multiple currencies means that they can get clear, meaningful data in one operating system.
In addition, NetSuite has enabled Ecostore to report on the Australian operations as an independent business, but one that’s rolled up into the New Zealand operations and allows visibility of both separate and consolidated performance.
“In the last couple of years, NetSuite has added some interesting features and changes, and Fusion5 has helped us get the most out of them – including some features that will be useful for our manufacturing. We’re looking forward to implementing more in the next year.”
The team at Ecostore have found they don’t need to be IT experts to get their heads around pulling data to create reports and get better insights. It’s allowing them to make intelligent strategic decisions more easily.
From Ecostore to you: What you need to know if you’re considering NetSuite
Fusion5 has grown with us over the last five years – and from strength to strength in terms of resources. They’re a partner that you can send everything to, from random left-field questions to your big lofty goals – and they’ll tell you honestly whether they’re good ideas or not! Plus, they’ve always got someone who can help.
Ecostore as a brand is about how we can do things as simply, cleanly, and efficiently as possible. NetSuite speaks to those same values. Our systems are more efficient, less prone to error, and get the job done. And it’s giving our team the time to work on things that are really driving value, like engaging with customers and partners.
If you’re considering an ERP that’s natively strong to do almost everything you need – and you want scalable live data, a cloud-based system for ease of access, and the ability to customise when needed – then NetSuite would be a serious contender to meet your needs.
