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Stila Australia Case Study - NetSuite CRM - NetReturn

www.stilacosmetics.com
www.arnaud.com.au

At a glance

Company:	Stila Australia (Arnaud)

Location:	Online – Virtual Office

Industry:	Wholesale & Distribution

Challenges:	Customer information in disparate systems Hard to link both systems Overheads and double entry out of control

Software switched from:	MYOB Premier and ACT!

Results with NetSuite:	Seamless system Partners, stockists, customers and staff access information anywhere at anytime worldwide

The Challenge:

Cindy Luken is a true entrepreneur, creating and building Luken & May biscuits into a household name before selling it in 2003 to run Arnaud, which is a part of the Stila Cosmetics group. The aim was for Cindy to become familiar with the beauty industry before commencing her latest venture, a new business, Luk Beauty.

Luk Beauty will sell a range of 10 lip nourishing sticks via a multi channel strategy throughout Australia, the UK, the USA and Asia and direct to consumers via online sales & personal buying groups in Australia. With a strong business plan in place, Cindy did not want to experience the same issues she had with the systems in her first business, Luken & May.

“We really drove the two systems [MYOB Premier and ACT] and you had to be a wiz to manage it” recalled Cindy, “It was becoming tedious having two programs open so that we could have access to the complete history of the customer’s interactions while we were speaking with them.”

MYOB lacked bill of materials so that Cindy could easily ascertain stock on hand whether she had the components to fill orders. It was a manual process of checking every single product label. “We often thought, if only we had a system that was web enabled with the ability to integrate items on a stock list seamlessly. With over 300 items of finished goods & components at multiple locations, a 1000 type of biscuits and all the ingredients to make them up, we had to find such a system.”

After selling the Luken & May business in 2003, Cindy faced the same time consuming Stock Management issues with ARNAUD ….creating a bill of materials, tracking SOH of components, multi location stock. Finding the solution was now a major priority and essential for growth.

The Solutions:

Having a good idea of what they needed to run a successful distribution business, Cindy and a business colleague started researching solutions that would meet their criteria. Both researched the Internet independently and both came up with the same solution; NetSuite. This was the web enabled, fully integrated system they had been looking for.

After seeing a demonstration of NetSuite and seeing first hand the flexibility and power of the system, it was an easy decision for Cindy to make the purchase. “We didn’t see anything else that even came close to NetSuite. It’s what a business does every day, in one system, not in silos.”

The transition to NetSuite had its issues as it does with all systems. “It was overwhelming, the size and set-up of what NetSuite could do, there was a bit of work on our part and it took time and commitment to set up, but I wouldn’t start a business without NetSuite.”

NetSuite gave Cindy the power to have information at her fingertips, whenever and wherever she needed it. “NetSuite empowers people and places them in a position of knowledge. Customers, suppliers and partners want service then and there, we have the access to information that is relevant to each person and not some scripted response. This may not seem like much but it goes a long way in gaining and retaining customers.”

The Results:

“Whatever I want I can get it with NetSuite,” said Cindy. With ongoing pricing, key account and profitability built into P&O’s, being able to slice and dice the information in NetSuite to create reports that answer any question about the business and managing stock and operations is made simple.

Cindy has had significant improvements in processes and overhead control. “NetSuite is a vital tool which we will use to kick off the Luk business. The system keeps our overheads controlled and I have been able to build a team that does not need to be in the office.”

Cindy’s plan going forward is to turn Luk Beauty into another successful business. It will require a high volume of invoice generation as well as regular and personal marketing communications to customers to retain loyalty to the product. Vendor access and customer logins to stock levels is also needed, along with item transit available worldwide to keep the supply chain short and costs reduced. Cindy knows with full confidence that she has a system that can handle it all.

Find out more: contact NetReturn at 1300 886 025 or 0800 543 371