Freight management made easy for distributors and e-tailers

By Dr. Guarav Srivastava, Melanie Kruppa-Srivastava, Ben Woodward, and Carl Hartmann

As an island continent with a widely dispersed population, Australia’s freight task is substantial with many deliveries to be made over short and long distances. Freight plays a vital part in all our lives, yet is often the forgotten piece of the transport debate.

An effective distribution business is all about delivering the right product, to the right customer at the right time and at a competitive price. If only it were as simple as it sounds.

Facing day to day challenges
Customers do have a low tolerance for delays these days. At the time of order placement, the task of providing accurate shipping options, costs and ETAs is essential but complex.

Customers want to know the cost and be able to track the shipments themselves easily without having to contact the sellers.

Distributors need accurate freight costing to calculate their selling price and margins. Carrier rates vary and may differ significantly depending on the destination; particular in some of Australia’s more remote regions. It is essential to get this right.

Sellers want to give the buyers option to pay for the fastest route and accurately cost the delivery, so they work out their profit margins ahead. Using a flat rate or just charging by weight or volume is not sufficient as insurance costs, levies and fuel charges can accumulate and eat up margins.

Here is a freight management solution that addresses these problems.

AVT’s Freight Management SuiteApps
AVT built three solutions on the NetSuite SuiteCloud platform, AVT Temando Connector; AVT IFS SmartFreight Connector and the Cloud Freight Connector; allowing e-tailers to drop-ship into Australia. All provide automated dispatch operations from order placement, carrier selection through to label printing and reporting in NetSuite. Interestingly the two partners, IFS and Temando, have different business models.

Case Study: CELL Bikes
CELL Bikes is one of the fastest growing distributor and e-tailer of bikes. CELL Bikes experienced problems with their freight management software and knew they needed a solution fast. They were faced with an inefficient dispatch process and a manual double-entry of data a cumbersome 8 step process.

AVT provided a seamless integrated solution within CELL Bikes’ existing NetSuite ERP system. The new streamlined dispatch process has reduced the order processing time by

40%. CELL Bikes is now able to ship 50% more products with fewer errors and substantial cost savings.

Solution
The new application efficiently manages the entire dispatch process. AVT IFS application electronically selects the lowest-cost carriers based on the shipping address and postcode of the consignment. A single common platform automates the printing of carrier-compliant shipping labels, assignment of tracking and consignment note numbers, and preparation of end-of-day manifests and reports.

After the goods are shipped, all consignment details are retained in NetSuite allowing CELL Bike’s staff or customers to track the delivery process. And because all dispatch information is now stored within CELL Bikes’ NetSuite system, they gain the further benefit of comprehensive, real-time freight reporting capabilities.

The entire warehouse management and dispatch process is now streamlined, from order fulfilment through to label printing. The integrated freight route optimization and least-cost routing, combined with the fact that the new, more efficient system requires fewer man hours to process orders, has meant a substantial cost saving for CELL Bikes.

“Thanks to AVT’s integrated solution between IFS SmartFreight® and our NetSuite system, we have increased our order processing from 200 orders a day to 300 orders a day, without strain. Our shipping process is now highly automated, which is easier to use and more accurate – leaving us with happier customers and more pleased employees.”

–Michael Simms, Chief Operating

Officer at CELL Bikes

Our Freight Partners’ point of view
IFS SmartFreight®
There are a myriad of challenges, facing IFS SmartFreight customers in the wholesale and distribution sector. Two major challenges that seem to be consistent across the board are, end to end visibility when Tracking shipments, and System Integration to other software solutions. When we speak to prospective customers they regularly tell us, they need integration from their upstream systems, to pass order information to their warehouse operation and to reduce the re-work in re-keying order information and enable consignments to be shipped. On the same issue they also want track and trace transparency of consignments that have been shipped. And finally, consignment and cost information to be passed back into the Order System to enable customer service to monitor shipment progress.

The seamless integration the AVT NetSuite Interface to IFS SmartFreight provides the customer, order information dynamically sent from NetSuite to IFS SmartFreight, where the orders are labelled, consigned and shipped. All Shipping information is then passed back into Netsuite in the same manner. A total end to end solution, which streamlines the Supply Chain, allows our customer to focus on their core business ,and increase sales and customer service.

Consignment tracking visibility is a standard feature of IFS SmartFreight therefore that challenge is also overcome easily.

–Ben Woodward – Global Channel

Manager, Interactive Freight Systems

Temando
We have seen an increasing number of businesses looking for shipping software integration that truly scales internationally. With over 40,000 clients connected to 400 carriers globally -Temando is the world’s most comprehensive delivery management platform and helps businesses realize efficiency savings across their fulfillment value chain.

The Temando platform achieves this by bridging multiple carrier systems to manage business rules, rates and produce shipping documentation from a single NetSuite integration. Temando also facilitates seamless end-to-end shipping tracking, even when a single transaction uses multiple providers.

We have also found that businesses are playing catch-up when it comes to their customers changing buying behavior. A one-size-fits-all approach to shipping is no longer acceptable to the discerning customer; they want delivery options to match their lifestyle. This is where Temando is working hard with businesses to optimize their shopping carts and increase conversion rates through unique solutions such as packaging logic, cross border trade software and a dynamic carrier rules engine. Through a simple NetSuite integration with Temando, businesses can provide customers with upfront delivery costs and options – whether that be standard shipping, same day, 3hr express or click & collect. At the same time, Temando uses its award winning rule engine to ensure business are in total control of the displayed options and the parameters behind their use.

It is through fulfillment cost savings and cart optimization that Temando drives real value to businesses. The AVT solution also helps to streamline shipping processes from the sales or accounts team into the fulfillment or dispatch area. Temando’s easy-to-use platform also integrates with other channels, market places and business systems.

Carl Hartmann, Managing Director and CEO, Temando

For more details on AVT IFS integration adaptor please contact us directly at info@abvt.com.au

Or visit SuiteApp.com and search ‘AVT’. Visit www.abvt.com.au

About Authors

Dr. Gaurav Srivastava is CEO & founder of Absolute Vision Technologies (AVT) – is NetSuite’s Partner since 2006. Gaurav has 12 years of solution development experience. AVT delivers ERP solutions & innovates on the NetSuite platform.Melanie Kruppa-Srivastava is Director of Business Operations of AVT and has over 10 years of corporate experience with companies like Accenture and Allianz. Ben Woodward, Global Channel Manager, Interactive Freight Systems www.ifs.com. Carl Hartmann, Managing Director and CEO, Temando www.temando.com.

The statements and opinions herein are those of AVT and not of NetSuite. NetSuite has not verified any statements or claims herein and assumes no responsibility for such statements or claims