Lionel Drives Omnichannel Business Growth With NetSuite

SAN MATEO, Calif., Sept. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE: N), the industry's leading provider of cloud-based financials / ERP and omnichannel commerce software suites, today announced that Lionel LLC, the iconic model train maker, went live on NetSuite SuiteCommerce in just four months to run its end-to-end, omnichannel commerce business. The implementation powers the company's B2C ecommerce websites for its Lionel Trains and Lionel Racing brands, call center, inventory management, order management, marketing, customer support and financials.

With two different brands previously running on multiple, separate Magento-powered ecommerce websites for Lionel Trains, the 115-year-old model train business and Lionel Racing, the exclusive provider of die-cast collectible NASCAR race cars, the company endured challenges conducting business with consumers and retail partners, including Kohl's, Target, Toys R US and Sears. The ecommerce sites were not fully integrated with their back office systems, which forced Lionel to perform time-consuming batch processing and dual system updates just to introduce a simple price change. This resulted in inaccurate inventory data and negative customer experiences.

Since 2011, Lionel has relied on NetSuite for its financials, inventory and order management to support its websites, its Concord, N.C. retail store and at multiple NASCAR events throughout the country. Now that Lionel has replaced Magento to power its websites, the company can take advantage of NetSuite's unified omnichannel commerce platform to support the company's growth while getting deeper insight into customer, sales and inventory data. With the help of SixRed, a NetSuite solution partner, Lionel relaunched its Lionel Racing site in only four months and the Lionel Trains site in just two months. The relaunch provides Lionel with a scalable and nimble solution that enables a more relevant and engaging user experience.

"SuiteCommerce eliminated all of the challenges of trying to connect our systems," said Rick Gemereth, Lionel's VP Information Technology and Operations. "We now run on one unified commerce platform in the cloud, making us more efficient, more agile and better able to respond to the needs of our customers. With NetSuite, true inventory visibility across the entire organization allows us to keep up with the demands of our customers and retail partners. Plus, the entire user experience is far superior on our ecommerce websites."  

The move to a unified, omnichannel commerce platform with SuiteCommerce has given Lionel:

• Engaging shopping experiences. SuiteCommerce delivers branded and highly personalized shopping experiences to Lionel's customers with video, image zooms, quick views and more.
• Mobile commerce. SuiteCommerce delivers an elegant and optimized experience for both brands across all devices, from mobile phones, tablets, laptops and desktops.
• Support for multiple sites. Lionel can launch new websites quickly, all from a single site instance.
• Intelligent merchandising. Dynamic merchandising capabilities keeps Lionel's website current and content relevant.
• Agile pre-order capabilities. With intuitive, easy-to-use tools, Lionel Racing can quickly and easily list new products, allowing NASCAR fans to pre-order die-cast models of the unique, winning car from each week's race minutes after the race ends.
• Customer self-service. SuiteCommerce's self-service functionality means customers can track orders and pre-order status, manage account details and view purchase history. Customers can also submit and track their service and return requests.
• Real-time data access. Lionel's staff and shoppers can now access live data including customer, order and inventory status across all channels.
• Reduced IT dependencies. With a unified, cloud-based system, Lionel no longer has to worry about IT maintenance and management.
• Access to a strong partner ecosystem. Working with SixRed, Lionel quickly launched two branded websites. The company also leveraged solutions from SuiteCloud Developer Network partners SPS Commerce and OzLINK for electronic data interchange (EDI) and warehouse management, respectively.

Learn More: Experience SuiteCommerce at Shop.org 2015 Digital Summit
Merchants attending Shop.org 2015 Digital Summit from October 5-7 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia will have the opportunity to see firsthand how NetSuite's online, in-store and back office solution can enable businesses to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience and optimize business operations. To learn more, and to schedule a personal demo at NetSuite's booth #601, visit netsuite-shop.com.

NetSuite has been experiencing strong momentum with its SuiteCommerce platform since its launch in 2012 and has now become the leading cloud-based omnichannel commerce platform used by both B2C and B2B businesses to drive their commerce strategies. SuiteCommerce is the only unified cloud omnichannel commerce platform that brings together all the capabilities required to deliver a complete omnichannel commerce solution from ecommerce and point of sale, to marketing, financials, order and inventory management. Learn more at suitecommerce.com.

Today, more than 24,000 companies and subsidiaries depend on NetSuite to run complex, mission-critical business processes globally in the cloud. Since its inception in 1998, NetSuite has established itself as the leading provider of enterprise-ready cloud business management suites of enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and ecommerce applications for businesses of all sizes. Many FORTUNE 100 companies rely on NetSuite to accelerate innovation and business transformation. NetSuite continues its success in delivering the best cloud business management suites to businesses around the world, enabling them to lower IT costs significantly while increasing productivity, as the global adoption of the cloud accelerates.

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SOURCE NetSuite Inc.

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