NetSuite vs Oracle Comparison: Which ERP is Best?

NetSuite and Oracle Fusion Cloud are both solid enterprise resource planning solutions for businesses that want to streamline their business processes.

In this post, we are putting the two head-to-head to find out which solution has the best shipping, warehouse and inventory management features. 

Table of Contents

• What is Netsuite

• NetSuite's Key Features

• Pricing + Pros & Cons of Netsuite

• What is Oracle Fusion Cloud

• Oracle's Key Features

• Pricing + Pros & Cons of Oracle

• Veeqo - A Free But Powerful Alternative

What is NetSuite?

NetSuite is a cloud-based business management suite with capabilities encompassing ERP/financials, CRM, and ecommerce. They market the platform as the number one cloud ERP business software solution for companies of all sizes, from startups to enterprises.

NetSuite was built for the cloud. Its flexibility makes it easy for brands to scale, spin-off, and pivot to new business models without skipping a beat.

NetSuite’s commerce-ready ERP makes your core business system your customer-facing commerce system. Real-time analytics show users what they need to do to help their business. 

Over 50% of tech IPOs used NetSuite in 2022 and 84% of companies on the Forbes Cloud 100 list are NetSuite customers. 

The platform’s extensive list of products and applications makes finding out whether it will meet your specific needs tricky. Let’s see how NetSuite tackles shipping and inventory.

Further reading: Best Alternatives to Managing Warehouse Stock in Excel

NetSuite’s key features

1. Order management

NetSuite’s order management system automates and manages the lifecycle of an order from the moment it’s placed, through delivery, and to post-sales service. The solution helps with accurate recordkeeping and covers order capture and validation, order release, shipment confirmation, customer communication, and settlement.

Features:

• Multichannel order management: Give your customers an omnichannel retail experience by allowing them to buy, receive, and return products anywhere. 

• Sales order management: Automate the order-to-cash process, remove bottlenecks, and optimize processes to deliver orders on time, and within budget. 

• Pricing management: Manage, control, and update your pricing to maximize profits, all from a single dashboard. Seamlessly run promotions across all sales channels then use analytics to reflect on the effectiveness of your pricing strategy.

• Single data source: Combine your inventory, pricing, order, payment, and returns information into one single data source. 

• Automate the entire order management process: Connect sales, finance, and operations teams to improve quote accuracy, eliminate billing errors, strengthen revenue recognition processes, and make the whole order fulfillment process faster and more accurate. 

2. Inventory management

NetSuite’s inventory management consolidates your inventory across all locations and sales channels into a single, real-time view. This helps you automate inventory tracking, reduce on-hand inventory, free up capital, and avoid stockouts.

Features:

• Multi-location fulfillment: Predefine fulfillment rules to eliminate multiple shipments for a single order and avoid excess shipping charges. 

• Replenishment: Uses historical and seasonal sales data, average lead time, and number of inventory days of supply to dynamically manage item reorder points and maintain ideal stock levels. 

• Cycle counting: Automate inventory counts without freezing transactions for the entire location. 

• Traceability: Back and forward trace inventory via lot and serial tracing, bin management, and merchandise hierarchy.

• Item visibility: Item 360 dashboard consolidates all relevant information related to an item into a centralized location. Includes user-selected KPIs, inventory count by location, projected stock levels, and alerts for anticipated shortages or overstocks. 

3. Warehouse management

NetSuite’s warehouse management solution optimizes your day-to-day operations for all warehouse locations through industry-leading practices like mobile RF barcode scanning, putaway and picking strategies, task management, return authorization receipts, and cycle count plans.

By using this system, you can eliminate manual processes, minimize handling costs, and run a more efficient warehouse operation.

Features:

• Mobile processing: perform warehouse operations on a mobile device. 

• Inventory visibility: When items are scanned, the WMS mobile application will update or create the proper transaction and add associated inventory data. 

• No syncing required: NetSuite seamlessly integrates all inventory management, order fulfillment, and manufacturing systems with no syncing required. 

• Inbound logistics: Mobile receiving and predefined putaway strategies.

• Order fulfillment: Ensures orders are filled quickly and accurately via wave release and intelligent pick-and-pack strategies for single and multi-order picking. 

• Bin management: Robust bin management system for inventory management. 

• NetSuite Smart Count: This inventory cycle counting solution helps users automate inventory counts without freezing transactions for the entire location. 

Compatible shipping carriers

NetSuite works with the following shipping carriers: 

• USPS

• UPS

• FedEx

If you’re shipping from Canada to the United States, you’re limited to FedEx and UPS. International shipments are limited to UPS. 

To view real-time rates and use the shipping label integration feature, users have to first register their UPS, FedEx, or USPS account on the Carrier Registration subtab. 

NetSuite Pricing

NetSuite pricing consists of three main components: core platform, optional modules, and number of users.

You’ll also pay a one-time implementation fee for your initial setup.

Contact NetSuite directly for an exact quote. 

Pros of Netsuite

• Modular ERP automation: Modular ERP automation suite for small to mid-sized enterprises seeking rapid growth.

• Flexible integrations: Enables seamless integration with your current tech stack. 

• More affordable: Less expensive than Oracle Fusion Cloud. 

• Ease-of-use: SMBs tend to like NetSuite for its user-friendly interface and easy adoption.

Cons of NetSuite

• Less advanced: While extensive, NetSuite’s catalog of features isn’t as advanced as Oracle’s. 

• Less customization: Businesses that require extensive customization for unique, complex processes may find better success with NetSuite. 

Best suited for…

NetSuite is ideal for small and medium enterprises looking for a comprehensive, out-of-the-box ERP solution to handle all day-to-day operations. 

Modular infrastructure capabilities and scalability also make NetSuite ideal for producing a consistent, user-optimized solution for SMBs and start-ups. 

What is Oracle Fusion Cloud?

Oracle Fusion Cloud has a whole suite of products for supply chain management and manufacturing.

The suite is designed to help organizations react fast to shifting demand, supply, and market conditions by seamlessly integrating the entire supply chain. 

The products that make up Oracle’s supply chain management solution include:

• Supply chain planning

• Inventory management

• Manufacturing

• Maintenance

• Order management

• Logistics

• Product lifecycle management 

• Procurement

• Blockchain and IoT

• SCM analytics

Further reading: Building a Smarter Future with IoT in Warehousing

Oracle Fusion Cloud’s key features

1. Inventory management

Oracle Fusion Cloud’s inventory management solution is designed to help you optimize your materials management for global operations.

It works by optimizing inventory levels and working capital utilization to reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction. Users gain full visibility and control over the flow of products across their organization and global supply chains. 

Features:

• Materials management: Facilitate fast order fulfillment and safeguard revenue by automating, streamlining, and controlling inventory operations, both inside the company and across complex global supply networks. 

• Real-time inventory visibility: Gain real-time visibility into inventory at all locations and support anytime, anywhere fulfillment through options like drop-ship, back-to-back, and supplier-consigned inventory. 

• Cost management and profitability optimization: Perform comprehensive costing that covers sneaky expenses like indirect labor and overhead costs for accurate inventory planning, work-in-process valuation, and profitability management.

• Inventory and service level optimization: Manage costs and working capital to meet revenue goals through accurate demand management and optimized replenishment policies. 

2. Order management

Oracle Fusion Cloud’s omnichannel order fulfillment solution provides visibility and improves coordination across all channels and fulfillment sources, helps facilitate rapid order execution, and integrates the customer experience for excellent service and improved margins.

Features:

• Omnichannel order management: Streamline order flow across multiple ERP and order management systems.

• Rapid order fulfillment: Capture and fulfill complex orders with flexibility. 

• Pricing management: Be strategic with price management with features like price segmentation and dynamic pricing. 

• Product and service configuration: Simplify configurations for complex, customizable products and services via an intuitive user interface. 

• Global order promising: Exceed customer expectations with rapid fulfillment and delivery. Dynamically source supply to meet demand, optimize the fulfillment of complex orders, and proactively manage your backlog so that scarce supply is allocated to prioritized customer segments. 

• Channel revenue management: Optimize your channel rebate program performance with features like customer rebate management, deductions and settlement, supplier rebate management, and supplier ship and debit. 

3. Logistics

Oracle’s logistics solution covers transportation, warehouse, and global trade management.

Oracle’s warehouse management solution will help your warehouse adapt to today’s demand-driven market, successfully manage complex fulfillment operations, and gain total inventory visibility throughout the supply chain. 

Features: 

• Support new sales channels: Support omnichannel fulfillment with complete inventory visibility across all warehouses.

• Reduce inventory costs: Manage inventory for all your distribution centers and yard locations and reduce material write-offs.

• Improve workforce productivity: Reduce labor inefficiencies, raise manufacturing performance, and improve accuracy with visibility into warehouse operations. 

• Integrate and automate warehouse operations: Automate warehouse operations to support demand spikes and high-volume order fulfillment. 

Compatible shipping carriers

Oracle integrates with FedEx, UPS, and DHL GlobalMail.

Pricing of Oracle

Oracle pricing depends on a few different factors. It follows a subscription model and typically requires a 3-5 year commitment.

The pricing also differs based on the number of users you have, your contract duration, and any additional services not included in the base pricing.

Expect to pay at least $875/month/user* with a 10-user minimum. 

*Pricing last accessed February 2024

Pros of Oracle Fusion Cloud

• Fully loaded: Oracle’s fully loaded ERP is perfect for large enterprises.

• Intelligent automation: Suited for large-scale, intelligent automation. 

• Solid integrations: Fully integrated and comprehensive.

Cons of Oracle Fusion Cloud

• Pricing: Oracle Fusion Cloud is extremely expensive. Even if you have fewer than 10 users, you’ll end up paying for all 10 due to the minimum requirement. 

• Less flexibility for integrations: Less flexible when it comes to integrating legacy software systems. 

Best suited for…

Oracle Fusion is equipped to handle the needs of all sizes of businesses. However, high licensing costs make this platform best suited for larger enterprises with specific customization requirements. 

Further reading: Packiyo vs ShipHero

Veeqo – a free alternative to Oracle and NetSuite

NetSuite and Oracle Cloud Fusion are both solid warehouse management and ERP solutions, but they could be overkill for small to medium-sized businesses looking for a way to manage orders and inventory, and very expensive for even larger businesses looking to grow.

If you need a solution for all your shipping, order, inventory, and warehouse management needs that doesn’t break the bank, consider giving Veeqo a try. 

Veeqo is a shipping and inventory management software that helps businesses streamline the process of managing and fulfilling orders. They offer full warehouse management, and as they're owned by Amazon, they have a seamless integration with Amazon's MCF should you require a 3PL.

Here are some of the ways you can make your day-to-day operations a little easier with Veeqo:

• Compare rates

• Buy shipping labels

• Manage inventory and orders across multiple sales channels and multiple locations

• Digital Picking (and you can even purchase the same scanner used in Amazon's fulfilment centers)

• Create custom automation

• Track inventory

• Analyze inventory reports

• Forecast future inventory needs

Veeqo’s free shipping software integrates with all major shipping carriers (USPS, UPS, DHL, FedEx, and more).

Click an order on your dashboard to compare discounted shipping rates for all available shipping services. Once you choose your shipping method, you can print your label and push the shipping information right back to your sales channels. 

Sign up today and get started using Veeqo’s powerful, intuitive shipping and inventory management software.