RSMUS.comClient Profile
Industry: Beauty & Personal Care
Revenue: ~$40M
Business Model: Omnichannel beauty company selling through wholesale retail, direct-to-consumer ecommerce, online marketplaces and social media channels
As growth accelerated, this emerging beauty brand faced a challenge common across the industry: how to scale operations without sacrificing visibility, profitability or customer experience.
With a growing product portfolio, multiple manufacturing partners, increasing retailer requirements and rapidly evolving sales channels, leadership recognized the need for a scalable ERP platform capable of supporting future growth, improving visibility across the business and helping management make better, data-driven decisions.
The Industry Challenge
Beauty brands face a unique set of operational challenges that traditional ERP implementations often fail to address.
Unlike traditional manufacturers or retailers, beauty organizations must balance rapid product innovation, outsourced manufacturing networks, multiple sales channels, retailer compliance requirements and highly volatile consumer demand driven by promotions, influencers and social media trends.
For this client, several key challenges were emerging:
- Rapid growth across wholesale, ecommerce, marketplace and social media channels
- Limited visibility into profitability across customers, products and sales channels
- Growing complexity in managing multiple contract manufacturing partners
- Inventory planning challenges across an expanding SKU portfolio
- Rising freight, packaging and tariff costs affecting margins
- Increasing reporting demands from executives and investors
- Technology platforms and reporting processes that were not scaling with the business
Leadership needed more than a software implementation. Like many growing beauty companies, this client needed better visibility into profitability, inventory performance and supply chain operations while establishing a technology foundation that could support continued growth.
Why RSM
The engagement began with an enterprise software selection initiative led by RSM’s consulting team.
Rather than starting with software requirements, RSM worked with leadership to understand the operational and financial drivers behind the transformation effort. Drawing on experience serving beauty and consumer products organizations, RSM helped evaluate future-state processes related to omnichannel commerce, contract manufacturing, inventory planning, wholesale operations, profitability management and executive reporting.
RSM brought proven solution patterns shaped by the unique challenges facing beauty brands, including managing complex retail and DTC sales channels, coordinating outsourced manufacturing partners, improving inventory insight across a growing SKU portfolio and providing deeper insight into customer, product and channel profitability.
Following the evaluation process, the client selected NetSuite and RSM based on:
- Deep beauty and consumer products expertise
- Proven NetSuite implementation methodology
- Industry-specific solution patterns
- Ability to provide business process advisory in addition to ERP implementation services
By combining industry knowledge with technology expertise, RSM helped the client align its operational strategy, technology roadmap and growth objectives before implementation began.
RSM’s Industry-Led Approach
Drawing on experience serving beauty and consumer products organizations, RSM worked closely with stakeholders to redesign business processes across finance, supply chain, manufacturing, procurement, inventory and order management.
Key focus areas included:
- Omnichannel commerce and channel profitability
- Contract manufacturing and supply chain coordination
- Inventory planning and product availability
- Margin management and financial reporting
The NetSuite Solution
RSM led a nine-month NetSuite implementation supporting finance, supply chain, manufacturing, procurement, inventory management and order management.
RSM designed the solution specifically to address the operational realities of a modern beauty organization.
Building a Single View of Omnichannel Operations
The client managed transactions across ecommerce, wholesale, marketplace and social commerce channels.
RSM implemented NetSuite as the system of record and integrated key sales channels, including:
- Shopify
- Amazon
- TikTok Shop
- Sephora and other major beauty retailers
The result was a unified operating platform capable of supporting the client’s growing omnichannel business model.
Improving Inventory Planning and Product Availability
With an expanding product portfolio and complex demand patterns, inventory planning had become increasingly challenging.
RSM implemented NetSuite MRP to improve demand forecasting, supply planning and purchasing visibility.
This enabled the organization to make better inventory decisions while reducing the risk of stockouts and excess inventory.
Managing Contract Manufacturing at Scale
Like many beauty brands, the client distributed production activities across multiple contract manufacturing partners.
RSM designed outsourced manufacturing processes within NetSuite, providing greater control over production activities, inventory movements and supply chain performance.
Enhancing Margin Visibility
Escalating freight costs, tariffs and packaging expenses were creating increased pressure on profitability.
Using NetSuite Landed Cost functionality, RSM helped the organization capture and allocate supply chain costs more accurately, improving inventory valuation and providing stronger insight into product margins.
Supporting Wholesale Retail Requirements
To streamline transactions with retail partners, RSM integrated SPS Commerce EDI capabilities with NetSuite.
This helped automate order processing, improve retailer compliance and reduce manual administrative effort.
Delivering Better Business Insights
Leadership needed visibility beyond basic transactional reporting.
RSM designed financial and operational reporting within NetSuite to provide insight into:
- Customer profitability
- Product profitability
- Sales channel performance
- Inventory trends
- Overall business performance
The result was improved decision-making supported by trusted, centralized data.
NetSuite provided a unified platform connecting finance, supply chain, manufacturing, procurement, inventory and omnichannel commerce operations. By replacing disconnected systems and manual processes with a single source of truth, the organization gained the visibility and operational scalability needed to support continued growth while maintaining stronger control over business performance.
Expanding Beyond ERP
As the transformation progressed, the client expanded its relationship with RSM to address broader business objectives and create a more connected technology and decision-making ecosystem.
Advanced Analytics and Business Intelligence
RSM implemented an Azure Data Warehouse and Power BI reporting environment designed to extend business intelligence beyond traditional ERP reporting.
The solution combined NetSuite data with ecommerce, retailer, social media and consumer engagement data, creating a centralized view of business performance.
The platform supported advanced sales trend analysis and incorporated reporting from key retail partners such as Sephora, along with social media and consumer engagement metrics that influence product demand.
By bringing these data sources together, leadership gained deeper insight into sales trends, demand drivers, inventory needs and channel performance, enabling more proactive decision-making around product launches, inventory planning and growth initiatives.
Financial Planning and Budgeting
To further strengthen planning capabilities, the client implemented NetSuite Planning & Budgeting (NSPB) to modernize budgeting, forecasting and financial planning processes.
In the beauty industry, seasonality, product launches, promotional activity, retailer programs and rapidly changing consumer demand can heavily influence financial performance.
NSPB provided leadership with a more structured and agile planning process, enabling the organization to develop more accurate forecasts, model multiple business scenarios and evaluate the financial impact of key business decisions.
By connecting planning more closely to operational and sales performance data, the organization improved its ability to proactively manage growth, profitability and investment decisions in a fast-moving market.
Managed Technology Services
As the client’s technology footprint expanded, RSM Managed IT Services provided ongoing support across the broader technology environment.
Rather than managing multiple disconnected vendors, the client benefited from a unified “One RSM” approach in which advisory, ERP, analytics, planning and technology teams worked together with a shared understanding of business priorities and strategic objectives.
This integrated model reduced the coordination burden on internal teams, accelerated issue resolution and provided a single trusted advisor capable of supporting both business transformation initiatives and day-to-day technology needs.
Business Outcomes
By combining beauty-industry leading practices, NetSuite, advanced analytics and financial planning capabilities, the organization established a scalable operating model designed to support continued omnichannel growth.
Greater Visibility Across Customers, Products and Channels
Leadership gained a consolidated view of business performance across the organization, enabling more informed decision-making and deeper insight into customer, product and channel profitability.
Data-Driven Decision-Making
By combining ERP, retailer, ecommerce and consumer engagement data into a unified reporting environment, leadership gained greater insight into sales trends, customer behavior and emerging demand patterns.
This provided a stronger foundation for decisions related to product launches, channel strategy, inventory investments and future growth initiatives.
Improved Financial Planning and Forecasting
With NetSuite Planning & Budgeting, the organization transitioned from spreadsheet-driven planning to a more structured forecasting and budgeting process.
Leadership gained the ability to develop more accurate forecasts, model alternative business scenarios and better evaluate the financial impact of growth opportunities, promotions and market changes.
Scalable Foundation for Continued Omnichannel Growth
NetSuite provided a centralized platform connecting finance, supply chain, manufacturing, procurement, inventory and commerce operations.
By replacing disconnected systems and manual processes with a single source of truth, the business established a technology foundation capable of supporting future growth while maintaining operational control.
Why This Matters for Beauty Brands
Beauty organizations face a unique combination of operational, supply chain and profitability challenges that extend far beyond traditional ERP implementation projects.
Companies must manage wholesale growth, direct-to-consumer expansion, marketplace sales, social commerce channels, retailer requirements, contract manufacturing relationships, rising supply chain costs and rapidly changing consumer demand.
At the same time, leadership teams need visibility into profitability, inventory performance, sales trends and future growth opportunities.
Successfully navigating these challenges requires more than technical expertise. It requires a partner that understands the operational realities of the beauty industry and how to leverage technology to support business objectives.
Whether supporting an ERP transformation, advanced analytics initiative, financial planning modernization or broader technology strategy, RSM helps beauty brands turn operational complexity into competitive advantage.
The result is more than a successful NetSuite implementation. It is a business transformation strategy that improves visibility, strengthens decision-making, increases organizational scalability and positions beauty brands for sustainable growth.
Executive Summary
A rapidly growing $40M beauty and personal care company needed a scalable platform to support expansion across wholesale, direct-to-consumer, marketplace and social commerce channels while improving profitability insight, inventory planning and operational control. The organization also faced increasing complexity in managing contract manufacturers, retailer requirements and a growing product portfolio.
RSM began the engagement by leading an ERP selection initiative and evaluating future-state business processes across finance, supply chain, inventory, manufacturing and order management. Leveraging deep beauty industry experience and proven NetSuite solution patterns, RSM helped the client align its operational strategy, technology roadmap and growth objectives before implementation began.
RSM subsequently led a nine-month NetSuite implementation, establishing a unified platform for finance, supply chain, manufacturing, inventory, procurement and omnichannel commerce operations. The solution connected key sales channels, improved demand planning, enhanced profitability reporting, streamlined retailer compliance and provided greater control across outsourced manufacturing processes.
As the relationship evolved, the client expanded its partnership with RSM to include advanced analytics, financial planning and budgeting, and managed technology services. By combining NetSuite data with retailer, ecommerce, social media and consumer engagement data, the organization gained deeper business insight and strengthened its ability to make data-driven decisions in a dynamic market.
Today, the company operates on a scalable foundation that supports continued omnichannel growth, improved profitability analysis, enhanced forecasting capabilities and more informed decision-making.
The engagement demonstrates how RSM combines beauty industry expertise, business process advisory, NetSuite leadership, analytics and technology services to help consumer products organizations turn operational complexity into competitive advantage.
