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I just wrapped up some final edits on the Little Earth Productions, Inc. website. Littlearth's business operations utilize Netsuite's web based CRM package. While Netsuite offers one of the leading CRM products for small to midsize companies, its closed source and limited free documentation make for some unique challenges when re-designing a webstore within their system.

The Problem at Hand

The original designs were assembled into HTML templates for all four of Littlearth's family of brands. The templates used CSS for layout and the HTML pages validated as XHTML 1.0 Strict. Netsuite’s themes and templates require that each piece of the site’s structure lie between td tags, so the code was modified to work with these requirements. Soon after fitting the header and footer into my new theme I ran into difficulties integrating the four unique sidebar layouts for each of the brands. Netsuite support was unable to give me much help and recommended contacting my sales rep for a quote from their professional services department. The sales department had already quoted consulting services that were well above the project budget. It was now time to seek assistance from a third party.

Third Party Help

My research brought me to a company called GProxy Design, a web development firm that specializes in Netsuite webstore customization. As a Netsuite authorized partner, GProxy has plenty of experience with the ins and outs of this closed source system structure. Their work is good, fast and they were able to use the coding work that I started with, providing a solution that fit my budget.

The Solution

The solution to my problem turned out to be quite simple. The developer used a tag in the left sidebar field for the new website theme and then used tag substitution to customize the left sidebar between Category Tabs. Item/Category templates still share the same look, but even they can be customized using the same principle

Other Things I Have Learned

• You can do "almost" anything you want with Netsuite's webstore, but you may have to pay. Deadlines can leave you with very little time to play around and figure out the solution on your own. Netsuite Professional services offer support and "customized" solutions which they say " may take longer and cost more than a 3rd party developer, but using a 3rd party may result in a slightly less integrated solution." That said, you should analyze your needs carefully.
• There is a solution that supports CSS for layout within an Integrated Netsuite webstore. Xolved, a company owned by ex-Netsuite staffers, offers a product capable of handling CSS for layout and multiple stores linked to one shopping cart.
• Littlearth already had a live website in place. This meant that playing around inside Netsuite and learning how certain tags affected each other was nearly impossible. If you are developing a Netsuite store from scratch, you may want to play around first and see what you can figure out on your own. That way it isn't going to affect your live web presence.
• As with any company, Netsuite has to make money too. Their decision to conceal its code secrets and charge for additional support and training is above all just a good business model. My only issue with them was that sales and support could have taken a bit more time to understand my needs and help me find a solution to make everyone happy. Companies like Netsuite need to remember that even though you may have the best products, you’d be nothing without your customers. Make sure you keep them happy.

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