Meet Powerplay
Powerplay is a leader in helping brands thrive in the competitive world of retail and eCommerce. Known for their expertise in creating efficient pathways to market, they partner with brands to deliver innovative consumer products to the right channels, at the right time. With a strong commitment to operational excellence and customer satisfaction, Powerplay has built a reputation for seamless integration and scalability.
As their business grew, managing Shopify returns became a challenge. The increasing volume of returns required a more efficient, automated solution to match their dynamic eCommerce business model and maintain their high standards of service.
Managing Returns Was a Headache
Like many eCommerce businesses, Powerplay struggled with manual return processes. Every return required their team to jump between Shopify and NetSuite, entering data manually, which took up valuable time and opened the door to errors. Delays in creating Return Authorizations and Credit Memos also caused inventory management headaches and slowed down customer refunds—two things that don’t sit well in today’s eCommerce business model.
Why This Matters
For Powerplay, the stakes were high. Manual processes weren’t just a time sink—they risked damaging customer relationships and operational efficiency. Inaccurate inventory meant missed sales opportunities, and refund delays left customers frustrated. It was clear something needed to change.
Our Approach: Making Returns Seamless with Automation
To solve these issues, we implemented a custom Celigo Flow that automated the entire returns process from Shopify to NetSuite. Here’s how we tackled the problem:
- Smart Filtering of Shopify Returns:
We designed a system to identify and exclude canceled or declined returns, so the flow focused only on valid returns. This saved time and ensured irrelevant data didn’t clog up the process. Syncing Shopify and NetSuite: The integration created a seamless data exchange between Shopify and NetSuite. This included item details, quantities, return reasons, discounts, and even gift card usage, ensuring no information was missed.
Script Hooks for Automation:
We used script hooks to handle custom Return Authorization and Item Receipt creation logic.Automated Credit Memo Generation:
Instead of manual intervention, the flow automatically generated Credit Memos, ensuring customers received refunds promptly and accurately.
What Changed for Powerplay?
The results were transformative:
- Significant Time Savings: Automation freed up hours of manual labor, allowing the team to focus on growth instead of administrative tasks.
- Fewer Errors: With automated data handling, human error was virtually eliminated, minimizing discrepancies, as well as ensuring accurate inventory and financial records.
- Happier Customers: Faster refunds and seamless processing enhanced the customer experience, reinforcing Powerplay’s reputation for great service.
- Future-Ready Operations: The automated system scales effortlessly with return volumes, keeping operations smooth as the business grows.
Behind the Scenes: How It Works
Filtering the Noise: The flow filtered out non-actionable returns and gathered all relevant return data into a structured list for NetSuite. The script in the second step of the flow (Get Order Data from NetSuite) filters out returns that are canceled or declined and gathers details for each valid return, including item information, quantities, and reasons for return. It also checks if gift cards or discounts are part of the return and includes those details. Finally, it compiles all this information into a structured list ready for NetSuite.
Streamlined Return Lines: The script in the fourth step (Get RMA Lines) processes Shopify orders to prepare return data for receiving in NetSuite. It checks if the orders have returns ready to process and organizes the relevant lines to be received. For each return, it ensures only valid lines are included for further handling in NetSuite.
Why Automation Matters
Returns are a critical touchpoint for customer experience. Powerplay knew they couldn’t afford to let inefficiencies slow them down. With automation, they turned a cumbersome process into a streamlined, scalable solution that keeps their customers happy and their operations running smoothly.
Are manual returns slowing you down? Let’s chat! Our team can help you implement a seamless, scalable solution that fits your needs, just like we did for Powerplay. Let’s make it happen!
