5 Signs Your Business Needs Landed Cost Automation — Now!
If your company handles imported goods, managing landed costs isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s mission-critical. Yet many businesses still rely on outdated, manual methods that chip away at margins and bury teams in spreadsheets. Here are five red flags that it’s time to modernize your approach.
1. You’re Constantly Dealing With Margin Surprises
Hidden shipping fees, customs duties, and last-minute freight charges shouldn’t be a knockout. If your pricing strategy is reactive instead of data-driven, it’s time to put a system in place that gives you visibility from the start.
➡️ 8Q Estimated Landed Cost (8Q ELC) calculates estimated costs at the time of receipt—so you price accurately right away.
2. Reconciliations Eat Up Too Much Time
When vendor bills arrive weeks after inventory is received, accounting teams scramble to connect the dots. Manual variance reconciliation delays reporting and inflates labor costs.
➡️ 8Q ELC automates GL entries and variance tracking, so you can reconcile with confidence and speed.
3. Teams Are Chained to Spreadsheets
Still copying data from POs to cost templates by hand? One mistake in a spreadsheet can cascade through your entire valuation model.
➡️ Native NetSuite integration ensures data flows directly and accurately—no spreadsheet gymnastics required.
4. You Struggle With Cost Visibility Across Imports
Are landed costs lumped together with no breakdown or traceability? Are you relying on best guesses?
➡️ 8Q ELC offers detailed cost category tracking so you always know what you’re paying and why.
5. You’re Growing—But Your System Isn’t
More SKUs, more suppliers, and more global shipments mean complexity. If your current workflow can’t scale, it will break.
➡️ 8Q ELC is built for supply chain scalability, offering flexibility, customization, and enterprise-readiness.
Bonus: Lacking Shipment Visibility?
If tracking container statuses and freight delays still relies on emails and spreadsheets, you’re flying blind.
➡️ 8Q Container Tracking (8Q CTR) gives you real-time visibility across 92 shipping lines. Get automatic updates every 8 hours, visualize routes on an interactive map, and keep your NetSuite data in sync.
Eliminate surprises with help from 8Quanta, a Gold Sponsor of the 2025 American Supply Chain Summit! Visit our booth to see how 8Q ELC and 8Q CTR can transform cost tracking and logistics visibility in NetSuite.📅 May 1–2, 2025 | Dallas, TX
