Lumina
Software comparison

Lumina vs NetStock: which inventory planning tool actually fits a scaling brand?

Both forecast demand and automate replenishment. The difference is who they're built for. Here's an honest, line-by-line breakdown — and a clear answer to which you should pick.

Updated May 2026By Oana Bradulet, Founder, Lumina
The bottom line

Lumina is built for scaling consumer brands. NetStock is built for ERP-led distributors. Pick the one that matches your shape.

NetStock is a credible, mature platform — for £100M+ businesses already running NetSuite, SAP Business One, or Acumatica with a dedicated planning team. If you're a £5–30M consumer brand selling on Shopify and Amazon, NetStock will out-spec you on paper and underperform in practice, because the implementation, integrations, and assumed workflow weren't designed for your stack. Lumina was: connect Shopify, Amazon, Unleashed, Xero, and your 3PLs, and have AI-driven forecasting, automated POs, and cash flow visibility live in a week — modular, transparent, and built around your reality.

"NetStock sold the dream and we never used it."
— Operations Lead, Supply Chain at Perfect Ted

When to pick which

Pick Lumina if

You're a scaling consumer brand outgrowing spreadsheets — fast.

  • Revenue between £5M and £100M, growing materially YoY.
  • You sell across Shopify, Amazon, retail, and (sometimes) wholesale — not a single channel.
  • You don't run a mid-market ERP, or you run a lighter IMS like Cin7, Unleashed, or Brightpearl.
  • You need accurate forecasting, automated replenishment, and cash-flow visibility — without a six-month implementation.
  • You want a planning tool that adapts to your stack, not a tool that assumes you'll restructure ops to fit it.
Pick NetStock if

You're a distributor or manufacturer with a mature ERP and planning team.

  • Revenue £100M+ with deep B2B distribution, complex multi-warehouse logistics.
  • You're already running NetSuite, SAP Business One, Acumatica, MS Dynamics, or Sage X3.
  • You have at least one dedicated demand planner and an ops team to run the system.
  • You're comfortable with multi-month implementation cycles paid through professional services.
  • Forecasting and replenishment are your core problem and you're not buying for cash flow, supplier ops, or omnichannel revenue.

Lumina vs NetStock: feature comparison

FeatureLumina
Recommended
NetStock
Built for
Who the product is genuinely designed around
Scaling DTC, omnichannel, FMCG brands £5–100M
Distributors & manufacturers £100M+ with mature ERPs
Requires an ERP underneath
No — works with or without one
Yes — NetSuite, SAP B1, Acumatica, MS Dynamics, Sage
Time to live
~1 week guided onboarding
Typically 2–6 months with implementation services
AI-powered demand forecasting
Native — built around AI
Statistical forecasting; AI features added more recently
Automated replenishment & POs
Lead-time + MOQ aware, supplier-linked
Mature PO automation tied to ERP master data
Cash flow & supplier payments
Built in — supplier ledger + cash impact view
Lives in the ERP, not in NetStock itself
Native Shopify + Amazon integrations
Direct connectors, omnichannel native
Possible via the ERP layer; not a primary fit
Range planning & merchandising workflows
Built in for fashion / consumer SKUs
Distribution-style assortment; weaker for fashion/beauty
Exception reporting (stockouts, late POs, supplier risk)
Real-time, configurable per workflow
Strong, but ERP-data-bound
Modular pricing
Pick modules; from £59/user/mo + add-ons
Quote-based; bundled enterprise licensing
Public pricing
Yes — published on the pricing page
Quote-only; varies materially by org size
Implementation services required
Self-serve setup or guided onboarding included
Yes — typically through partner consultancies
Best customer profile
Demand planner / ops lead at a £5–100M consumer brand
Demand planning team at a £100M+ distributor / manufacturer
Yes Partial No

Forecasting: AI on your real data vs statistical models on ERP data

NetStock's forecasting heritage is statistical — solid models running on the structured data inside an ERP. That's a strength when your master data is clean and your business is stable, distribution-heavy, and not seasonal. It's a weakness when you're a consumer brand with promo cycles, omnichannel demand, and product launches that don't fit the historical curve. Lumina is built around AI from day one, applied directly to the data you actually have — Shopify orders, Amazon velocity, retail sell-through, returns, promo calendars. The model adapts to seasonality, launches, and channel-shift patterns without requiring you to rebuild master data first. For scaling brands, that's the difference between a forecast you trust and a forecast you 'override in the spreadsheet anyway.'

Lumina forecasting wins
  • Trains on Shopify, Amazon, and retail data directly — no ERP intermediary
  • Handles new SKUs, promos, and seasonality without manual model tuning
  • Forecasts roll up to channel, region, and SKU views without rework
Where NetStock can edge ahead
  • Distribution and B2B SKUs with deep, stable history
  • Master data that already lives cleanly in NetSuite or SAP
  • Planners comfortable tuning statistical model parameters by hand

Replenishment & supplier ops: connected planning vs ERP-bound POs

Both platforms automate purchase orders. The question is what the PO knows about. NetStock's PO logic lives inside the ERP, which means it sees lead times and MOQs but not always supplier payment terms, cash position, or 3PL inbound capacity. Brands frequently end up running supplier payments and cash flow back in spreadsheets — the very thing they bought a planning tool to escape. Lumina's replenishment ties the PO to the supplier ledger and the cash flow view. You can see what's on order, what it costs, when it lands, and what your runway looks like — in one place. For brands where cash is a real constraint (i.e. most scaling brands), that single integration changes how planning meetings actually run.

Implementation: a week of guided setup vs a quarter of services

This is the single biggest practical difference. NetStock implementations are typically run by partner consultancies and take two to six months — because the platform expects clean ERP master data, defined planning policies, and a planning team to operate the system end-to-end. That's appropriate for a £200M distributor; it's a non-starter for a 30-person consumer brand whose ops lead is also handling shipping queries on Tuesday. Lumina is designed to go live in a week. Connect Shopify, Amazon, your IMS or ERP-lite, and your accounting system. We import your historical data, set baseline forecasts, and walk you through the first PO run. Most customers run their first real-data planning meeting from Lumina within fifteen days of signing.

Lumina onboarding
  • ~1 week from kickoff to first live PO run
  • No external consultancy required
  • Modular: start with forecasting, layer in replenishment + cash flow when ready
NetStock onboarding
  • 2–6 months including ERP master-data prep
  • Implementation through partner consultancies
  • Designed around a dedicated planning team operating the platform

Pricing: transparent and modular vs enterprise and quote-based

NetStock doesn't publish pricing — quotes are sized to organisation, ERP, SKU count, and required modules, and almost always include implementation services on top. Customers we've spoken with cite all-in first-year costs ranging from £15k to £50k+, and materially higher for larger deployments. Lumina is published, modular, and per-user. Starter plans begin at £59/user/month. You can layer modules (forecasting, replenishment, cash flow, range planning) as you need them, and onboarding is included rather than billed separately. For finance teams approving the spend, the predictability matters.

Customer fit: a scaling consumer brand is a different shape from a distributor

This is the part most comparison pages skip. A 50-person DTC brand with three Shopify stores, an Amazon seller account, a few retail accounts, and outsourced manufacturing is fundamentally a different shape from a 500-person distributor with five warehouses, two thousand B2B accounts, and Acumatica running the spine of the business. NetStock fits the second shape extremely well. Lumina is built for the first — the data sources you actually have, the integrations you actually need, the timeline you can actually afford, and the workflows your ops team actually runs. If you recognise yourself in the second profile, NetStock is a credible pick. If you recognise yourself in the first, the fit just isn't there.

Frequently asked questions

See Lumina against your real data

Book a 30-minute demo. We'll connect a few of your sources, show you what the planning workflow looks like with your actual SKUs, and tell you honestly whether Lumina is a fit — or whether you should keep looking at NetStock or another tool.