The Wine Community: A 50-Year Legacy Building for the Future with StoreConnect

For over 50 years, The Wine Community has been a hub for wine lovers to connect and share their knowledge and recommendations. What began as a simple vision, a handful of trusted wine advisors and a good dose of passion for an exceptional drop, has transformed into a modern, online-first company that still holds true to its roots.

The journey wasn’t without its challenges, fragmented systems and limited digital control hindered the company’s online presence until they found a solution that was a natural extension of their brand.

We chatted with Matt Carr, National Marketing & Events Manager of The Wine Community to talk about how, with the help of their implementation partner Swan Technology Solutions, they built a unified platform to support their growing community, while staying true to their heritage and vision.

The Challenge: Paper Cards to Digital Chaos

The Wine Community’s business predates the internet. They have always been ready to evolve with the times and invest in technology to suit their evolving needs.

That said, technology decisions made in the 80’s, however judicious at the time, have a use-by date. As technology evolves, customer and staff expectations also evolve and both sides expect more, with less effort. Common among the issues that started to surface were that each system operated as a silo for the information they contained. Each had a heavy reliance on humans to make the computers talk to other computers. When that interface of information wasn’t achieved, friction was generated for customers and staff.

The Wine Community’s digital transformation began by replacing their outdated ERP system and combining it with a new CRM, Salesforce. Effectively they had built a complete back-end system to manage all products, inventory and customers.

However intelligent and capable this was, it still left a rather large problem, their online store wasn’t aligned to their back-end business intelligence. No matter how smart they now were, it’s wasted if customers and staff can’t access the information in a timely manner.

While their online Shopify store was a capable system in and of itself, it failed to properly talk to their CRM and other internal systems. This created a constant stream of inefficiencies and operational chaos.

“The communication line wasn’t direct…it created too much chaos for us to really be able to drive traffic to the website with any confidence.”

• Disconnected data: Products sold out by the sales team were still available online, leading to a fear of overselling. Because each batch of wine has a finite quantity, oversold products cannot be fulfilled and customers were getting upset.

• Admin overload: Managing two separate platforms, one for the eCommerce store and one for the internal sales team, was too complex for their small team.

• Innovation barriers: Building new features like subscriptions and event bookings was difficult with costly add-ons.

Matt recalls the frustration for the team, “The main thing that we decided that needed to be resolved was the dual management function of having an eCommerce store that is managed on this platform over here and then having our internal CRM and Salesforce over here”.

The StoreConnect Solution: One Source of Truth

The team, guided by their partner, Jo Swadling of Swan Technology Solutions, found a seamless solution in StoreConnect. The decision was a “no-brainer,” driven by the need for a “one source of truth”.

Leveraging information already in Salesforce and using it as the sole database, StoreConnect addressed The Wine Community’s biggest pain points. It provided a single platform where product details, inventory, pricing and customer information were driven from the same data source. The entire store operates within the Salesforce interface, no other systems to log into and everything updates in real time.

When a bottle of wine is sold online, inventory is immediately adjusted in Salesforce, preventing duplicate sales over the phone. This eliminated the fear of selling out-of-stock products that still appeared available online, giving the team the confidence to actively drive traffic to their website.

Beyond solving existing problems, the platform’s intuitive design and deep functionality immediately empowered the team. Things that Matt expected to be complicated, like setting up a new customer credit, was surprisingly easy.

“I expected to have to be sitting there for half a day reading through StoreConnect’s website for help documents. As soon as I dived into it, … it was much easier than expected,” he explained.

The Benefits: Time, Simplicity & Control

With StoreConnect, The Wine Community has unlocked a new level of efficiency and control, putting them on a path for rapid growth:

• Massive time savings: The time spent on eCommerce tasks has been drastically reduced. Matt estimates that they now use “less than 20% of the time” spent with their previous system, allowing their small team to achieve more with the same resources.

• Operational simplicity: The automation of sales and accounting data has eliminated the need for manual data entry and cross-checking. An order that comes through the website can be sent to the warehouse with the push of a button, a process that used to involve a whole host of manual steps.

“Before, there was a whole manual process of data entry and cross-checking required for every order. Now, with StoreConnect, our Financial Director can just hit a button and the order is sent to the warehouse.”

• New revenue streams: The flexibility of StoreConnect has allowed them to launch new subscription services and sell individual tickets to their popular wine tasting events, a functionality that was previously unavailable to them.

“We have gone live with our first two events since we have gone over to the new StoreConnect website. Both events are both booked out already and usually this only happens a few days out from the event. The bookings have come through a lot quicker, and that comes down to user experience for sure.”

• Confidence to grow: The team now has plans to move their New Zealand store and another single-product store onto StoreConnect. With StoreConnect’s out-of-the-box multi-store functionality, the streamlined backend means they’ll be able to handle this growth without hiring more staff.

When asked for what advice he would share with other business owners, Matt’s response was simple and direct. For a company like The Wine Community, operating with a small team and big ambitions, a solution that added complexity was never an option.

“Instead, go for a platform that centralizes your operations and empowers your business to achieve more with your existing resources.”

Matt’s perspective is a powerful testament to the value of truly unified commerce solutions on Salesforce.

“For us there was no other option because we needed to achieve our goals with a very small team. If you’re already using Salesforce, to me it just makes complete sense to use StoreConnect for all your commerce requirements.”

Looking Ahead for The Wine Community

With the foundation now in place, The Wine Community is ready to ramp up its marketing activities and drive the growth it has been preparing for. StoreConnect has provided the time, control and simplicity needed for the company to finally match its digital presence with its 50-year legacy of quality and service.