Independent wine merchant invests to boost online ambition

Independent wine merchant Nickolls and Perks is stepping up its online ambition after investing in new Cloud-based technology.

Nickolls and Perks managing director Will Gardener

The Stourbridge-based wine merchant, which is one of the UK’s oldest having been established in 1797, has invested around £100,000 in adopting the new WineSuite platform, which was developed for the wine industry by FHL.

Nickolls and Perks managing director Will Gardener told db the upgrade, which had been planned for 12 months, was set to be a big driver of the business.

“We’re hoping for a 20% uplift in e-commerce in the first year, rising to 50% over a three year period,” he said, highlighting the “massive” growth potential of the online shop and Amazon marketplace, which when combined account for around 25% of turnover.

The new tech is expected to lead to an overall increase of e-commerce to account for around 35% of the business, he said.

“The web is a massive opportunity,” he said, admitted that it had “stuttered” a bit in the last few years.

Currently, the Amazon market site accounts for around a quarter of the total e-commerce business, but Gardener noted it was complimentary to the main website, generating sales of more generic products in the wine list, as well as spirits.

The new site is on schedule to roll out in September, which Gardener said would mark a “big shift”, as it involved a completely new website at the back end and the opportunity to develop the customer-facing site as well as adding greater capabilities.

“The benefits of the new suite is that it brings everything under one roof,” he said. “As WineSuite comes with pre-configured wine industry features and is powered by NetSuite, we can move quickly, scale when we choose and have the flexibility to respond quickly to customers and our market. The end result will be a more efficient operation, a first-rate customer experience and a significant uplift in sales and profitability.”

Gardener argued one of the keys to its business was the personal relationships developed with its high end private customers, which make up around 50 – 60% of the business – primarily through direct communications, mail shots and telephone sales. The e-commerce would continue this ethos, he said, by becoming more interactive and helpful for its customers.

As well as a being fully responsive, the new site will have include improved navigation, boosted search engine optimisation to give it greater visibility and enabling streamlined administration features. For example, customers will be able to manage their accounts and billing online, and ask questions, giving greater interactivity with the team.

Other features include multi-currency capabilities, reserves and portfolio management, bonded warehouse management, an en primeur sales module and duty and bond management.

Gardener said this would enable more efficient monitoring of the 10,000 cases of wine stored in reserve for private clients.

“WineSuite’s reserves management feature will make it quick and easy to provide our clients with up-to-date intelligence, such as when they should be considering drinking or selling their wines,” he said.

The second phase of the roll out will be to roll out a wholesales website to cater for its trade customers, who make up about 50% of the business.