Impact Story – Sea Smoke
Pioneering a Transparent, High-Demand Allocation System with Custom eCommerce.
Sea Smoke Cellars is considered by many aficionados as a cult winery. One of the ways they achieved this distinction was through an innovative way of marketing their brand.
From their inception, Sea Smoke knew they wanted to sell almost entirely direct-to-consumer. This made them a pioneer in the DTC sale of wines. Through a combination of tightly controlled production and a highly rated wine, allocations have always been highly constrained, making it difficult to acquire.
Anticipating that they would have a long waiting list for their wines, the other way Sea Smoke distinguished themselves was by making their list process totally transparent. Most constrained wineries made it very difficult to understand how to get on the list, how long it would take, and how much allocation you might receive once you got on the list.
Sea Smoke changed all of this with a system that assigns every member a number of points based on the number of people they refer, the length they are in the program, and the amount of dollars they’ve spent. The more points a person accumulates, the more wine they are allocated.
Their operation is small and tightly run, and they needed a custom eCommerce solution that not only incorporated their unique allocation logic but also provided features that would enable a small team to efficiently manage a large sales volume.
Understanding the Challenge
When Sea Smoke launched their first site in 2001, eCommerce software was very immature. No off-the-shelf packages had anything like the functionality that they required.
In addition to the custom allocation logic, they wanted advanced shipping functionality that would do things like defer shipping for a later date (when the weather was cooler), split shipments to different locations (many of Sea Smoke’s customers have multiple homes), and produce shipping labels.
Later, they wanted to integrate ShipCompliant, which enabled a host of functions. One of the most useful was the ability for them to get immediate feedback from a shipper like FedEx if no one was available to sign for an order. This enabled Sea Smoke to be aware if an order was going to sit longer than anticipated on a hot truck so they could work to get it rapidly redelivered or rerouted.
The Solution
We initially built the solution using Microsoft classic ASP, then later redeveloped it in WordPress and WooCommerce. This included creating a custom member portal and enhancing the admin interface with tools for allocation creation, shipping options, and custom reports. We streamlined the allocation distribution process with a custom algorithm and developed a shipping module to handle alcohol shipping regulations, which vary by state. The system also aggregates orders for shippers, tracks pallets, and manages white-glove delivery services.
The solution features custom programming for handling change requests, order holds, special handling, state taxes, and real-time shipping fees. Finally, we integrated the system with Microsoft Dynamics, Sea Smoke’s accounting and ERP platform, enabling automatic order downloads from the website into Dynamics.
The Bells n Whistles
Each allocation period brings new challenges as SSC management is always looking for ways to improve their system. These updates include such features as….
- Adding a custom Wishlist option – customers who purchase their entire allocation can wish for additional bottles. # of bottles able to be wished is controlled in the allocation settings
- Sharing an allocation with a friend – List members can share their allocation with a friend who isn’t on the list. They specify how many of each bottle they want to share, and the recipient receives an email, and can choose to accept and purchase the shared allocation.
The Impact
Prior to their custom eCommerce solution, the Sea Smoke team was frantic each allocation period. With hundreds of clients, thousands of products, and a white-glove service, there was a lot of pressure on very few resources to get the allocations out accurately, and on time.
Now, a single administrator can run the entire process. “K,” has shared with us how grateful she is for this solution as it now allows her to spend more time with her family.
The Payoff
The success of Sea Smoke Cellars is due to their focus on quality at every stage. This includes the farming, winemaking, and the customer experience, which is entirely digital.
Their success has been so resounding, that an international beverage company recently purchased Sea Smoke Cellars for well over $100 million. Well Done!
