Country Vintner Makes a Premium Choice to Drive Sales with OrderWriter®

Overview

The Country Vintner is regarded as the top Fine Wine importer and distributor in the mid-Atlantic.  Since its formation in 1980, the company has grown to cover the Virginia, Washington D.C., Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Delaware, and Florida markets.  With their 90 sales consultants, the Country Vintner works with over 5,500 restaurants, wine shops and wine retailers.  By offering over 7,500 products from around the world, the Country Vintner stocks a variety of wines to fit the unique needs of each customer.  The goal of the company is to provide each customer the best service and the finest wines available in the food and beverage industry.

Challenge

The volume of product information that pertains to each bottle of wine is staggering.  Each product and label is different due to seasonal changes, technical characteristics of the wine, ratings and reviews.  With the number of products on the rise and the growing number of customers relying on the sales consultant, it was becoming difficult to manage customer information, price the wine correctly, provide world-class customer service and enter customer orders accurately.  The information the sales consultants needed to do their job was being mailed or faxed to them weekly.  Because the sales consultants were taking orders with pencil and paper it was not uncommon to order the wrong item, wrong quantity, or forgetting to order an item.  Because the company was growing rapidly, the problems continued to be a major challenge to correct.

Solution

Ai2’s OrderWriter® software has enabled Country Vintner to implement a proven solution to enter orders accurately and keep the sales consultants informed.  Sales and product information automatically flows from the host system to the sales consultant via OrderWriter on a hourly basis, thus eliminating a time consuming and costly task for the Customer Service Rep’s and Accounting.  Now it is easy to respond quickly to customer questions.  Before implementing OrderWriter®, the sales consultants had to hand write orders or call them in to the Customer Service Rep (which was prone to errors).  The enhanced capabilities of OrderWriter® have eliminated redundant entry of order information and have permitted accurate orders to be electronically sent in throughout the day.  Warehouse and delivery functions have become far more efficient.

“What OrderWriter® offers us is a complete view of each customer that shows their purchase history, accounts receivable status, and specific pricing information,” says Doug Adams, CEO/President for Country Vintner.  “It also permits the sales consultant to take orders, check for substitute items and check for inventory.  Because of OrderWriter®, we can now take orders until 8:00 PM for next day delivery, which makes our customers’ very happy.  Each sales consultant in the field has optimal support because of OrderWriter®.”

Besides using OrderWriter® to increase employee productivity, communication and enhance customer service, Country Vintner also uses OrderWriter® to customize order guides to meet the unique needs of each customer.  OrderWriter® has been an important factor in the company’s growth of over 600%.

“OrderWriter® has been very responsive to us,” comments Adams.