www.whwc.com

“I know it’s only mid-afternoon, but just wanted to tell you this already appears to be the largest single day of Internet sales in the history of the store and it's only the first day that the new site has been up and running. Particularly impressive given the fact that January and February are by far the slowest months of the year historically speaking.” – January 2008

“Thanks in large part to the great work by SysIQ, our company has significantly increased online transactions and has accelerated its growth of new registered customers. We now believe that our well-designed, user-friendly website properly reflects our position as one of the leading wine merchants in the United States.” – July 2008

Eric Smith, Director of Operations
Woodland Hills Wine Company

“Dear Woodland Hills, No need to reply, but I just wanted to praise you folks for the EXCELLENT overhaul of your Web-based interface. You are the only organization that offers an RSS feed to my browser. I have to admit I hated your site before, especially the search engine. Now it is perhaps the best in the business in my opinion (and I frequent about 30 of the top online wine vendors each month). Keep up the great work! Kind Regard.” – July 2008

Troy
Customer

The Company
Woodland Hills Wine Company began in 1978 as Northridge Hills Liquor in North West Los Angels. The family run store became known for its broad selection of international and California wines, and eventually became primarily a wine shop. In 1998 they moved to a new 12,000 square foot location in Woodland Hills and became the Woodland Hills Wine Company. They have since grown to become the premier destination for wine in Southern California (praised by Los Angeles Magazine as “The Best Wine Shop in L.A.”) and have expanded into the online wine market in order to service their customers throughout the region.

The Challenge
Woodland Hills realized that their web-site didn’t effectively communicate the value of their brand, nor could it handle the constantly changing nature of their vast inventory fast enough to keep up with customer demand. They realized that they were in the unique position to move from being a local leader to a national player, but they needed an ecommerce site that could communicate their value as effectively as their in-store sales team. They also needed a way to allow their customers quick and easy access to their vast wealth of knowledge and information about wine, both in store and online.

The Solution
SysIQ provided Woodland Hills with a comprehensive cross-channel solution that included a total site redesign, in-store kiosks, and a complete hosting and managed services package. Focused on developing the Woodland Hills brand, SysIQ began with a creative discovery process that allowed us to pin-point and enhance important brand assets. Using these assets, SysIQ created a new site build on Intershop’s powerful Enfinity 6 ecommerce platform that connected the in-store brand value with Woodland Hills’ online customers. The new site features navigation by type of wine, price, and country, as well as a staff picks page and an inventory counter that lets customers know how many bottle of a particular vintage are left in stock. SysIQ also set up an RSS feed that allows wine coinsures to stay on top of the latest staff reviews and inventory updates. Successfully managing Woodland Hills’ ever changing inventory was key to the solution. Woodland Hills Wine Company operates on a high volume, low margin business model, so their success is dependant on moving large quantities of wine that are often produced in small batches. Using Enfinity’s catalog management system, along with tight integration with their back-office inventory systems, SysIQ created a solution that ensured Woodland Hills’ customers would never be presented with a wine on the web-site that the store had sold out of.

The Result

• Woodland Hills Wine Company recorded higher sales volume on the day the new site launched than on any previous day, and did it in January, one of the slowest months for wine sales.
• Woodland Hills doubled its online sales in six months.
• Woodland Hills continues to expand its market presence and thanks to its online store has become a national player in the wine industry.