New program will help wineries tap into the cloud
VinSuite, a joint venture between Australian company VINx2 and Napa Valley-based eWinery Solutions, aims to use cloud computing to streamline the process of getting wine from the vine to the table - and put more money in the pocket of primary producers in the process.
Online wine sales are ubiquitous across the wine trade but account for only about 10 per cent of all transactions that pass through wineries.
According to Richard Kline, CEO of eWinery Solutions, wineries have to use separate pieces of software for all the other facets of their industry.
"The whole software landscape for wineries has really been one-off small companies that take on one little niche of the industry," Mr Kline said.
"There are a lot of moving parts and for every moving part there is a separate piece of software. We are now taking all those moving parts and putting them on a single platform."
Mr Kline said he started eWinery Solutions a decade ago focused on direct-to-consumer sales for local wineries from tasting rooms, websites, and telemarketing.
But Mr Kline discovered wineries also needed to manage production as well as sales to retail, wholesale and restaurants and in addition run accounting products and deal with customer relations.
Enter VinSuite, to be launched later this year, built on NetSuite cloud architecture and combining an eWinery Solutions customer sales product with a business and production platform created by VinX2. eWinery Solutions in effect becomes a sales agent for five-year old VinX2 in the US.
"Currently, there is a lot of clutter for wineries," Mr Kline said. "Now, it will be all internet based. Every aspect of the business."
Wine industry statistics show the US is the world's leading consumer of wine, drinking almost 3 million litres in 2010.
Australia ranks 10th, consuming 530,000 litres.
The US industry alone is valued at $34.6 billion while Australia's domestic market is valued at approximately $2.8 billion.
Russia, Spain, China and Argentina also ranked as top-10 consumers nations according to a study conducted by The Wine Institute, a US industry advocacy group.
NetSuite's chief executive Zach Nelson said software companies had previously been reluctant to address the needs of small to medium-sized industries such as the wine trade because - by its very nature - it consists of many small dispersed businesses.
"Nobody really made software for the wine industry," Mr Nelson said.
"They would say 'Oh my god, it's 10,000 tiny little wineries; I'll never be able to go and install software at them all'.
"Well, now with cloud, it is 10,000 wineries that you don't have to install software at. They open a browser and come to you. Suddenly, that market becomes real enough to invest in. And suddenly a global market becomes available."
Mr Kline said eWinery Solutions has up to 600 customers across the US, Australia, Canada, South America and Europe with plans to expand those markets.
"We're already working to bring the product to Australia," he said.
The New York-based author travelled to San Francisco as a guest of NetSuite.
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
VinSuite is a cloud-based wine industry platform created as a joint venture between Australian company VINx2 and Napa Valley-based eWinery Solutions. It combines eWinery’s customer sales tools with VINx2’s business and production platform and is built on NetSuite cloud architecture.
VinSuite aims to put all the moving parts of a winery—sales, production, accounting and customer relations—onto a single internet-based platform. The goal is to streamline the process from vine to table and make operations more efficient for primary producers.
According to the article, VinSuite is scheduled to be launched later this year.
Wineries typically use separate niche software pieces for tasting-room sales, websites, telemarketing, production management, retail and wholesale orders, accounting and CRM. VinSuite brings those separate functions together on one cloud platform to reduce that ‘clutter’ and simplify management.
eWinery Solutions contributes its direct-to-consumer sales product and will act as a sales agent for VINx2 in the US. VINx2 provides the business and production platform. NetSuite supplies the cloud architecture on which the combined product is built.
The article notes the US is the world’s leading wine consumer (drinking almost 3 million litres in 2010) and the US wine industry alone is valued at about $34.6 billion. Australia consumed about 530,000 litres and its domestic market is worth roughly $2.8 billion. Online sales currently account for only around 10% of winery transactions, highlighting potential for cloud-based sales growth.
eWinery Solutions has up to 600 customers spread across the US, Australia, Canada, South America and Europe, and the company is working to expand those markets.
NetSuite’s CEO Zach Nelson explained that software companies were previously reluctant to serve the wine industry because it consists of many small, dispersed wineries that would be hard to install software at individually. With cloud technology, wineries can access software through a browser with no on-site installation, making the market reachable and investable on a global scale.
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