November of last year and again on April 29th of this year we posted updates encouraging wineries to take a breather and look hard at vendor selections for economic stamina in this difficult economic environment that faces the US.
We stated that,”In times of economic uncertainity it is common to shop and to seek the best deal possible. We do that to our vendors on behalf of our clients to ensure our clients are getting value for their dollar along with products that are of quallity and consistency. We vet our vendors to ensure they will be around for the long term.
WTN Services® is a long term player with 19 years experience with strong economics and is firm in its commitment to our customers for the long run. While most of our competitors recently had large cut backs in their customer services, compliance and other customer facing departments- WTN Services® has not lost anyone in customer service nor account management. We have some of the longest tenured winery support and account managers in the industry. We recently expanded our compliance services team and offering and have enhanced our three tier services offerings.”
WTN Services® has consistently suggested that you must understand the financial health of your partners on an ongoing basis, and if they are backed by venture capital firms, you should also understand the commitment of the VCs and their investment objectives and timeline. Our company has a very public face. Our CEO was recently interviewed by Businessweek TV and Magazine speaking to our multiple brand strength and financials http://feedroom.businessweek.com/?fr_story=cfe18d7ccb5c4967720a5effe360ee97d5c21a1f
and our financials are featured in our annual report
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/FLWS/670172221×0x257208/f7c76683-3c8f-4c5f-9879-c80846a35b72/FLWS%202008%20Annual%20Report.pdf
The questions of rather a winery or wine e-tailer should outsource or keep fulfillment in-house can be a tricky and complicated question. Given the recent developments in the industry many wineries are having second thoughts and are gun shy.
It should not be a difficult question, but you must ask the right questions on how it impacts your business.
WTN Services® is a profitable business and operates under the umbrella of a large corporation 1-800Flowers.com who has demonstrated it has a strong financial balance sheet and views the economic downturn as an opportunity to acquire new assets and grow the businesses it owns for the long run. This is demonstrated by the recent addition of certain assets of the Geerlings and Wade purchased and added to the WTN Services®/Winetasting Network® brands of companies.
Contrary to what some winery fulfillment providers would like you to believe, outsourcing fulfillment does not bring immediate success nor is it always easy.
There is no “one stop solution” or triangle of services that is scalable or nimble enough to provide everything for every change on the horizon for direct to consumer wine services.
The key to your success is selecting a fulfillment provider that is nimble, scaleable, financially solid and partnered with multiple best of breed vendors that are able to adapt to a changing direct to consumer market.
At WTN Services® we understand the questions and the needs of outsourced fulfillment. As the wine industry pioneer with 19 years in service, we have out-lived most of the competition and continue to execute excellence partnered with our parent company the publicly traded:1-800 Flowers.com
Tasks that a winery may consider outsourcing are fulfillment, ecommerce, Public Relations, Call Center Management, Compliance and more. Outsourcing has become a key component for winery growth, understanding that with the correct outsourced partners, the winery can then focus on what it does best ,create great wines and work on marketing and building of the brand equity.
A broad range of wineries and e-tailers outsource. The spectrum and reasons are broad, some ship as few as a few thousand cases a year, some ship hundreds of thousands. The lesser volume winery or e-tailer may outsouce fulfillment due to human resouce constrants, the higher volume winery may in order to better leverage direct to consumer inventory and logistics experts that the corporation may not have in-house due to focus on sales to trade.
It is the correct course for the winery or e-tailer to outsouce fulfillment if they have a steady plan for growth on the horizon. Outsourcing fulfillment, ecommerce and complaince can be a blessing, if the right questions are asked.
The key to outsourcing any part of the business is having a solid plan, understanding goals, deliverables, roles and responsibilities and communication. Communication on the business plan and a project plan for execution are critical.
When making the decision to outsource there is a detailed series of questions that should be considered and areas that you should review internally and with the vendors being considered in your RFP process.
Components of your questions should be broken into the following areas…
Business Plan Development- there should be an internal plan for growth that is shared with the fulfimment vendor behind the reason to outsouce.
Supplier Management- are you suppliers, warehouses, bottling facilities aware of the outsourced fulfillment plan and the change to their business directives given this new element to your business cycle.
Order Management- Do you have systems and processes established in order to faciliate the transmission of orders to the fulfillment partner and them back to you.
Inventory Management- Do you and the fulfillment provider have documented processes in place for ease of inventory management, communications and data transmission?
Transporation Management- Have you considered carrier alternatives, can the fulfillment company leverage carriers to your benefit?
Returns Management- What are your returns polices and procedures and can you fulfillfment partner aid in returns management?
Financial Management- How are your financial systems integrated into the process?
Information Systems- Can you suppliers, order entry, inventory management,fulfillment, accounting and carriers all “talk to each other” or have a process for triggered coordination?
Behind each of the questions above is a subset of questions that should be considered and responded to internally and by the fulfillment vendor during the RFP process of selecting the correct vendor.
WTN Services® has an indepth understanding of the needs for a solid successful integration and selection criteria to aid you in selecting the correct fulfillment partner. Outsourcing fulfillment is a critical piece to the longterm success of your brand.
WTN Services® is committed to educating you, ensuring you are equipped with the tools and questions to ask, so that you make the decisions that are right for your business and brand. Stay tuned for more indepth postings concerning outsourcing to the right fulfillment provider…