Great Western Wine
Background
Bath based Great Western Wine is a wine retailer with a difference. Supplying both consumer and trade buyers, the company offers a distinctive selection of top quality wines from independent winemakers at ‘boutique’ estates from around the world offering wines that are often not available anywhere else.
Being different from many of their competitors has enabled the company to grow rapidly and to pick up some memorable accolades along the way to achieving a turnover which now tops £6m. In particular it is proud of being voted Independent French Specialist of the Year in the French Wines Awards for Excellence in 2003; Top Wine Merchant in the South West in the Which Wine Guide 2003 and West of England Wine Merchant of the Year in the International Wine Challenge in 2003.
As Philip Addis, Managing Director explains, “Great Western Wine prides itself on quality and a knowledge of wines that is second to none". From the initial hand selection of our wines to the delivery and after-sales service we offer, our primary objective is customer satisfaction. All our staff are experts in their specific field and are recruited because of their passion for wine and dedication to service."
The Client's Brief
With a vast experience of small business web design, Iconography were briefed to create an entirely new website which was able to reflect the ethos, style and dedication to quality and service which has characterised Great Western Wines since they started in business in 1983.
The site needed to be welcoming, user-friendly and easy to navigate and provide an ecommerce web design with sections appropriate for both retail and trade customers. For the first time the website was to introduce an online wine service with details of every wine categorised by country of origin, type and vintage to make searching and buying easy.
Ecommerce Web Design
We recommended a site which would allow intending buyers to browse the entire contents of Great Western Wine’s cellars in the way most suited to themselves. This involved setting up the search facility in a number of different configurations all built around a large database capable of storing information about the entire stock. Not only this but with stocks changing by the minute the company’s stock control needed to be linked in real time to the user interface to allow up-to-the minute stock availability to be displayed.
Wine can be selected on 12 different criteria including;
- Country of origin
- Type
- Vintage
- Vineyard or producer
- Price
...and selection can even include wines of organic origin or biodynamic production.
The site has been purposely endowed with a wealth of helpful advice for customers. At www.greatwesternwine.co.uk you can view their full, eclectic portfolio complete with detailed tasting notes, in-depth information about the producers and national press recommendations. Any combination of wines can be ordered online, to be delivered to your home, or gift-wrapped and delivered to any address in the UK, complete with tasting notes.
The overall result has been acclaimed by the company as having met their overall objectives well and has helped to project the company as an innovator in wine retailing which has further boosted sales since the site was launched in late November 2005 in time for Christmas.
Philip Addis is confident that this opportunity will offer significant added value to both retail and trade customers. He commented that: “Our new look Website has significantly more information readily available for our consumers to view and download online. We’re also planning to develop more elements of the site for our trade customers in the near future.”
