Migrating from WineDirect to Commerce7: Some Features Won’t Be Available (And Why It’s a Positive Change)
With the recent acquisition of WineDirect by Commerce7, wineries now have two years to migrate. While the transition may seem daunting, the truth is that Commerce7 offers a more stable, streamlined, and feature-rich solution that will benefit your winery in the long run. Having worked at both WineDirect and Commerce7, I can tell you that the move is a step in the right direction.
With that said, there are going to be some WineDirect features that won’t be available in Commerce7. Here’s what you need to know about the differences, why it might not be so bad, and most importantly, the solutions to keep your operations running smoothly.
1. Shipping Strategy: A New Approach
One of the biggest differences between the two systems is how they calculate shipping rates. If you sell magnums or larger bottle sizes, you know those bottles and regular bottles ship in separate packages, leading to higher shipping costs. In WineDirect, products are assigned to a shipping strategies, so it can create two shipping rates and two shipping labels in this scenario. However, this functionality does not exist in Commerce7. It calculates shipping rates based on total weight of the order.
To address the cost concern, I recommend increasing the prices of your magnums (or other items that can’t ship with regular wine bottles) to absorb the additional charges. Calculate the additional cost for shipping a separate package and bake that cost into the price. For shipping labels, I recommend the Shipment Manager app which allows you to set up rules for grouping products that can ship together and generating shipping labels accordingly based on the rules.
Keep in mind that customer experience matters most. Seeing multiple shipping charges on an order will cause more cart abandonment. By only having one shipping charge, Commerce7’s approach leads to higher conversion. It's time to view shipping as a marketing investment rather than just an operational expense.
2. Import and Export Tools: Adapting to the Change
WineDirect offers a variety of Import/Export tools, but Commerce7 does not. Let’s look at the ones you may use on a regular basis: Customer Importer, Club Member Importer, Shipping Rate Importer and Inventory Importer.
Customer Importer: Wineries often use Customer Importer to add customers into Contact Types. You would export the customer list, massage the data in Excel and reimport the customers with a Contact Type.
Commerce7 has a more powerful and customizable “List Builder” (called Queries). Instead of importing customer data via Excel, you can likely tag customers using Queries, or even use Dynamic Tags which tags customers in real-time, based on configured conditions.
Club Member Importer: While the bulk import of club members may seem convenient, it’s important to note that this process isn’t PCI-compliant as you have to enter the full credit card number in the spreadsheet for the import to work. It’s not a responsible way to handle your customer’s sensitive information. This doesn’t exist in Commerce7.
Shipping Rate Importer: Wineries often use this to import the rates they are being charged by their carrier and pass along the same rates to the customer. While this seems straightforward, it often leads to a poor customer experience, especially when customers see high shipping charges at checkout.
Simplify your shipping rates. Rather than importing rates from your carrier, consider a flat-rate shipping strategy or offer free shipping with a minimum order. This can improve your checkout conversion rate and reduce cart abandonment. Your shipping rate table shouldn’t be so complex you need an importer to update it. Again, wineries should view shipping as a marketing investment, not an operational expense.
Inventory Import: In WineDirect, you might have relied on bulk inventory imports to update your counts after doing a physical count. WineDirect had lots of issues with their inventory management (ie. pickup website orders deplete from the shipping inventory pool), so an importer is needed to make updates and correct the faulty inventory logic. In Commerce7, the focus is on accurate real-time inventory management. When you compare your physical counts against the counts in the system, the majority of the numbers should match. There may be a few that are different and you can update those one-by-one, but you shouldn’t need to bulk import if your system is working well.
3. Club Welcome Package: Streamlining the Signup Process
In WineDirect, you can configure your club so it automatically charges new club members and ships them a Welcome Package. However, Commerce7 doesn’t support this feature, and here's why: It’s about reducing friction in the signup process. Potential club members often don’t want a shipment processed when they sign up, especially when a club shipment will be processed in the near future. This is a surefire way to cause frustration and missed signups. If the new member does want wine right away, Commerce7 has a Ship It Now option but the choice to receive a shipment early is on the club member.
4. Min Quantity per Order and Order Multiples: Reducing Friction for Sales
WineDirect allows you to set minimum order quantities and order multiples (e.g., only allowing orders in multiples of 6). While this may seem like an effective way to drive larger orders, it often creates friction and can result in missed sales opportunities.
If you must have these restrictions, you can try Bundles and Allocations where you can set Min Qty and Bundle 6 packs of wine and you will likely get close to replicating this functionality.
5. Prepay Club: Why It Doesn’t Work for You
WineDirect’s prepay club option might have seemed like an easy way to secure revenue, but it’s not without drawbacks. Prepaid clubs often lead to lower club tenure as memberships are automatically cancelled as soon as their last prepaid shipment is processed. It also leads to lower average order value for club shipments as members don’t have the option to add bottles or adjust their shipments. With Commerce7, the prepay club option is no longer available.
Offer club members the option to purchase Gift Cards instead and link the gift card to the club membership. The membership remains active even after the balance runs out and they are able to make adjustments to their shipments.
Need Help? Sign Up For A Pre-Migration Review Today!
There’s a lot to consider when migrating from WineDirect to Commerce7 and having an expert by your side can make all the difference. With my experience in leading customer support at both WineDirect and Commerce7, I’ll review your current WineDirect setup, create a report outlining how you can replicate your workflows in Commerce7, and any necessary adjustments or workarounds. I’ll also provide training and go over different scenarios you may encounter, ensuring you handle them smoothly in the new system. My goal is to help you get the most out of Commerce7 and make the transition as seamless as possible.
Don’t hesitate to reach out for personalized assistance during your migration. Let’s make sure your move to Commerce7 is a success!
