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THE CHALLENGE:
A single application that could effectively manage a single set of customer accounts tied to a sophisticated product management and supply chain inventory system that would allow customers to purchase wine at any of the three stages of inventory status; In Stock, In Transit and Pre-Arrival. The system had to manage thousands of products with 60+ product details, hundreds of customer mailing lists, offer advanced customer data mining tools and allow both admin and customer self-service order and account management.
THE SOLUTION:
In less than 2 months, Submerce delivered a comprehensive web-based customer, product and order management solution that included a custom-designed inventory management module that can handle three status of inventory; In Stock, In Transit and Pre-Arrival. The inventory system allows customers and phone sales representatives sell any product in any status while mixing multiple statuses of the same product in a single order, allowing Blicker-Pierce-Wagner to offer wines that may not be physically in stock. Coupled to Submerce's comprehensive account and order management solution, both customers and administrators have real-time access to orders and account records.
"Having real-time access to data and the ability complete in-depth data mining has been a major competiive advantage to Blicker-Pierce-Wagner", says Tim Holtermann, Senior Programmer at Submerce. "Working closely with the customer and designing the entire system on paper before committing to programming was essential to the success of the project as well as keeping to a budget", continues Holtermann.
After nearly three years of running on the Submerce platform, Blicker-Pierce-Wagner continues to dominate the buying and selling of fine wines and rare vintages on the internet for less. This is done by using a very small and efficient workforce that takes advantage of the automation tools that Submerce offers such as UPS and FedEx integration, credit card processing and customer service functions. By having a smaller staff, Blicker-Pierce-Wagner not only can reduce their operating costs, but can also provide a level of hands-on customer service that their customers expect day or night. Customers can log into their online account, place orders, check current order status, track packages and read weekly newsletters regarding their latest cellar offerings.
Blicker-Pierce-Wagner heavily relies on the Submerce Order Management Solution extensively to handle inbound/outbound phone sales which includes customer relationship data points such as tasting notes, ratings and upsell/ crossell opportunities. Tied directly to their customer accounts, products and entire order history, sales reps have over 60+ data points on products and potentially hundreds on a single customer that can help recommend the purchase of wines based on history or related items that are currently available. Customer service representatives can leave notes on accounts as well as customers that allows a virtual conversation take place regarding past, current and future orders.
Lastly, Blicker-Pierce-Wagner takes full advantage of Submerce Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools that come standard in any installation. This allows their product management team apply metatags to products driving traffic from all points of the globe. So, it's not uncommon for their website to receive multiple orders from the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Russia and more- making a small company that is based in a tiny Napa Valley town write an international success story.
You can visit the Blicker-Pierce-Wagner website by going to www.bpwine.com
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