Wines & Vines

70 WINES&VINES February 2018 I n the far southern edge of Napa County, where reclaimed marshland is rapidly turn- ing into warehouses and other commercial properties, one of the newest buildings is the sprawling headquarters of WineDirect. The building covers nearly 260,000 square feet and includes offices and a vast fulfillment center, plus room for winery case storage. Completed in August, the building represents the final integration of WineDi- rect and the winery e-commerce and website provider Vin65. It's also the base from which the company is hoping to find success as a leader in online wine sales while continuing to take advantage of growing direct-to-consumer sales. Part of the company's strategy is to take advantage of online wine marketplaces, a model that Ama- zon recently abandoned. Jim Agger, WineDirect's vice president of marketing and business development, pro- vided Wines & Vines a tour of the new build- ing, describing it as not just a milestone in terms of its fulfillment capacity but also be- cause all parts of the company are now under the same roof. "That's been a big, huge shift for us," he said. Past several floors of glass-walled offices and work stations, the new building opens up to a vast warehouse that seems spacious enough to dock a dirigible. At one end of the structure, opposite a row of truck bays, are large metal racks containing thousands of cases of wine from hundreds of wineries. Elec- tric lift trucks whiz among the racks, plucking cases that are brought over to a series of con- veyors where orders are assembled. WineDirect works with more than 200 wineries in order fulfillment, and when the company receives cases from one of its clients, each is assigned a bar code and label. Cases only move when the firm receives an order. "We have to have the same rigor on inventory control as a bank," Agger said. 'Pick to light' fulfillment The company uses what is known as a "pick to light" system, in which the workers each have their own color and RFID scanner. After scanning an order, colored lights and num- bers guide them to pick up the right wine to complete the order. Once the order has been filled, the wine returns to a holding area, where it circulates on conveyors and returns only if it's needed to fill another order. After a certain amount of time, the wine goes back into storage. Completed orders are then sent to quality control, where another worker checks each bottle of wine as well as any other packaging flourishes requested by the client. Agger said wineries—especially premium boutique ones— are doing more to create an "unboxing" experi- ence for customers. This can include wine and order information in a high-quality envelope or other materials that need to be in just the right place inside the shipper. As he or she double checks an order, the employee has a photo to refer to showing how a correct order should appear. In a separate area, a couple dozen workers go through the laborious process of packing individual bottles of wine for shipment for a well-known sparkling wine producer. Agger said it probably was a wine club allotment and said such shipments are becoming more and more rare as customers expect—and wineries can provide—custom club ship- ments. "Consumers want to build their own shipments," he said. "Personalization puts a big strain on a winery." Building an Online Wine Marketplace After integrating Vin65, WineDirect now sets sights on online wine sales By Andrew Adams A worker at the new WineDirect fulfillment center fills a wine order using a "pick-to-lights" system.

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