Ste. Michelle Wine Estates leverages Microsoft Dynamics 365 to transform customer experience

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Sep 23, 2019, 08:00 ET

WOODINVILLE, Wash. and REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, the third-largest premium wine company in the United States, and Microsoft Corp. have announced plans to empower consumers throughout the shopping experience and transform the way Ste. Michelle Wine Estates does business with an end-to-end omnichannel solution across physical and digital channels.

With three distinct consumer touch points — e-commerce, traditional brick and mortar, and loyalty programs such as wine clubs — Ste. Michelle Wine Estates was challenged by the complexity of the technology needed to provide a true 360-degree view of its consumer. To offer consumers the best possible experience, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates was seeking a single comprehensive consumer engagement platform capable of integrating distinct brands across all its direct-to-consumer sales channels. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce enables Ste. Michelle Wine Estates to offer a holistic consumer shopping experience.

For example, this new platform will provide a complete purchase history for every consumer across all three direct-to-consumer channels — e-commerce, brick and mortar, and clubs — and across the different brands in the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates portfolio. This will enable Ste. Michelle Wine Estates to custom-tailor product offerings to individual consumers and to offer individualized suggestions based on past purchases — again across all brands and channels. The platform will also enable future convenient methods of fulfillment, such as mobile ordering for curbside pickup at a winery or on-site purchase with same-day courier delivery service to the home.

"We make and import the best wines in the world, but we need to do a better job of getting those wines into our customers' hands," said Joe Gregg, chief information officer, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. "Matching Microsoft's world-class technology with our world-class wines enables us to meet that challenge."

"When I joined Ste. Michelle last year, I worked with our Senior Management Team to set forth a new strategic plan for our company. Building an omnichannel approach to marketing, selling and consumer engagement is a key pillar of our plan," said Jim Mortensen, chief executive officer and president, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. "Our new strategic plan places the consumer at the center of everything we do, and Microsoft's technology will allow us to make good on that promise by delivering a more seamless consumer experience."

Dynamics 365 Commerce is a comprehensive omnichannel solution for retail and e-commerce companies that unifies back-office, in-store, call center and digital experiences. Dynamics 365 Commerce empowers people in the organization to transform the customer experience — from the digital experiences that make shopping fun and rewarding to productivity and collaboration solutions to help retail employees provide outstanding customer service. In addition, intelligent systems provide deep insights to empower advanced decision-making and personalization, delivering the fully connected commerce solution retailers need to build brand loyalty, optimize operations and supply-chain efficiencies, and deliver better business outcomes.

"Ste. Michelle Wine Estates has been a pioneer in the wine industry for more than 80 years," said Lorraine Bardeen, general manager, Dynamics 365, Microsoft. "Today, the company is innovating again, leveraging Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce to provide its customers with elevated digital experiences while improving productivity and collaboration amongst employees. Commerce provides Ste. Michelle Wine Estates with the deep insights and advanced decision-making capabilities it needs to continue to modernize."

About Ste. Michelle Wine Estates
Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, located outside of Seattle, Washington, has a distinguished history that dates back to 1934. The company pioneered vinifera grape growing in Washington State while wines under the Ste. Michelle label were first introduced in 1967. Today, SMWE owns more than 3,900 vineyard acres across Washington, Oregon and California with key sites certified with the LIVE, Salmon Safe or Napa Green designations. SMWE's 'String of Pearls' wine portfolio represents owned or imported brands, all demonstrating the producers' unwavering commitment to creating distinctive, high-quality wines from authentic estate vineyards. Chateau Ste. Michelle, its cornerstone winery, enjoys winemaking partnerships with some of the world's most distinguished vintners. Col Solare is an alliance with Tuscany's Piero Antinori, Eroica Riesling is a partnership with the Mosel's Ernst Loosen and Tenet is a collaboration with Michel Gassier and Philippe Cambie of France. SMWE's charitable giving program, which supports some 400 non-profit organizations annually, has provided more than $3 million for scholarships for high-achieving, low-income students at Washington universities. The company also was the principal fundraiser for Washington State University's viticulture and enology institution, the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates Wine Science Center.

Ste. Michelle's Washington portfolio includes: Chateau Ste. Michelle, Columbia Crest, 14 Hands, Col Solare, Northstar, Spring Valley Vineyard, MERF, INTRINSIC, Seven Falls and Michelle sparkling wines. In California, the company owns Stag's Leap Wine Cellars (with Italy's Antinori family), Conn Creek (Napa Valley) and Patz & Hall (Sonoma). Ste. Michelle also owns Erath Winery, in Dundee, Oregon. The company became the exclusive U.S. importer in 2006 for the renowned Marchesi Antinori wines of Italy and Chile's Haras de Pirque wines, for Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte of France in 2009, and for New Zealand's Villa Maria Estate in 2010. For more information, please visit www.smwe.com.

About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT" @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

SOURCE Microsoft Corp.