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EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Service
Innovations represents over 50 wineries & breweries, mostly from
California, with some Oregon & Washington State brands, for
export sales primarily to the Caribbean and Latin America. It has
developed over the past sixteen years a distribution network of over
60 importer/distributors in more than 25 countries, serving hundreds
of the top restaurant & resort accounts and wine stores in these
countries. Service Innovations travels extensively throughout this
region hand selling the wine brands represented, providing education
to consumers and training to wait staff, and supporting its
distributors to care for its brands.
There has
been tremendous growth in culinary tourism in the Caribbean and Latin
America building over the past 5-10 years, with many more resort
properties and high-end restaurants being built throughout this
territory. The very same people who are the customers of the premier
wine brands in the United States make up the majority of tourists in
these markets, and they increasingly demand the very best wines with
which they are already familiar when they travel.
Representing
the wine brands that it does, Service Innovations provides many
benefits to the wineries it represents. The markets of the Caribbean
and Latin America are increasingly competitive, with a long-standing
relationship with Old World wines, a heavy influx of New World wines,
and particularly more California wines trying to penetrate the market
every day. With its portfolio, Service Innovations is able to obtain
the mind share of the distributors and accounts in a way that
stand-alone wineries have difficultly. Principals and Buyers have a
one-stop shop to obtain the wine supply they need. Distributors and
Accounts have support, in their country, for the placement and sales
of the wines in the portfolio, at a fraction of the cost wineries
would incur if they attempted it on their own.
Patrick
Burke handles marketing & sales in the region, traveling to most
markets twice a year, and hosting in California hundreds of
distributor and account principals and staff. Mr. Burke has 25 years
experience in production & service management and sales. For
nearly 20 years Mr. Burke has traveled abroad working in
international sales & operations. He earned bachelor degrees in
both Political Science and Broadcast Communications & Marketing
from San Francisco State University. Scott Irby handles all corporate
matters and supplier & logistical issues stateside, with some
travel to the markets served. Mr. Irby has over 35 years of business
management experience. He earned his MBA from the University of
California, Berkeley and his BA in Business Management from Humboldt
State University. Additionally, Service Innovations has contract
sales assistance, accounting, and legal services as needed to support
its wineries and distributors.
SERVICE
INNOVATIONS, INC.
Service
Innovations began its wine export business in 1995. Initial sales
were into Costa Rica where it founded a distribution company when the
distributors available at the time were unwilling to invest in
California wines. Placement of its initial brands was swift and soon
the long-established distributors in the country were interested in
taking over sales of the wines.
Following
research into and interviews with the interested distributors,
Service Innovations selected a distributor to take over the brands it
had placed in Costa Rica. The following year, sales were established
throughout Central America, and the following year distribution began
in Mexico and the Caribbean. Subsequently, sales have been
established in the South American countries where it makes economic sense.
The
portfolio of Service Innovations has grown by 1-2 wineries per year,
at a rate that both respects the corporation's commitment to its
current wineries, while keeping introductions of new brands at a rate
that its distributors can absorb. Its distributors are always looking
for a couple new brands each year, and by providing these options for
them, the distributors can often select only from the recent
additions to the Service Innovations portfolio.
As a
"Contract Sales Representative", Service Innovations
maintains a very unique approach to sales in its markets such as:
- Selection
of importer/distributors via in-country visits to research,
interview, and select distributors who are the most capable and will
care for and build its brands. Service Innovations believes it is not
enough to only attend trade shows to meet with whoever happens to
show up as many wineries do, and be limited to those individuals as
the only sales solution in a country. Rather it works with the best
of the best in each country to import and distribute its wine brands.
- Focus on
direct relationships not only with distributors in its countries, but
lots of "face time" with individual accounts in the
countries of its territory, and often consumers there, to create a
pull for the wines that facilitate importation and sales of the wines
in its portfolio. It is not a demand on distributors to sell its
wines, rather, a partnership throughout the supply chain that creates
robust sales of the wines it represents.
- Service
Innovations further balances its portfolio to both provide wines for
the premium to ultra-premium consumer and to offer a broad range of
wines to satisfy every palette.
- Service
Innovations has the resources to facilitate export sales, at every
step of the sales continuum, from sampling the wines to get initial
interest of distributors in a brand, to registration where needed,
actually getting wines placed in specific house accounts,
facilitating orders and shipping logistics, and collections on
invoices due.
MARKETING
AND SALES ACTIVITIES
Service
Innovations can best be described as a Contract Sales Representative
for its wineries. The focus is on taking the unique culture and
approach of each of its wineries into the sales territory to tell the
story that is unique to each winery. Emphasis is placed on
facilitating a direct relationship between the winery and the
distributors & accounts in the territory to encourage a
partnership that results in the distributors seeing themselves as an
extension of the winery in their country. Virtually every step in the
marketing and sales activities is designed to support this approach:
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Initial
introductions of a new winery to its distributors typically occurs
during the Spring sales calls in the countries of its territory, at a
time that distributors are often reassessing their portfolio based on
the most recent winter high season's sales results. Service
Innovations unveils emerging changes in the brands the distributor
carries, and presents any new wineries for the coming year.
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Then during
the Summer months when distributors are in their slow season,
distributors, their staffs, and their accounts are hosted in
California for education and introductions to its wine brands and
winery principals. Service Innovations hosts in California well over
200 guests each year from its territory, touring the wineries, often
at lunches & dinners hosted by the wineries. It is a wildly
successful sales tool when they return to their markets to present
wines to accounts and customers with a variation of, "Well, when
I was at this winery earlier this year, we sampled a vertical of this
wine and this vintage is exceptional".
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The
critical time of Fall is when final decisions are being made on
distributors' portfolios and account menus. Service Innovations again
visits the countries of the territory to assure that its wines stay
in play and are selected for special promotions such as
wines-by-the-glass, winemaker dinners, featured wines, etc.
WINERIES
OF SERVICE INNOVATIONS, INC.
Service
Innovations initially started with mid-tier wine brands that could
both show the quality of California wine, while keeping the price
competitive. That was in 1995 when the knowledge of California wines
in Latin America was extremely limited. This brand and its
price-point proved very successful at raising the awareness of the
quality of California wines.
Soon the
market became more accepting of higher priced premium and
ultra-premium brands, so the brands added to Service Innovations'
portfolio are increasingly the higher-tiered wines that are world
renown and being demanded by the tourist and business sectors in the territory.
Wineries
that do well in this environment are those that understand the
challenges of initial introduction of their wines in the
international marketplace, often with cultures that still honor old-world
wine traditions, and in many cases political environments that
disrupt commerce. International sales require consistent and
long-term commitments by the wineries for stable pricing and
consistent supplies, so that tough-won placements can be served
reliably, often during annual high seasons different than that
experienced domestically.
Service
Innovations is fortunate to be involved with a select number of the
leading wineries in California, Oregon, & Washington. These
wineries have made a long-term commitment to the territory, realizing
this region as having the most robust growth potential of the many
international markets at the current time, with continuing expansion
opportunities over the next 5-10 years. Successful wineries are
consistent producers of premium and ultra premium wines, committing
to firm product allocations for this market, providing samples for
introduction of their brand & ongoing sales growth, supporting
sales with POS materials for the market, and hosting distributors
& key trade accounts during their visits to California.
DISTRIBUTORS
OF SERVICE INNOVATIONS, INC.
Service
Innovations works predominately with well-funded and long established
importer/distributors who are focused on the wine trade and have a
track record of exceptional customer service. Further, distributors
must be well run administratively and communicate effectively with
their customers and with suppliers alike. Although some distributors
have been identified at wine shows and others by referral, most
distributors were selected to represent wines in its portfolio based
on research in their country as to those who best fit this criteria.
Service Innovations approach is to first get to know the country, the
business culture, & the distribution options there, and then work
with the best-in-class distributor.
Over the
past 16 years, Service Innovations has built a distribution network
of more than 60 distributors in over 25 countries. Many distributors
have been in business for decades, and even centuries. They share the
commitment of long-term relationships to best support and build wine
brands in their country. They are well versed in wines in general,
and increasingly in California wines specifically. Most have
sommeliers on staff to assist in building their wine programs.
Distributor
commitment to the portfolio of Service Innovations cannot be
over-emphasized. Many of the brands it currently carries were either
by request from a distributor, or if the distributor was contacted by
a winery directly, the distributor replied they were willing to take
the brand if the winery would work with Service Innovations. Why?
With the thousands of wine brands available today, the distributors
are constantly bombarded by winery sales reps. With Service
Innovations' extensive portfolio, distributors have one point of
contact for a wide range of California wines, affording it the mind
share of the distributors. Additionally, with its unparalleled
presence with the accounts and distributors in their country and
logistical experience & support in California, Service
Innovations builds with its distributors strong long-term
partnerships that are not easily duplicated.
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