Building an e-commerce platform to help a heritage whisky brand reach new audiences
High spirits
Heritage Scottish distillery Glenmorange has a rich history dating back to 1843, renowned for producing high-quality single malt Scotch whiskies.
Glenmorangie identified an opportunity to reach a new audience of younger whisky drinkers. After more than 170 years of trading, it was time to move into e-commerce, in order to adapt to the changing needs of their evolving customer base. Their aim was to develop new revenue streams by creating a distinctive, digitally-focused user experience, securing their position as a beloved and forward-thinking brand.
A new take on the ‘old fashioned’
Glenmorangie approached 383 looking for support to define, design and build a direct channel for their customers to purchase products online. They needed a partner to help realise their vision by providing critical digital product skills and building capability internally. Initially, the e-commerce platform would be launched to UK customers, in order to test, lean and iterate, before expanding into Europe and worldwide.
Distilling the brief
We kicked off the project with a full-day workshop, working with the Glenmorangie team to understand their business objectives, desired outcomes, and success metrics.
Two weeks of discovery followed, where we explored the customer journey, technical requirements, and potential risks. We had a ten-week build period for this project, so we needed to prioritise carefully to make sure we achieved the outcomes required.
The perfect blend
For this project, Glenmorangie wanted a techstack that was scalable, flexible, and offered the team control over content and features without having to rely on engineering support.
To deliver this, a headless e-commerce approach combined Shogun as the front-end and content management system, and Shopify as the back-end solution to manage inventory, customer data, and facilitate orders.
Throughout the project, we had to consider how we integrated the tech stack with Glenmorangie’s distribution partners, to ensure that orders could be facilitated.
Whisky business
From our discovery, we established that the priority outcome for this project, and the highest risk area of the customer journey, was the purchase experience; how would a user transact on the site, complete a purchase, and have their order fulfilled successfully.
Our first sprint goal was aligned to this priority, and we then worked in two week epics across design, product management and engineering to build, iterate and deliver the platform.
I can't think of a better partner than 383. Their years of working in digital have created such a seamless and transparent way of working together to deliver exceptional value. You can really see the exceptional quality of work being produced to meet our outcomes together
A dram good time
Glenmorangie’s first direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform was successfully launched into market, driving over £100k in sales during the first three months.
Alongside creating new revenue streams, the site has given Glenmorangie a scalable and adaptable platform to create and publish content, enabling them to forge relationships with new audiences, while staying true to their heritage of craftsmanship and quality.
