Coravin speeds up innovation in wine tech with Shopify

Ever wished you could savor different wines without committing to a whole bottle? Coravin makes that dream a reality. Whether it's a dinner party, brunch, or any special occasion, Coravin lets guests explore a variety of wines—one glass at a time.

Founded in 2013 by Greg Lambrecht, an MIT engineer with a background in medical devices, Coravin has revolutionized wine enjoyment and preservation. The Boston-based company developed a unique system that allows users to pour wine without removing the cork, preserving the wine's quality over time. "Coravin is not just a product but a gateway to transforming the wine drinking experience," says CEO Dave Krupinski.

But how does it work? Coravin's wine preservation systems operate on a simple three-step process: place the device on the bottle, press the handle to insert the needle through the cork, and tilt to pour. Using specialized capsules filled with argon gas for still wines and CO2 for sparkling wines, the system prevents oxidation, preserving the remaining contents. Trusted by wine professionals globally, Coravin offers an efficient and reliable method to enjoy and preserve wine.

Coravin shifted over to Shopify from self-hosted Adobe Commerce (Magento) so they could enhance their customer checkout experience, improve site stability, reduce overall costs, and scale their business with a trusted ecommerce leader—aligning with their goals for growth.

With Shopify, Coravin has:

• Reduced total cost of ownership by over 50%
• Immediately post-migration, all ecommerce KPIs improved or remained stable
• Improved site performance and an uptime of 99.9% as part of Shopify's infrastructure
• Improved customer satisfaction for both internal and external end users

The challenge: Missed opportunities and high costs

The company’s long-term goals were ambitious as Coravin set out to increase conversions and lower their total cost of ownership (TCO). However, the company was having difficulties achieving these goals on their previous platform, the on-premises Adobe Commerce solution.

Hindered growth and innovation

Coravin is a global business with e-commerce sites around the world serving both consumers and businesses. Managing 14 separate ecommerce stores across different regions, Coravin struggled with high costs and complexities of integrating new technologies. "We were constantly running into platform limitations, which hindered our ability to scale, add new functionality, and innovate efficiently," says Dave. With Shopify, Coravin uses the Stores and Markets feature. Coravin operates four regional stores and has a total of 14 Markets within those Stores. Additionally, Coravin is using Shopify’s consumer functionality as well as Shopify’s B2B features in combined or hybrid stores.

“As a business, our core competency is wine technology, not building a custom ecommerce experience. Our previous configuration required us to maintain an Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure and a multi-tiered technology stack. This was both costly and inefficient – and most importantly we were not running a best-practice ecommerce site. With Shopify’s hosted solution, we’ve eliminated many of the extra infrastructure costs and we immediately upgraded the features and functionality of our online store”.

Disparate systems, disjointed experiences

Coravin's customer service team used a number of different systems for handling customer inquiries and managing the online store. Although transaction processing happened in Adobe Commerce, a third-party processor was used for payments and another system was used for managing fraud. This resulted in an inefficient experience for Coravin’s customer service reps.“It was a very disjointed customer service experience moving from one system to the next,” Dave explains. As Coravin continued to expand their market presence globally, they wanted to enhance their direct-to-consumer (DTC) and B2B sales channels. One thing became clear: they needed a more agile and cost-effective solution.

Site performance and downtime

With the Adobe Commerce self-hosted solution, Coravin was responsible for managing site up-time and the production operations of the AWS infrastructure. From time-to-time, this infrastructure would fail resulting in slow site performance or downtime. With Shopify’s hosted solution, Coravin no longer needs to maintain a costly AWS environment or have a team on-call 24/7 to support the infrastructure should there be a failure. The result has been a more efficient and stable customer experience.

The solution: An optimized, out-of-the-box platform

The decision to migrate to Shopify emerged from a critical need to overhaul Coravin’s ecommerce experience. The tipping point came when Coravin attempted to redesign their checkout flow, only to realize they were recreating what Shopify already offered.

An integrated checkout experience

"Why rebuild something when you can adopt a system that's already the best in the industry?" This question led Coravin to Shopify, promising a seamless, integrated checkout experience and reduced need for extensive custom development. This strategy proved to lower operational costs and simplify their technology stack.

Change management

Switching from Adobe Commerce to Shopify meant having all hands on deck to ensure the change management process ran smoothly. “Change management is a huge part of it. The communication, setting expectations, the prelaunch training, the kind of launch day experience, the post-launch communication, the follow up, the ongoing issue tracking, and troubleshooting—all of that being done in an organized way is really important. The role of a project manager is extremely important in any large IT project like a migration from one ecommerce platform to another,” says Dave.

Strategic migration resources

Coravin had access to Shopify’s implementation team, which included strategic advisors that offered expert guidance on data migration strategies, 24/7 support through live chat and a dedicated phone line, and exclusive access to Shopify Academy and other learning events. This combined approach helped Coravin make adjustments swiftly, ensuring a smoother transition for Coravin’s internal stakeholders.

Stakeholder involvement, communication, and training

Involving every department was key in Coravin's successful migration process. From customer service to finance, each team had to adapt to the change as they moved from multiple systems to Shopify's unified platform. This shift improved efficiency at Coravin, especially for the customer service team, who benefited from having all their tools now available on one interface. The Coravin team still gives regular updates and holds tailored training sessions. “It’s key to make sure everyone is comfortable and proficient with the new system,” explained Dave.

Internal engagement hasn’t only made the transition to Shopify easier for Coravin, but it’s also helped create a more collaborative and informed company culture—which is essential when adopting new technologies and processes.

The results: Better site stability and simplified processes

Since migrating to Shopify, Coravin has experienced significant improvements in site stability, speed, and user experience.

Speed and security

Since making the switch to Shopify, Coravin has seen a faster site and server performance that doesn’t pose security threats. “When it comes to site speed and site stability, there’s definitely a noticeable improvement to what we would occasionally deal with previously,” says Dave.

Optimized operational efficiencies

The consolidation of various tools into a single platform has significantly enhanced internal processes, particularly for their customer service teams. "The transition to Shopify not only optimized our operational efficiencies but also allowed us to maintain our sales momentum with no disruption," says Dave.

Ease of use for internal and external users

Dave shared an example of how easy Shopify is to use with positive feedback from an enterprise sales team member who had just returned from parental leave: “This individual, who missed the system cutover due to his absence, was immediately struck by the improvements in the user interface and navigation of the Shopify admin compared to Magento. He told me that Shopify's design was significantly more intuitive and user-friendly, making it easier for him to manage and facilitate customer interactions, such as sending links to their carts for order placement.”

The Coravin sales team appreciates that Shopify now allows them to simply create an order and then send a link to the customer to finalize the purchase. This not only simplifies navigation but also enhances the ease of use. “One of the things that everyone at Corvin has been surprised by is just how much friction is removed from the process when you're using Shopify for both internal and for external users, especially in the checkout process ” says Dave.

Lower total cost of ownership (TCO)

Coravin significantly lowered their total cost of ownership (TCO) on software licensing, technology stack, and developer resources that were used to support and maintain their previous platform. These results ring consistent with research commissioned by Shopify from a leading independent consulting firm, which found that Shopify’s overall TCO is 29% better than Adobe Commerce.

With new cost savings on Shopify, Coravin is free to use innovative capabilities that help them move faster, all while using their time to focus on their business. “Coravin has customers around the world and achieving a consistent standard of performance globally is something that we see now with Shopify,” says Dave.

What’s next for Coravin?

Looking ahead, Coravin is excited about making the most of Shopify’s complete feature offering.

B2B and subscriptions

Coravin is expanding their B2B capabilities and exploring new ecommerce channels. The company is also keen on implementing Shopify’s upcoming subscription capabilities to offer customers a more convenient way to purchase consumables, like argon gas capsules. "Our journey with Shopify is just beginning, and we see tremendous potential for further enhancing our customer engagement and sales strategies," Dave says, optimistic about the future of Coravin in the evolving digital commerce landscape.

Growth and innovation

If Dave could give new brands coming over to Shopify advice, it would be to do it sooner rather than later. "Don't wait for everything to be perfect in order to release. Try to release lower-risk features or stores first, as we did, but ensure you have a phased plan of implementation. This allows you to put it into production, gain some experience, and be prepared to react quickly based on that experience. Also, engage all your internal stakeholders in the change management process," explains Dave.

Coravin's strategic decision to migrate from self-hosted Adobe Commerce to Shopify is a move they won't soon forget. Not only has it streamlined their operations, it's also positioned them for future growth and innovation in the wine technology sector.

So that just like pouring wine without removing the cork, Coravin's Shopify-powered commerce will flow easier than ever.