How Tamburlaine Organic Wines Boosted Online Sales by 88% with Shopify Plus

Background

Tamburlaine Organic Wines traces its roots back to 1966, when the Dunstan family planted the first organic vines in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales. Over decades they built a reputation for quality, certified-organic wines sold both through cellar-door, wholesale partners, and a custom online system. That in-house platform managed web orders, inventory, and accounts, but lacked modern analytics, flexibility, and a user-friendly interface. As national growth accelerated and the team planned to expand overseas, the limitations became more obvious: customers dropped off at checkout, membership pricing tiers were difficult to manage, and reporting was minimal. It was clear that to power the next phase of growth, Tamburlaine needed a more robust commerce engine.

Challenge

The existing system was pieced together for retail, not digital. Pricing tiers were hard-coded, data lived in silos, and making changes meant calling a developer. Members who’d earned discounted rates for volume or loyalty had to be invoiced manually. The lack of real-time analytics meant decision-making relied on gut feeling. As membership renewal loomed in July 2019, the pressure was on to migrate customers, historical orders, and membership data without disrupting revenue. Some team members feared yet another platform change after two migrations in two years. The stakes were high: any delay or data loss could hit renewals, churn members, and frustrate wholesale buyers.

Crafting a Solution with Shopify Plus

In March 2019, Tamburlaine signed on with Shopify Plus and enlisted a specialist data analyst to clean, format, and import every record: customer profiles, orders, membership tiers, and product variants. Thanks to a well-defined timeline and round-the-clock coordination, all data landed on the new platform well ahead of the membership cutoff. The team leveragedShopify Scriptsto build custom pricing logic: members bought at different rates depending on tenure and purchase volume. Tags based on buying behavior were applied automatically, setting the stage for targeted marketing later. The out-of-the-box templates provided an attractive storefront, while the scripts handled the complexity beneath. Customers testing the new site found it intuitive and fast. Tamburlaine also integratedGorgiasfor live chat, mimicking the in-store tasting experience online and cutting down on service calls.

Impact & Results

Just six weeks after launch, the conversion rate climbed 30% as fewer shoppers abandoned carts and more members checked out smoothly. Early in 2020, projections showed over a 50% increase in site sales year-over-year—but when COVID-19 forced cellar-door closures, online traffic spiked and website revenue soared 88% by the fiscal year’s end. Membership renewals hit record highs, and lapsed members were recaptured through segmented email campaigns. Analytics dashboards gave the team visibility into product performance, top-performing customer segments, and peak order times, enabling smarter promotions. The new system also scaled gracefully during holiday and bundle offers. It was a surprising boost, and the team was thrilled, they had not expected such rapid growth.

Key Takeaways

Tamburlaine’s move shows that legacy brands can outgrow custom solutions and find agile, scalable alternatives in modern commerce platforms. Planning a data-first migration, embracing automation for complex pricing, and integrating real-time support can transform online performance almost immediately.