Dry River Wines:
Built for even the most discerning wine lover

Problem

Dry River is an NZ icon, so when they needed help migrating their ecommerce from Shopify to Commerce7, we were excited to make it happen. The old website was dated, wordy, and difficult to navigate. 5forests was tasked with modernizing the layout of the website, improving readability and usability, but without losing the branding elements and style guidelines unique to this much-loved winery.

Background

Dry River had a rough idea of what the new site should look like, but also knew there was room to improve the digital customer experience. Improved navigation, usability, and customization were top on our list. Their emphasis on allocation offerings meant that we needed to go beyond basic DTC and ensure that the Commerce7 experience was par excellence.

Meaningful change

The result of this transition was a beautifully restructured website and a stronger user experience. From an elegant blog design to pages that effectively showcase brand storytelling, Dry River’s new site was built to impress even the most discerning wine lover.

A grid of sections from the Dry River website: wines, library stills, cellaring guide, allocation list and vineyard photography
The Dry River home page on a phone

The thinking behind the next chapter

A winery with Dry River’s reputation doesn’t need to be louder; it needs every decision to protect what people already value in it. When new leadership took Dry River into its next chapter, we did the groundwork first, so that each step, from the website to new markets, is grounded in quality, transparency, and heritage.

Strategy

Developed Dry River’s brand strategy and market expansion plan, setting the order for every move that follows.

Market research

Studied the market from the buyer’s side: critics, merchants, resellers and the sources collectors check before they commit.

Fractional CMO

Held the whole plan as on-call CMO, including the parts Dry River and its specialists run.

Personas

Built Dry River’s buyer personas from its own customer records and what its buyers say in their own words.

Customer journey

Mapped each persona’s path from first hearing of Dry River to holding an allocation, and where buyers drift away.

Before and after

The Dry River home page now: Nature. Nurture. Knowledge. with Request Allocation, above photographs of a glass and the cellar The Dry River home page on Shopify in 2020: an aerial photograph of the vineyard under Nature. Nurture. Knowledge. Before 5forestsAfter 5forests
The Dry River Current Offering page now: each wine photographed on black The Dry River Current Release page on Shopify in 2020: a long vintage report beside wine cards over a cellar photograph Before 5forestsAfter 5forests
The Dry River Story page now: the founding story above a photograph of a Dry River barrel The Dry River Philosophy page on Shopify in 2020: text over a photograph of grapes being picked Before 5forestsAfter 5forests

Project details

Client

Dry River Wines

Region

Services

Winery websites, Commerce7 websites, Wine marketing strategy and growth, Fractional CMO services for wineries

Website

Visit Dry River Wines