Wine importers don’t struggle because they can’t sell wine.
They struggle because complexity quietly destroys margin: split systems, inconsistent pricing, freight and duty guessed in spreadsheets, stock inaccuracies across channels, and finance spending its life reconciling reality back into accounts.
Odoo fixes this by consolidating the operating model into one platform across import, warehousing, wholesale, DTC, and customer management—with a single data backbone from lead → quote → order → dispatch → invoice → BAS.
The commercial upside is straightforward:
- Cleaner margins and tighter cashflow via accurate landed cost, pricing discipline, and faster quote-to-cash
- Lower compliance risk with structured GST/BAS reporting and controlled WET treatment
- Less operational drag by removing re-keying between CRM, inventory, ecommerce, 3PL and accounting
1) CRM & Account Management: The Wholesale Growth Engine
Wholesale growth is won in repeatable execution: capturing leads, progressing tastings, converting to trial orders, then locking in reorders and allocations. Most businesses try to run that through inboxes and memory. That’s not a system.
What Odoo supports
- Lead capture from web forms, inbound enquiries, events, and imports
- Pipeline stages tailored to wholesale (Prospect → Tasting → Trial order → Approved account → Active)
- Account plans: key contacts, venues, buying cycles, preferences, and notes
- Activity tracking: calls, tastings, follow-ups, tasks, reminders
- Opportunity products, expected volumes, probability-weighted forecasting
- Territory/segment assignment (on-premise, retail, online partners, state-based)
- Email templates/sequences for onboarding, follow-ups, allocations, and new releases
- Quote creation directly from opportunities (push to Sales in one click)
- Customer 360 view: orders, invoices, payment status, support history
Practical outcomes
- Sales activity becomes consistent and auditable, not hidden in inboxes
- Pipeline visibility improves forecasting credibility
- Higher conversion from tastings to repeat orders through structured follow-up
- Better retention as relationship history survives staff changes
2) Import & Purchasing: Control Inbound Flow
Imports are where planning failure turns into cashflow pain: late paperwork, unclear ETAs, mismatched receiving, and supplier terms living in someone’s head.
What Odoo supports
- Supplier purchasing workflows (RFQs, POs, confirmations)
- Inbound shipment planning and receiving against purchase orders
- Import paperwork attached to transactions (commercial invoice, packing list, customs docs)
- Vendor price lists and lead times
Practical outcomes
- Clearer inbound visibility and fewer arrival surprises
- Reduced admin and fewer receiving errors
- Supplier performance becomes measurable, improving negotiation leverage
3) Landed Cost & True Margin
If you can’t calculate landed cost properly, you don’t know your margin—you have an opinion about margin.
Odoo captures landed cost as part of the workflow, allocates it consistently, and pushes the true cost into stock valuation and margin reporting.
What Odoo supports
- Landed cost capture: international freight, duty, clearance, insurance, port charges
- Allocation rules (by quantity, value, weight, volume)
- Automatic stock valuation updates and margin reporting
Practical outcomes
- True gross margin per SKU/vintage, based on actual cost inputs
- Accurate valuation for financial reporting and pricing decisions
- Faster response to freight, FX, and supplier cost movements
4) Inventory, Warehousing & Traceability: Accuracy You Can Scale
Wine distribution depends on two things being true every day: stock is accurate, and traceability holds up under pressure.
What Odoo supports
- Multi-warehouse and multi-location stock management
- Lot tracking for wine (batch-level traceability)
- Barcode scanning for receipts, picking, packing, stocktakes
- Putaway rules, pick routes, replenishment rules, reorder points
- Stock reservation/allocation to prevent overselling
Practical outcomes
- Higher pick accuracy and fewer dispatch disputes
- Audit-ready traceability for recalls and quality events
- Lower stockout risk and reduced dead stock
5) Product Model Built for Wine
A messy catalogue is a hidden tax: incorrect pricing, wrong vintages shipped, broken reporting, and duplicate products everywhere.
Odoo supports a clean product structure where vintage is a variant, and packaging is handled consistently.
What Odoo supports
- Product variants: vintage + bottle size (+ pack formats if required)
- Packaging hierarchy: bottle / 6-pack / 12-pack / pallet
- Consistent catalogue structure across wholesale and ecommerce
Practical outcomes
- Clean pricing and reporting at vintage level
- Less duplication and fewer data errors
- Better customer experience: right vintage, right pack, right price
6) Wholesale Sales: Improve Quote-to-Cash With Pricing Discipline
Margin leakage typically isn’t one big error—it’s a hundred small exceptions: “just this once” pricing, overridden terms, invoices delayed, and credit exposure unnoticed until it’s late.
What Odoo supports
- Customer-specific price lists and trading terms
- Quoting and sales orders with availability checks
- Credit limits, payment terms, and approval workflows for overrides
- Automated invoicing from dispatch
- Optional customer portal (orders, invoices, statements)
Practical outcomes
- Less margin leakage from ad-hoc pricing
- Faster order processing with fewer back-and-forths
- Better debtor control and fewer overdue surprises
7) Direct-to-Consumer eCommerce: One Stock Truth
DTC becomes expensive when ecommerce inventory disagrees with the warehouse, promotions are manual, and customer comms require multiple tools.
With Odoo, DTC runs on the same product, stock, and finance backbone as wholesale.
What Odoo supports
- Integrated ecommerce storefront and product catalogue
- Promotions: discounts, bundles, vouchers/coupons
- Real-time inventory availability and automated order creation
- Payment integrations and automated customer communications
- Returns/refunds workflow
Practical outcomes
- A single inventory truth across channels
- Lower cost per order and fewer customer issues
- Better conversion through accurate availability
8) 3PL Fulfilment Integration: Less Re-Keying, Better Reconciliation
If you use a 3PL, the operational risk usually sits in the gaps: orders re-keyed, tracking delayed, stock drift, and returns chaos.
What Odoo supports
- Automated order release to 3PL (with pick/pack instructions)
- Shipment confirmation back (tracking, dispatch, carton data)
- Inventory sync (on-hand, allocated, damaged/holds)
- Returns/RTV handling
Practical outcomes
- Fewer fulfilment errors and less manual handling
- Accurate tracking and proactive customer updates
- Better reconciliation between ERP and 3PL stock positions
9) Tax & Compliance GST/BAS + Controlled WET Treatment
If tax rules live in people’s heads and spreadsheets, compliance becomes personality-dependent. That is not a control environment.
Odoo can be configured so GST/BAS mapping is structured and WET treatment is controlled and consistent via defined tax rules and product classification—reducing manual interpretation at the point of sale and crediting.
What Odoo supports
- Australian accounting localisation for GST and BAS structure
- Clear tax mapping by channel (wholesale vs DTC) and transaction type
- WET handling via defined tax rules and product classification, ensuring consistent application on applicable sales and correct reporting treatment
- Landed cost and import charges mapped to the correct GL accounts for transparent audit trails
- Controls/approvals for credits, write-offs, and pricing exceptions
Practical outcomes
- Consistent GST and WET treatment instead of ad-hoc manual handling
- Faster BAS preparation with clean supporting detail
- Fewer finance workarounds and fewer reconciliation loops
10) Reporting & Decision Support: Replace Spreadsheets With Operating Clarity
The goal isn’t dashboards. The goal is operational clarity: what’s selling, what’s slow, what’s profitable after landed cost, and what’s likely to happen next month.
What Odoo supports
- Margin by product/vintage/customer/channel (including landed cost impacts)
- Pipeline forecast (CRM) plus order forecast (Sales)
- Stock ageing, sales velocity, and replenishment signals
- Fill-rate, pick accuracy, returns rate, and service KPIs
- Dashboards: cashflow, debtor ageing, inventory valuation
Practical outcomes
- Better buying decisions and less cash tied up in slow-moving vintages
- Clear view of channel performance (wholesale vs DTC)
- Faster decisions based on consistent data, not spreadsheet debate
The Bottom Line
Odoo works for wine import and distribution because it forces coherence:
- One product model (vintage variants + packaging)
- One inventory truth (warehouse, 3PL, wholesale, DTC)
- One financial reality (landed cost into valuation and margin)
- One compliance structure (GST/BAS with controlled WET treatment)
- One customer system (CRM → sales → service history)
That’s how you protect margin, tighten cashflow, and stop the business being held together by heroic effort.