Cofficient Implemented NetSuite for Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s Complex Membership and Distillery Operations

The Client

Scotch Malt Whisky Society operates in distilling, membership and ecommerce. Founded in 1983 by whisky enthusiast Pip Hills and friends, SMWS is a private members club and independent bottler. The organisation bottles rare single-cask, single-malt whiskies at cask strength from over 125 distilleries worldwide, selling exclusively to its 40,000-plus members across multiple territories. SMWS operates member venues in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London, alongside an international presence across 20 countries.

The Challenge

A multifaceted organisation that required migration to a more flexible and scalable business management platform. Key requirements on top of a multi-country, multi-currency solution included inventory and production management, bonded warehouse compliance, ecommerce and venue EPOS integration, as well as management of its membership subscriptions.

SMWS had been through multiple ownership changes. Glenmorangie PLC acquired the business in 2004. The Artisanal Spirits Company then acquired SMWS in 2015. These transitions created legacy systems and processes that needed consolidation.

A typical NetSuite implementation approach following a structured process that began with planning and discovery, moving through system design, development, and testing, and concluding with deployment and ongoing support. Key aspects of this approach include defining clear business objectives, assembling a dedicated project team, meticulously planning each phase, migrating data accurately, customising the system to fit specific needs, supporting integration mapping and testing, performing extensive testing, and providing comprehensive user training.

The Solution

We followed a structured NetSuite implementation approach that began with planning and discovery, moving through system design, development and testing, and concluding with deployment and ongoing support.

Key aspects of this approach included defining clear business objectives, assembling a dedicated project team, meticulously planning each phase, migrating data accurately, customising the system to fit specific needs, supporting integration mapping and testing, performing extensive testing and providing comprehensive user training.

Key technical work included:

 

• Creation of a distillery management system which included cask management, blending and bottling management processes
• Stock cost adoption and value appreciation accounting processes
• International trading compliance with specific regards to tax and duty
• Integration to venue EPOS systems
• Integration to membership management and replication of financial transactional processing on NetSuite
• Deployment of key business process of record to report, order to cash and procure to pay

 

The Results

Cofficient successfully supported this members’ club and independent bottler to deploy a reliable and scalable financial and operational management solution with a broad range of requirements, requiring deployment of core solution functionalities as well as significant industry-specific customisations and integration to third-party solutions.

Scotch Malt Whisky Society now operates on a flexible and scalable business management platform across multiple countries and currencies.

The distillery management system handles cask management, blending and bottling management processes. Stock cost adoption and value appreciation accounting processes work through the system. SMWS purchases casks from over 125 distilleries and the system tracks each unique single cask bottling with its distinctive numerical identifier.

International trading compliance operates with specific regard to tax and duty requirements. The bonded warehouse maintains the compliance essential in the whisky sector.

Venue EPOS systems integrate directly with NetSuite across Edinburgh, Glasgow and London locations. Membership management integrates with financial transactional processing. Members can transact across venues and ecommerce with full visibility in the system. The business manages over 40,000 members worldwide.

Inventory and production management operate at scale. The business manages rare single cask bottlings with proper controls and visibility.

Finance teams benefit from integrated record-to-report, order-to-cash, and procure-to-pay processes across all operations.

SMWS operates a unique business model combining a membership club, an independent bottler, venue operations, and ecommerce across multiple territories. The NetSuite platform supports this complexity across multiple countries and currencies.

Cofficient delivered core solution functionalities alongside significant industry-specific customisations and third-party integrations.

The result is a members club and independent bottler with a reliable, scalable platform that handles the unique requirements of a whisky membership business operating across multiple territories with complex distillery management and bonded warehouse compliance needs.