Lucija Koželj: Small Gestures Have a Big Impact

Our guest today is Lucija Koželj, who is responsible for digitalizing operations at Hiša dobrih vin Koželj. The roots of this family business go back to 1993. Today, the company operates in five locations. In the beginning, the Koželj family, along with their employees, mainly focused on distributing wines to larger clients. However, recently, they have been paying more attention to retail.

Let's start by touching on the trends in Slovenia in the field of winemaking. Are there any interesting characteristics you observe in this area?
We can see that global wine trends usually reach us with a slight delay, typically by about a year. Recently, I’ve noticed that Slovenian customers have developed a growing fondness for sparkling wines and champagnes. Light, drinkable wines are also quite popular.
Do we prefer red or white wines in Slovenia?
There aren’t any strong preferences in this area. At our establishment, white wines may sell slightly more, but the difference is minimal.

Customers often buy wines from you as gifts. Do you have any advice in this regard?
The key is knowing the taste preferences of the person you’re buying for. For lighter wines, price is often a deciding factor for customers, with prices typically ranging from ten to fifteen euros. Heavier wines can quickly become much more expensive. In our house, we also strive to support smaller wine producers. We refer to these as hidden gems on the market. These are extremely high-quality wines that are also affordable. I believe everyone can find a wine that suits their taste with us.

We talked about wine as a gift. You’ve made it easier for such customers by introducing digital gift cards. Your company also places a strong emphasis on digitalization in general?
Yes. We live in a time when having the right information is very important, even in hospitality. Of course, a regular guest feels much more at home when the host serves them a wine they already like. These small gestures can play a very important role in the market. In the wine business, it’s also important to pair food and wine correctly, especially with seasonal menus. I believe this is becoming an increasingly significant area. Otherwise, digitalization helps us save a lot of time with certain processes. In the past, we used various spreadsheets to analyze data, but today, modern tools make this work much more efficient. Recently, we’ve been dealing with connecting different programs. The goal is to consolidate processes in one place, so we avoid duplicating tasks.

Nowadays, it's hard to find a successful company that doesn’t use recommendations in their business. Many still use classic paper gift vouchers, but these have quite a few disadvantages compared to digital solutions, don’t they?
In the past, we also offered customers the option to buy paper gift vouchers. However, this caused us a lot of work, especially in record-keeping. All the data had to be processed manually, and the vouchers printed... If you're operating from one location, this is still manageable. But coordinating data across multiple locations presented a significant challenge for us. That’s why we recently decided to introduce gift cards. They are already available in physical form, and soon they will be available for purchase on our website as well.

Lastly, what advice would you give to entrepreneurs considering the implementation of digital tools?
First of all, don’t be afraid of these tools. At the beginning, you may need some time to train employees. But once the system is set up, the work becomes much faster and more efficient.