The wine retail landscape continues to evolve all around us. Just this month, Amazon, the online giant, recently got out of the wine business (again) due to the variety of legal regulations surrounding interstate wine shipments. And as that happened,Twitter, yes, that Twitter, decided to sell their own branded wine from which the proceeds will benefit the Room to Read non profit. And then 7-11, the large chain of convenience stores, made news when they announced a proprietary wine under the Yosemite Road label to retail for $3.99 to tap into the growing market for wines under $5.00. These retailers are offering their wines to a a very broad, massmarket audience and, as you can probably guess, the wines they offer aren't claimed to be the best or of much variety.
As daunting as this might be for retailers, if you've read my past blogs, you know I am excited by these non-traditional retailers offering wine to the mass market. A mass market wine consumer is more likely to become a wine lover than a consumer that never experiements with wine at all.
It sounds obvious, but the demographic scope of wine drinkers is changing and growing thanks in part to these non-traditional retailers who are able to reach a new population who haven’t taken the time to choose a bottle of wine from their local wine retailer or grocery store. But for many of these people, that first bottle they pick up offhand at the convenience store piques an interest – they began to explore and experiment with different labels, varietals, vintages, and so on.
That’s the basic process of becoming a wine lover and the reason why your retail stores have such a diverse group of people buying wine. Everyone from the discerning connoisseur to the person pairing wine with their dinner for the first time can benefit from a guide through the endless varieties of wine. Wine retailers that provide good variety, good value, interesting information, teaching tools/merchandise, and a friendly/inviting atmosphere are the ones that will benefit most from the changing landscape. Even if the 7-11’s of the world sell lots and lots of their $3.99 wine, they won't ever want to or be able to compete with you in providing wine to those more adventurous and discerning customers. And that is why variety, good prices, and constant education of yourself and your consumer is key to your success.
Cheers!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Wine Clubs - Here and Everywhere
It's no secret that wine clubs are a growing phenomenon -- a simple web search reveals that all kinds of organizations now have wine clubs, from newspapers to political groups and schools Just this week I received an invitation to join my alma mater's alumni wine club, and saw a similar offer in a magazine. You can read this interesting article to get a little bit more information.
This trend, perhaps daunting in terms of competition, is an exciting one for the wine industry and all retailers. Most important is the notion that these clubs could never have existed without a fast growing and diversifying population of wine lovers and drinkers. We all know that the wine industry is growing in production (think of the number of wineries), consumption, and population with benefits us all. Now, these organizations are casting a net to even a larger group that will grow into full-fledged wine lovers.
This is where all wine retailers can really take advantage! As the wine population grows and becomes more discerning, wine retailers will be there to offer these new customers with new tastes, pairings, adventures, accessories, and more. It's the retailers role to continue to provide customers with new tastes and variety so that can continue to fulfill the consumers need for adventure and exploration. And wine clubs are great for business -- they offer great margins, consistent revenues, and opportunities to connect with customers. It's an exciting and fun world and one that should continuously excite your customers when they walk into your store.
Cheers!
True Fabrications
www.truefabrications.com
This trend, perhaps daunting in terms of competition, is an exciting one for the wine industry and all retailers. Most important is the notion that these clubs could never have existed without a fast growing and diversifying population of wine lovers and drinkers. We all know that the wine industry is growing in production (think of the number of wineries), consumption, and population with benefits us all. Now, these organizations are casting a net to even a larger group that will grow into full-fledged wine lovers.
This is where all wine retailers can really take advantage! As the wine population grows and becomes more discerning, wine retailers will be there to offer these new customers with new tastes, pairings, adventures, accessories, and more. It's the retailers role to continue to provide customers with new tastes and variety so that can continue to fulfill the consumers need for adventure and exploration. And wine clubs are great for business -- they offer great margins, consistent revenues, and opportunities to connect with customers. It's an exciting and fun world and one that should continuously excite your customers when they walk into your store.
Cheers!
True Fabrications
www.truefabrications.com
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Where's my Wine From?
This week's article focuses on a consumer backlash of wines labeled as "B.C. wines" when in fact they were bulk imports from abroad that were just cellered in B.C. The companies did the right thing and agreed to change the label to make it more clear to their customers. This will be even more important when the Olympics begin in Vancouver and the world begins to newly discover BC wines!
The article points out a growing issue of labeling for everything from toys to food (what's organic mean?) to wine. Consumers no longer simply care about the end product - they want to know where it is made, who it was made by, what it is made of, what conditions it gets produced in, and how it was transported to their city.
As a retailer, you can benefit from more discerning customers by providing them with more information of your products when available along with more interesting options. Let's take the example of wineries. Many wineries have really interesting stores - the wine maker and how he/she started, how they grow their grapes, any special history, etc. You should tell the story when you know it and are excited about it.
Similarly, every state in the US now has a winery (and a lot of countries that you wouldn't expect grow their own grapes now too). Yes everyt state. For an interesting chart of wineries by state, click here. Of course California dominates, but the growing number is a testament that there is a market out their for both local and variety. We're sure your stores carry local wines but what about picking and offering your customers wines from vineyards from smaller states and even from countries you wouldn't expect? It would be a fun and a great way to do a tasting. Just like you can take a "trip around the world" at many bars with beer (since so many countries have their own beer), it's now possible to take a wine "trip around the US" or even the world. I gotta say I would love to try a wine from Romania. Perhaps your customers might be interested in a wine "state or country" of the month in your store.
And speaking of this, our six bottle box is a perfect gift set to create this holiday season - six bottles from around the world in a nice wooden box.
Cheers!
The article points out a growing issue of labeling for everything from toys to food (what's organic mean?) to wine. Consumers no longer simply care about the end product - they want to know where it is made, who it was made by, what it is made of, what conditions it gets produced in, and how it was transported to their city.
As a retailer, you can benefit from more discerning customers by providing them with more information of your products when available along with more interesting options. Let's take the example of wineries. Many wineries have really interesting stores - the wine maker and how he/she started, how they grow their grapes, any special history, etc. You should tell the story when you know it and are excited about it.
Similarly, every state in the US now has a winery (and a lot of countries that you wouldn't expect grow their own grapes now too). Yes everyt state. For an interesting chart of wineries by state, click here. Of course California dominates, but the growing number is a testament that there is a market out their for both local and variety. We're sure your stores carry local wines but what about picking and offering your customers wines from vineyards from smaller states and even from countries you wouldn't expect? It would be a fun and a great way to do a tasting. Just like you can take a "trip around the world" at many bars with beer (since so many countries have their own beer), it's now possible to take a wine "trip around the US" or even the world. I gotta say I would love to try a wine from Romania. Perhaps your customers might be interested in a wine "state or country" of the month in your store.
And speaking of this, our six bottle box is a perfect gift set to create this holiday season - six bottles from around the world in a nice wooden box.
Cheers!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Wine Blogging and New Rules
This week the FTC passed a law outlining rules for bloggers that write about a product after having received a sample. Basically, bloggers have to tell their readers they received a sample when covering a product. Here is a good quick read and opinion about it that we agree with.
I'm sure many of you do maintain a blog, and if you don't, we recommend you do for your customers to enjoy and learn. It's quite easy to set up and we recommend creating a free one at www.blogspot.com. By the way, no, we didn't get anything from blogspot to say that! We just like it.
I'm sure these rules won't be enforced for bloggers like us, but it's a good principle to follow anyways. If you are talking about a product and have somehow been given the product to try out, it's probably not a horrible idea to mention that. That's only because with amount of information out there on the internet and in social media, it's really hard to discern what is honest feedback or a planned plug for a company.
This is why, no matter how big the internet gets, there will always be a role for a local, physical place to buy your wine and get recommendations from actual people on what goes well with what. If only because talking to someone in person feels more geninuine and it controls the amount of information you get without fear of overload. Try typing in "wine pairing with steak" into google and the recommendations are endless. What website to trust, what blog to trust...who knows? I do know, rightly or wrongly, that when I go ask that same question at my local wine shop, I feel I get an honest and sincere recommendation.
I think what's most important about running a business is that you always provide honest feedback and answer their questions as best you can. The internet will always win out as the place for selection and possibly even price. But physical locations will always win out on proximity (hop in a car or a bike and come on over) and more importantly, the geninune feeling you get from the person helping you. Physical retailers need to leverage that aspect and experience for their shoppers.
If you care, you can read the full FTC press release here.
Cheers!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Death, Liquor, and Taxes
As local and state governments grapple with the budget shortfalls, which in all likelihood includes your own city or town, the one place they historically look to for revenue generators is the alcohol industry. The theory goes that a "sin" tax does little to reduce demand and so its the best way to increase tax revenues. This week's article provides some interesting tidbits about what some legislatures are proposing as it relates to increasing tax revenues from alcohol - my favorite being to make a "dry" town no longer dry to take advantage of the potential taxes.
Fourteen states are proposing increased alcohol taxes and some have already done so and some are opening up sales on Sundays or major holidays. As these changes continue to appear, I would recommend you stay in tune by signing up for information with your local alcohol or package store association. An incomplete state list of associations can be found here.
Secondly, since we know far in advance when law and tax changes and also since often they aren't huge increases (except in certain states), we can come up with creative marketing approaches that can take advantage of or simply use as a reason to have a promotion. They prove to be good marketing devices since the media does tend to heavily cover up tax increases to the public.
For instance, we heard of stores facing tax hikes that created big promotions on purchasing before the tax hike went into effect. Just a random thought, but would a "tax free" day in a wine store work like with those furniture sales? I haven't seen it before, but it sure does sound fun. This one is a tough one to work around but since I'm sure as a retailer you are always coming up with ideas, you can come up with some creative ones too that I would love to hear. In any case, stay tuned with your local trade groups at the very least and get involved!
Read Full Article
Fourteen states are proposing increased alcohol taxes and some have already done so and some are opening up sales on Sundays or major holidays. As these changes continue to appear, I would recommend you stay in tune by signing up for information with your local alcohol or package store association. An incomplete state list of associations can be found here.
Secondly, since we know far in advance when law and tax changes and also since often they aren't huge increases (except in certain states), we can come up with creative marketing approaches that can take advantage of or simply use as a reason to have a promotion. They prove to be good marketing devices since the media does tend to heavily cover up tax increases to the public.
For instance, we heard of stores facing tax hikes that created big promotions on purchasing before the tax hike went into effect. Just a random thought, but would a "tax free" day in a wine store work like with those furniture sales? I haven't seen it before, but it sure does sound fun. This one is a tough one to work around but since I'm sure as a retailer you are always coming up with ideas, you can come up with some creative ones too that I would love to hear. In any case, stay tuned with your local trade groups at the very least and get involved!
Read Full Article
Monday, September 28, 2009
Tastings All the Time
Once in a while a new technology comes along that reminds me that the way we buy everything is changing - and that translates to wine as well. For instance, have you come across a DVD rental kiosk in the grocery store that offers rentals at $1.00 a day? You just pick your movie, slide your credit card in, and out comes your movie. For those of you who haven't seen it, you will soon and for those of you who have, you can quickly realize why they have become tremendously popular in just two years. No need to go to a video rental store or no reason to get a netflix account. They are convenient and affordable.
There is something strangely attractive about a sleek metal box that provides you with instant gratification for nominal amounts of money. And that is why i was impressed when first hearing about the WineStation Machine from a couple of customers. This machine allows your store to have dozens of bottles available for customers to get a taste of wine for a small fee. It just pours out a taste, preserves the wine, and waits for the next patron! The effect could be huge by allowing you to generate revenue all the time from small tastings without having to tend to it while also exposing customers to a larger selection of wine. $1.00 a taste anyone?
Machines like this opens up the variety of wine you offer in your store and provides an affordable way for your customers to explore more before committing to the right bottle. The bottles are even preserved with argon gas so they can store for a long time. By the way, if you need a great preserver, you should check out our regulated and patented argon preserver called the Hummingbird Ultra. This is handheld for more traditional tastings!
If anyone has a good story about this machine, we would love to hear it (just reply to this email).
Good luck with all the new technology out there...
Cheers!
There is something strangely attractive about a sleek metal box that provides you with instant gratification for nominal amounts of money. And that is why i was impressed when first hearing about the WineStation Machine from a couple of customers. This machine allows your store to have dozens of bottles available for customers to get a taste of wine for a small fee. It just pours out a taste, preserves the wine, and waits for the next patron! The effect could be huge by allowing you to generate revenue all the time from small tastings without having to tend to it while also exposing customers to a larger selection of wine. $1.00 a taste anyone?
Machines like this opens up the variety of wine you offer in your store and provides an affordable way for your customers to explore more before committing to the right bottle. The bottles are even preserved with argon gas so they can store for a long time. By the way, if you need a great preserver, you should check out our regulated and patented argon preserver called the Hummingbird Ultra. This is handheld for more traditional tastings!
If anyone has a good story about this machine, we would love to hear it (just reply to this email).
Good luck with all the new technology out there...
Cheers!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Bring Your Customers Back to Have Fun
A few weeks ago, we spoke a little about how much we love corks. The article of the week today shows how a store offers a cork recylce program that allows customers to bring back corks that in turn helps the environment and generates funds for the local community.
What is equally important here about this cork recylce program is that it offers a great opportunity for a retailer to bring customers back to their stores. We all know how important foot traffic is in a retail environment and special events, promotions, and clever marketing ideas are a great way to increase revenue by increasing foot traffic.
Over the years, we have heard many brilliant ideas that connect your customers back to your stores. Have you ever thought of ways to bring customers back after purchasing a product? For instance, one customer from years back used to use sports as a way to bring customers back in. During March Madness, he would set up brackets for his customers to come by to fill out offeirng the winner a free bottle of wine. Do you have customers that like to create art projects with wine bottles or corks? Have a day where they can all come and show them off in your stores. One of the best ideas we heard of was during Earth Day, a retailer offered to donate 5% of revenues to an environmental cause that his customers voted for prior to the event. Once you talk to your customers, you can get a sense of what makes them unique and generate a marketing campaign around that. Your retail store can serve not only as a great place to purchase wine, but to bring the community together for causes they care about or just to have a good time.
Cheers!
What is equally important here about this cork recylce program is that it offers a great opportunity for a retailer to bring customers back to their stores. We all know how important foot traffic is in a retail environment and special events, promotions, and clever marketing ideas are a great way to increase revenue by increasing foot traffic.
Over the years, we have heard many brilliant ideas that connect your customers back to your stores. Have you ever thought of ways to bring customers back after purchasing a product? For instance, one customer from years back used to use sports as a way to bring customers back in. During March Madness, he would set up brackets for his customers to come by to fill out offeirng the winner a free bottle of wine. Do you have customers that like to create art projects with wine bottles or corks? Have a day where they can all come and show them off in your stores. One of the best ideas we heard of was during Earth Day, a retailer offered to donate 5% of revenues to an environmental cause that his customers voted for prior to the event. Once you talk to your customers, you can get a sense of what makes them unique and generate a marketing campaign around that. Your retail store can serve not only as a great place to purchase wine, but to bring the community together for causes they care about or just to have a good time.
Cheers!
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