Wine Searcher for Retailers

Dear Retailers,


No doubt the internet has changed the way we all sell our products. But as a wine retailer, what tools do you use to help you purchase the right inventory for the right price? And equally important, what tools are your customers using to hunt down the right retailer to find the right wine? You may have heard of http://www.wine-searcher.com/ and if you haven't, you should check it out.

Wine Searcher allows both merchants and the public to see listings of wine prices all across the country. Consumers can find their favorite or rare bottles anywhere and contact the vendor (which could be you). Because of this information availability, wine-searcher's results not only offer the lowest prices to consumers but allow companies to keep in tune with the going prices for certain wines. It's a great way for you to keep your prices in tune with the market.

While wine-searcher might be convenient, like any web phenomenon, it's not without a dark side.
Critics of the website say that competition may under or overvalue a bottle of wine. While Wine-searcher prevents under the table sales, companies have also been known to game the site to affect prices. Finally, businesses can purchase sponsorships that will have their results appear more often when someone searches for a bottle of wine. People have complained that this creates a competitive edge where local shops now have to compete with the entire country.
There is a great article from the LA Times on this website that you should check out when you have time. (Read Article)

Love it or hate it, websites like wine-searcher.com can be great tools for your business.. From sites like snooth.com where anyone can publish a wine review, to more number based sites like wine-searcher, the internet is changing the wine industry and the knowledge available. It is important to figure out how to utilize these resources for your benefit and perhaps even how to differentiate yourself from becoming just a place to find the best price.



Cheers!
True Fabrications

Trader Joe's - A Neighborhood Store?

Dear Retailers,


I recently read this article on Trader Joe's and I would encourage you to do the same. For those who have shopped at Trader Joe's before, you know that there is something different about this grocery store. It's smaller, it's happier, it's generally more fun, it has interesting signs, the sales staff is knowledgeable, and you always end up buying something you never expected to or never knew existed.

No matter what anyone says about their product offerings (especially it's wine offerings), there is something to learn from Trader Joe's as a retailer. The company's attraction goes far beyond it's product offerings. It's unique in how it displays their products, trains it's employees, and even lights the store. I must admit, before reading this article I had no idea how large a company Trader Joe's is (it's as big as Whole Foods). It made me very interested in how they manage to make a national retailer still feel like a neighborhood shop.  I'm now curious as to what makes a retailer a neighbhorhood store? Also, what aspects of them do customers love? Any thoughts?

Read the Trader Joe's Article Here

Preparing For the Holidays Now

While its only August and you're probably enjoying the summer weather, its not too early to begin thinking about the holidays. For most of you, the holidays are probably your busiest time of the year and since it spans only a few weeks, every day is important.


By having a plan, you can increase sales and reduce the number of product availability issues (lost sales) that can occur during the holiday season.   Here are just a few ideas to consider to help your business prepare for a successful holiday selling season:


1. Pre-order: Not only will you have your products ordered before your manufacturer/distributor has run out, knowing your product line ahead of time allows you to do some early advertising and prepartion of displays. Nothing is worse than trying to place an order for a hot holiday item, only to find out that it may not be available.  By knowing what you're ordering for the holidays, you can also market a product early. This lets you create anticipation around an item before it hits the shelves. 


2. Create a look for your store: Remind people what time of the year it is. Have a few well thought out decorations to help put your customers in the holiday mood. A warm holiday display will also help invite people into the store. Decorations will advertise the fact that you have good items for gifts. If you have the time, turn your decorations into a marketing tool.  Have your decorations suggest a gift idea or two by strategically placing products throughout your store that offer creative mixing and matching thoughts.  For instance, put some wine stoppers or corkscrews into a stocking or two!


3. Give customers gift ideas: Everyone knows how difficult gift buying can be. So, if you provide easy, creative gift ideas for your customers, they will be both thankful and likely to purchase what you have created. For example, if you sell wine, offer a six bottle package themed; " wines around the world". Pick 6 bottles (1 from each wine producing continent) and sell it as a gift set. You can do regional groupings as well. Try an old world wines European nation tour. Feel like grouping fewer bottles? You can also create a three bottle west coast tour (California, Oregon, Washington) . If you tend to sell more accessories, make a wine accessory gift pack. Feature a corkscrew, a foil cutter, a stopper, a pour spout, or any other accessories packaged together to make a low stress gift for a wine drinker. Do you like games? Check out Corks Jester's Wine Teasers game. This trivia game for up to 20 players makes a great party gift.


4. Create a gift giving center: Around your POS area, make space for ribbons, paper, and holiday themed gift bags. Have your salespeople ask if a customer's purchase is for a gift. Then, offer either complimentary or for purchase packaging to help make gift giving for your customers that much easier.


If you can offer both gifts and gift packaging/wrapping, the ease of a one stop shop will bring customers back again and again. While not every idea above is feasible for every store, applying these suggestions will help your company during the busy holiday season.   For all of us in retail, we have to remember to try to take advantage of every day during the season to generate additional revenue.


Cheers!

Inventory and Backstock

Dear Retailers,

One of the most commonly asked questions from our customers is  "How much backstock of your wine accessories should we carry?"

As a teammate working with your company to run a more profitable business, we offer several services that you may or may not know about that might help you with this age old question of what to buy, how much to buy, when to reorder, etc.  We see it as our job to help you find the perfect product mix that sells and to assist in making sure you don't have stale inventory.
 
Here are a few ways we believe you can help keep your inventory levels lean and efficient.
 

• Have You Ordered Online Yet?  -  Ordering online makes keeping track of previous orders (and thus what has sold) very easy. When you visit our site, you can view what you have purchased in the past and reorder any products that have sold quickly.  Also, when you order online, you will receive an e-mail 50 days after the purchase. This email will list all the items with their photos and purchased quantities so you can quickly check your system or visually scan your store(s) to see which products have either run low or sold out.   If you have ordered online in the past, login and click on the View Previous Orders and you'll see what we are talking about.

• Low Minimum Orrders - Because certain products naturally sell faster than others, True Fabrications always has low minimum orders. We would hate for you to have to wait to restock all your accessories while a top selling item has been sold out for days. So, instead of turning customers away, give us a call whenever you need to restock that top-selling accessory. We ship our products to you via Fedex. As one of the largest shipping companies in the area, we pass on our rates to our customers. So, you’ll find savings even with your smaller orders.

• We Are Experts - As with most product sales, we find that our line of wine accessories tends to follow a 70-30 rule. This means that 70% of your wine accessory sales will come from just 30% of your product categories.  Our sales team has years of experience to help you find the top selling products in your industry and geographic location.

• Fast Shipping - Whether you place your order online, call one of our sales team, fax us, email us, or even text us, we will ship your order within 2 business days. This means you can expect your orders to arrive within 3-7 business days depending on your location.

• Try New Items - Don’t ever be afraid to try new items with us. We believe that sampling is the best way to really figure out how a product works. We test our products and believe you should too. Give an item a try and if it doesn’t work out, we will exchange it. By working through this kind of trial and error, your business won’t end up with a backed up inventory that you can’t sell due to an unpopular product.

• Know What You Need? -  Preorder your items with us! Yes, we know this may seem like a counter intuitive idea. But, preordering items (especially during the holidays) allows you to begin selling and marketing products before you even have them in stock. By creating a buzz around hot new products, you will find the response from your regular customers to be outstanding. Creating anticipation can help turn the new items into must have purchases.

 

All of these ideas are to underscore the fact that we want to be your teammate. We want to help you find the exact product mix that works with the right order schedule for your business. Also, we work hard to offer the best prices and customer service available so that the wine accessory part of your business is as efficient and hassle free as possible.

 

Cheers!
True Fabrications

New Items!

We recently launched some new wine accessories and over the next 20 days will be launching another 40 new summer items! It is no coincidence that when we advertise our new products, sales of those items increase as customers want to give them a try. When we send you our catalogs in the mail, we alert you to what new items we have added as well.
In the same manner, retail stores benefit greatly by featuring and advertising new wines and products. I walked into a grocery store the other day and was in the soup aisle and noticed that there was a sign that said "new item". It caught my attention and I checked it out. It's that simple. Retailers can capture the attention of customers a few ways - good displays, price drops, and featured items. Dont' forget new item signage can really enhance sales of products and encourage your customers to purchase a broader range of items.
With our new products, we want to encourage you experiment with them. Some will work, some won't, and some will be incredible. Our goal is and always has been for you to find the right product mix that works in your store. If you ever find yourself purchasing a product form us that just doesn't sell, let us know and we'll give you credit to try something else. We have our 100% satisfaction guarantee to inspire you to try new products. After all, without constantly changing your wine accessory product line, you'll never come across that one product that just happens to fill your customers needs.
Speaking of new products, take a look at what they are doing in England. It's bound to make its way to our shores soon.

Add on Sales at Check Out

Dear Wine Retailers,

By the time a customer arrives at your checkout, they have made the decision to purchase something and the sale is all but guaranteed. At this point, creating the right situations to add on to this sale is an important part of your business. Many retailers ignore the opportunity of add on sales at the point of checkout and we consider this a lost opportunity. By providing the right product mix, the right display, and the right prices, you can generate extra profits without much work. This is is where accessories become important for your business as they have low retails but great margins.

We think there are two great opportunities to offer additional sales. The first and most obvious is at the checkout counter. It is important here to experiment and figure out what products will work. Often, retailers will put products that are under $10 and small in physical size. These properties are vital since for an add on sale to be successful, the customer must think they aren't spending much more. You can offer a variety of products that might capture your customers interest or need.  Our most popular product at the point of sale is our waiters corkscrew that you can purchase in bulk and put out in any display near the register.  Our second most popular point of sale item is our pocket corkscrews that retail for $1.99.   And just like grocery stores that put candy near the registers, wine chocolates and truffles have also been a very succesful add on sale in many stores. 

The second important aspect of a successful program is training your customer service team to mention the items that are in front of the customer at the time of checkout.   Have you been to a Walgreens recently?   If so, you notice that they have 5 different items (rotating items) that sell for $0.99.  Whenever I purchase a product, the cashier will always ask me "would you like one of our $0.99 products of the day?".   I always look through the products really quickly and although I don't buy one every time, I must say I've bought them at least 10% of the time.   Equally, you can get your team to ask your customers one quick question such as "would you like a gift bag with that" to offer the chance for those taking a bottle of wine as a gift to wrap it.  This is particularly powerful during a major gift giving season like Father's Day. 

As with anything, maximizing your add on sales is a numbers game and requires consistency both in terms of your team reminding your customers as well as offering a good range of affordable products all the time.

Cheers!

New Yorker Wine Bags

Dear Retailer:

Our staff really loves the cartoons. We often share our favorites because they quickly hit the funny bone without requiring watching a two minute youtube clip or reading an article. Perhaps its the sign of the times and our dwindling attention spans.

In any case, that was the inspiration for teaming with the New Yorker Magazine and using their wine related cartoons to create our exclusive wine bags. We are very proud to have 4 new wine bags with cartoons from the New Yorker featuring some hilarious wine related funnies!