September 4, 2026
How the Best Winery OND Strategies Protect and Grow Wine Clubs
How the Best Winery OND Strategies Protect and Grow Wine Clubs
The strongest winery OND strategies are not built in October or September. They are planned earlier, so September can be used for execution: identifying risk, preparing staff, segmenting members, and turning holiday traffic into wine club growth.
OND is one of the most important direct-to-consumer windows of the year for wineries. It affects holiday ecommerce, tasting room traffic, gift orders, club shipments, member retention, and new club growth. The wineries that perform best are not just reacting to the season. They are using customer data, staff preparation, and wine club strategy before the rush begins.
What should wineries do before OND?
Wineries should prepare for OND before September by identifying at-risk club members, reviewing last year’s holiday buyer behavior, training tasting room staff, setting up gift-ready ecommerce paths, and segmenting campaigns before the rush begins.
The best OND strategies are not only about selling more wine in October, November, and December. They are about protecting wine club revenue, keeping members engaged, and using data before there is a problem to fix.
What is OND for wineries?
OND stands for October, November, and December. For wineries, it is the holiday sales window that includes gifting, tasting room traffic, ecommerce orders, club shipments, corporate gifts, and year-end direct-to-consumer revenue.
OND matters because it is not just one campaign or one sale. It is a compressed season where several high-value winery revenue moments happen at the same time.
During OND, wineries are often managing holiday ecommerce, tasting room traffic, shipping deadlines, wine club shipments, gift memberships, special offers, member communications, and year-end revenue goals. That makes the season valuable, but it also makes it easy to miss opportunities if the team is not prepared.
Some winery teams also use the term SOND, which includes September, October, November, and December. That is often the more accurate planning window because September is when execution should already be underway.
Why should winery OND planning start before September?
Most winery teams talk about OND. But the programs that consistently win the holiday season are not starting from scratch in September. Their planning is already done. September is when the plan turns into action.
They have segmented their email list. They know which wine club members have not visited or purchased recently. They have confirmed their gift club flow works. Their tasting room staff knows what to say when someone asks about holiday gifting. Their club team knows which members need attention before the next shipment goes out.
By the time October hits, the real work is already in motion. What follows is execution, not scrambling.
That is the gap between a good OND and a great one. It is not just effort. It is not only the quality of the wine. It is whether the winery is running the season on current knowledge or last year’s assumptions.
What does the data say about OND wine club performance?
Wine club members are more valuable, new member growth is harder, and tasting room traffic is not easy to replace. That makes OND both a revenue season and a retention season.
SVB’s 2026 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Report made the stakes clear. Top-quartile wineries grew revenue by 22%. The median winery reported flat DtC sales. The bottom quartile declined by 13%.
The takeaway: The same market is producing very different outcomes for different wineries. That points to execution, customer relationships, retention strategy, and decision-making, not only broad market conditions.
A few more numbers are worth paying attention to. SVB reported that tasting room and wine club channels account for 72% of winery DtC channel performance. Industry coverage of the report also noted that wine club member lifetime value reached $2,803, while net wine club growth fell to 2%.
That combination matters. The channel is not broken. The members you already have are worth more than ever. But there are fewer new ones coming in to replace the ones who leave.
OND is not just a revenue opportunity. It is also when wineries protect what they have already built.
Can your team see which club members need attention before OND?
Book a DemoWhat separates the best winery OND strategies from the average ones?
The best winery OND strategies combine retention, segmentation, tasting room execution, and data-driven decision-making before the holiday rush begins.
1. They know which wine club members are at risk before the club run
The programs that lose the most members during OND are often the ones that find out a member is gone after the declined charge, skipped shipment, or cancellation request.
The programs that retain more members ask a different question before the next club run: who is already showing signs of disengagement?
For winery teams using vinSUITE analytics, that question is easier to answer. vinSIGHT, vinSUITE’s built-in analytics layer, tracks RFM data, meaning recency, frequency, and monetary value, for each club member. It also gives every member a churn risk percentage.
A wine club manager can pull up a list of high-risk members and start a conversation before the club run goes out. That is the difference between a retention effort and a recovery effort.
vinSUITE proof point: vinSIGHT predicts club member churn risk with up to 94% confidence, giving wine club teams a clearer view of who may need attention before OND.
2. They do personal outreach before members cancel
One of the clearest patterns in winery retention is also one of the simplest: personal outreach still matters.
That does not mean calling every member on the list. It can mean a short personal email from the wine club manager. A note from the winemaker. A call to the top members who have not visited or purchased in a while. A thoughtful reminder before the next shipment. A message that sounds like it came from a person, not just an automation.
Automated club emails are table stakes. They help with consistency. They do not replace a personal touch when the member is valuable, quiet, or showing risk.
The best OND programs use automation to find the right people, then use human outreach to protect the relationship.
3. Their wine club and tasting room OND plans are connected
Wine club growth and tasting room execution should not be treated as separate OND projects.
The tasting room is where many new club relationships begin. OND is also one of the highest-intent windows of the year. Guests are thinking about hosting, gifting, shipping, and buying for other people, not just themselves.
Wineries that connect their wine club strategy with their tasting room POS strategy are better positioned to turn that traffic into membership growth.
That means staff know the gift club pitch. The sign-up flow is fast. Member benefits are clear. The tasting room team knows which offers matter. The club team knows what is being promised at the counter.
The wineries that treat club and tasting room as separate departments often find that neither is working as well as it should.
4. They use their data to decide, not just to report
Many winery teams look at reports after OND ends. The strongest teams use data before the season begins.
InnoVint’s 2026 State of Winery Health Report coverage found that only 56% of wineries know their profit at the individual-wine level. The broader lesson is clear: knowing the right numbers changes the quality of the decision.
For OND, the right questions are practical:
- Which club tiers are growing and which are losing members?
- Which members are most at risk before the next shipment?
- Which segments responded during last year’s OND campaigns?
- What does average order value look like by club tier during OND?
- Which tasting room offers drove the most new club sign-ups?
- Which ecommerce offers generated the strongest holiday conversion?
None of that requires complicated analysis. It requires looking at the right things while there is still time to act.
What should be on a winery OND checklist?
A strong winery OND checklist should include a high-risk member list, segmented campaigns, gift-ready ecommerce, staff training, a club growth plan, and clear reporting before October begins.
If you are a wine club manager, DTC director, or winery leader heading into OND, this is the minimum list to have ready before the season builds pressure:
- A list of high-risk members with outreach already in motion, not sitting in a dashboard.
- Staff who know how to sell a gift club membership and have practiced the conversation before the first holiday visitor walks in.
- A gift section on the website that is easy to find and easy to buy from.
- At least one club-member-exclusive event, offer, or experience on the calendar for October or November.
- A segment of last year’s OND buyers already queued up for a targeted campaign.
- A clear path for tasting room staff to sign up a new member quickly without slowing down the guest experience.
- A review of club member behavior using RFM, churn risk, spend, tenure, and recent engagement.
- A plan for follow-up after holiday purchases, especially for gift buyers, first-time buyers, and lapsed customers.
None of this requires a huge team. It requires starting before the season is already moving.
How does vinSUITE support winery OND strategy?
vinSUITE helps wineries connect the systems that matter most during OND: wine club, ecommerce, tasting room POS, CRM, and analytics.
That matters because OND decisions are connected. A club member’s risk level, tasting room history, ecommerce behavior, purchase frequency, spend, and engagement should not live in separate places when your team is trying to decide what to do next.
With vinSIGHT, wineries can review RFM data and churn risk before the season, helping the team focus outreach where it can make the biggest difference.
Conclusion
The 22% revenue growth that top-quartile wineries saw did not happen because they simply had better wine. It happened because they went into the season with a clearer view of their customers, their risks, and their opportunities.
They knew which members needed attention. They knew which segments to reach. They had a gift club story ready at the counter. They used data before the season, not only after it.
vinSUITE gives your club team the visibility to do the same. With RFM tracking, member-level churn risk scores, wine club tools, POS, ecommerce, CRM, and analytics in one system, your team can act before the season instead of reacting after it. Book a demo to see how it works.
Frequently asked questions
What does OND mean for wineries?
OND stands for October, November, and December. For wineries, it refers to the holiday sales window that includes gifting, tasting room traffic, ecommerce orders, wine club shipments, and year-end direct-to-consumer revenue.
When should a winery start planning for OND?
A winery should start OND planning before September. By September, execution should already be underway, including member outreach, gift club setup, holiday email segments, website updates, and tasting room preparation.
What is SOND and how does it relate to OND?
SOND stands for September, October, November, and December. Many winery DTC teams use the term because September is when OND execution should begin, even though most of the revenue activity happens during October, November, and December.
Why is OND important for wine clubs?
OND is important for wine clubs because it is both a revenue season and a retention season. Wineries can use the holiday window to protect existing members, identify at-risk members, promote gift memberships, and turn tasting room visitors into new club members.
What separates top wine club programs during OND?
Top wine club programs run on current customer data instead of last year’s habits. They track member risk in advance, do personal outreach before members cancel, connect tasting room and club strategy, and use data to decide where to focus.
What is churn risk tracking?
Churn risk tracking helps identify which club members are most likely to cancel or disengage. Knowing who is at risk before a club run gives the winery time to reach out before the member leaves.
What is RFM data?
RFM stands for recency, frequency, and monetary value. Wineries use RFM data to understand how recently a member purchased, how often they buy, and how much they spend.
How do tasting room traffic and wine club growth connect during OND?
The tasting room is one of the strongest sources of new wine club members. During OND, holiday visitors are already thinking about gifting, hosting, and future purchases, which creates a strong opportunity for wine club conversations.
How can vinSUITE help wineries prepare for OND?
vinSUITE helps wineries prepare for OND by connecting wine club, POS, ecommerce, CRM, and analytics in one system. With vinSIGHT, wineries can review RFM data and churn risk to identify which members may need attention before the busiest season begins.
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See vinSUITE in action before OND
See how vinSUITE helps wineries connect wine club, tasting room POS, ecommerce, CRM, and analytics so your team can spot member risk, prepare for busy seasons, and make smarter DTC decisions.
Book a DemoSources: SVB 2026 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Report; InnoVint 2026 State of Winery Health Report coverage.
Post By: vinSUITE
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