' vinSUITE - Blog

blogSUITE

 
October 6, 2017

If you’re running a wine business, you’ve likely already set up a website with an e-commerce store… because, 2017 (and if you haven’t, that’s #1 on this list… do it now!). So why aren’t wine orders pouring in like hot lava? I hate to be a Negative Nancy, but it could be because you’re doing one or more of the things on this list. Don’t worry, you’re not alone. “Killer e-commerce instincts” are not something most of us are born with. Furthermore, since every wine business has different customer types and goals, there’s no one magic formula that works for everyone. That said, there are some common pitfalls that potentially plague every winery e-commerce.

 

 
September 18, 2017

"You don't earn loyalty in a day. You earn loyalty day-by-day."

 

 
August 24, 2017

Despite popular belief, Henry Ford did not invent the assembly line. He stole the idea (I know, sorry). If there’s a silver lining in your now bursted bubble, it’s that I’m going to share how you can do something similar in creating emails to your winery customers. It turns out that streamlining your emails to go out in less time than you can say “Model T” (and with better results) is actually quite simple. Just don’t tell Henry Ford we told you.

Let’s begin with Armour Refrigeration, who produced the world's first refrigerated train car. Naturally, the next step was to fill those cars with products and make some cold hard cash. So started the Armour Meat Packing Facility.

A disassembly line.commons.wikimedia.org

Imagine an early 1900's brick warehouse with a trolley system hanging from the ceiling. Meat hooks dangling in mid-air, ready for animal carcasses to be strung upon them. In this facility, the cattle or pigs (not sure which, honestly) would be brought to the top of the multi-story building… and slaughtered. They would get hung on the trolley system, then be progressively rendered and packaged at the next floor down. To get to the next floor, they would use wooden chutes. At the ground level, they packaged and crated the finished perishables into the refrigerated boxcars, then hauled them off to metropolitan areas around the nation.

Henry Ford cited his visit to this plant as the inspiration behind his assembly line.

The same thing - only in reverse - was to become a proven industry best practice. Tailored and adapted to the unique business needs of countless other industries. Indeed, stealing an industry best practice is very lucrative.

How does this relate to winery emails?


 

 
August 23, 2017


Despite the internet’s claim that millennials are “killing” wine (amongst other things), I would argue that not only are they are NOT killing wine, they are drinking it in boatloads, and redefining how wine is purchased and consumed along with it. A recent study by the Wine Market Council says millennials drank 42% of all wine in the U.S. in 2015, more than any other age group. Additionally, millennials make up 30% of "high frequency" drinkers, meaning they drink about 3 glasses of wine per sitting.

 

 
August 4, 2017

Few leaders would dispute the notion that knowing more about your customers is good for business. Business Intelligence (BI) has become the standard for helping leadership gain visibility into business operations and make data-driven decisions. This is no less the case within the wine industry, where aggregated consumer data is popping up in places we never expected. Yet, while we know that the analysis of data is vital to maintaining a healthy brand, becoming overwhelmed with information overload is an almost inevitable side effect.

 

 
July 25, 2017

While obsessing over casually browsing social media one afternoon, I was greeted with a post from a winery owner asking fellow industry folks “How often do you send emails to customers?”

Not surprisingly, the responses were all over the place. However, none of the responses could answer the real questions being asked: “How often should we be sending emails to customers? And what type of content should we be sending?”

 

 
 
June 7, 2017


Starting a wine club can be a great way to build brand loyalty and boost sales. Yet, given that the average wine club member jumps ship after only 22 months, it raises the question: “What is the secret to successful wine club management?”


After more than 15 years of working to develop the best wine club software on the market and supplying it to hundreds of wineries nationwide, we’ve learned that the most effective methods to increase wine sales through club offerings aren’t always the most obvious ones. That said, while building a successful wine club doesn’t happen overnight, implementing the right strategies will ensure that you head down the path toward prosperity.

 

 
April 25, 2017

Key Metrics Every Winery Needs To Track

Goals are hard to achieve if not being tracked. The fastest way to inspire change in your winery ecommerce, direct to consumer, or wine club business is to rally the team around clear goals and measure them regularly along the way. At vinSUITE, our motto is “Know more. Sell more.” which is why our winery software was built with powerful data collection and analysis tools. Although the ways in which the information from our software solutions can be sliced and diced are endless, if you are looking for a simplified place to start your analysis, we have a few ideas.

 

 
April 5, 2017

Tax Day is April 18th!

With tax season upon us, we thought it was an apt time to discuss the sales and excise taxes wineries must pay whether selling wine in their own county or across the country. Although sales from the web, wine club, and tasting room are a huge source of revenue for many producers, the red tape that comes with them is abundant. Not only do you have to keep track of which states allow direct to consumer wine shipments, but for which you have permits, if they have recipient quantity caps or dry counties, and finally, their tax rates.

 

 
Viewing 41 - 50 of 64    « Prev   |   Next »
 
 
 
 
 
Return To Page Top