Category: Marketing

Wine Competitions: Are They for You?

Cyndi

By: Nan McCreary

Every year, hundreds of wine competitions are staged throughout the world. As the wine industry becomes more crowded, winning a medal—especially a gold or a Double Gold—can attract consumers and build brand recognition. But the option may not be for everyone. It’s up to the winery to decide whether entering these events should be part of your marketing strategy.

  Wine competitions run the gamut from enormous international shows to small local events that only feature wines from a specific region or appellation. Typically, wineries submit entries to various classes. The wines are judged by a diverse group of wine experts, who sit in panels of three to five people to taste and consider each wine. Judging is all blind, with the panel only knowing grape variety and class. Wines are evaluated on their own merits—color, clarity, aroma, taste, finish and overall quality—rather than as part of a ranking and, based on voting by the judges, are awarded a gold, silver or bronze medal, or perhaps no medal.

  The Decanter World Wine Awards, the world’s largest and most influential wine competition, defines a gold medal as “an outstanding and memorable wine within its category,” a silver as “a high-quality wine of excitement and personality within its category,” and a bronze as “a well-made and satisfying wine within its category.” Many competitions offer a Double Gold medal, where all members of the panel unanimously award the wine a gold rating. In most competitions, wines advance through a series of rounds: the initial medal round, semi-finals, and the super panel or “sweepstakes” round, where the overall winners are selected.

  Beyond these basics, each wine show varies in size, entry requirements and benefits. Here are three wine competitions that offer a broad range of what to expect when considering entering your wines.

The Decanter World Wine Awards

The Decanter World Wine Awards, founded in 2004, is the world’s biggest and most prestigious wine show. Organized by Decanter—the world’s leading wine media brand—the London-based competition is recognized by wine lovers globally for its world-class judging panels and a rigorous judging process. In the 2021 event held in June, entries set an all-time record of 18,094 wines from 56 countries. Wines were judged over the course of two weeks by more than 160 wine experts, including 44 Masters of Wine and 11 Master Sommeliers, evaluated in flights by country, region, color, grape, vintage and price point. Categorizing wines by price ensures wines are judged against their peers.

  As in all wine competitions, judging is blind, with the panel knowing nothing about the producers. Entry fees are $230 per entry plus a $21 surcharge per order, plus shipping fees. Wineries must provide four samples of each entry. According to DWWA, winning a medal is a “trusted mark of approval for buyers globally and has been proven to increase wine sales, secure distribution in new markets and improve brand awareness.”

Medal winners may purchase DWWA bottle stickers and receive promotion from Decanter through its global digital network, wine tastings, presence at major wine trade shows and exposure to leading retailers throughout the world. For more information, visit www.decanter.com

The San Francisco International Wine Competition

  The San Francisco International Wine Competition is America’s largest international wine competition. Founded in 1980, the three-day event is one of the oldest international competitions in the world. In 2019, there were 4,500 entries judged by 60 experienced and internationally recognized wine experts. Winners are awarded a gold, silver or bronze medal or a Double Gold. The cost per entry is $110, along with the submission of three 750 ml bottles of each entry. Winners receive a marketing toolkit that offers tips for building brand recognition, boosting customer acquisition and retention, and generating publicity and trade attention. Winners also have access to pre-printed bottle stickers; medallion artwork to use in print, internet and social media promotions; discounted point-of-sale promotional materials; and participation in tasting events that provide exposure to target markets. For more information, visit www.sfwinecomp.com

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo: Rodeo Uncorked! International Wine Competition

  Now in its nineteenth year, Rodeo Uncorked! highlights wine production in agriculture. The event sets itself apart for two reasons: Judging is based on a double-blind procedure, and it is audited onsite by PricewaterhouseCoopers, ensuring the highest integrity. This year’s competition featured 2,862 entries from 17 countries, including 480 wineries from Texas and several hundred entries from this year’s featured region, Washington State.

  Judges for the three-day event include local, national and international representatives from the supplier, wholesale, retail and restaurant branches of the wine trade, as well as members of the press and a select group of knowledgeable local consumers. Winners of the top 13 awards receive custom, hand-tooled leather trophy saddles. Class and Reserve Class Champions are awarded custom belt buckles. All winners have access to high-resolution formats for point of sale materials, including digital medals for online and print marketing and printed bottle stickers.

  The cost to enter the competition is $60 per bottle for early bird entry, along with five bottles of wine per entry. After the show, winners of the top award have an opportunity to participate in three wine-related fundraising events for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. They include Rodeo Uncorked! Roundup & Best Bites Competition, where 400-500 award-winning wines are served with gourmet foods from top Houston restaurants to over 5,000 attendees; the Champion Wine Auction & Dinner, rated by Wine Spectator Magazine as one of the top five wine auctions in the country; and Rodeo Uncorked! Champion Wine Garden, which offers winning wines for sale during the annual Rodeo in March. Every year, these events generate approximately $6 million charitable dollars to support Rodeo’s mission. For more information on the competition, visit www.rodeohouston.com/wine

What competitions should you enter?

  If brand building is key to your marketing strategy, look at each competition and consider the exposure you will receive as a participant or winner in the event. Also, look at the reliability of judging as a benchmark against your peers, access to digital marketing materials to promote your brand, options for participation in consumer events and cost of entries and bottles versus benefits offered by your entry.

  “The purpose of wine competitions is to advance the brand,” said Paul V. Bonarrigo, co-founder of Messina Hof Wine Cellars, Inc. in Bryan, Texas, and winner of thousands of medals in local, national and international competitions. “Many established wineries that sell out each year do not enter competitions.”

  While some wine competitions may promote an increase in wine sales for winners, that may not be true for all events. “Years ago, wine competitions were tied to retail promotion,” Bonarrigo told The Grapevine Magazine. “When Messina Hof Angel late harvest riesling won a gold medal at the Dallas Morning News, the next week we sold 700 cases to retail in Dallas. Due to the sheer number of competitions, there is very little impact on retail sales today.”

  Bonarrigo, who has entered six competitions per year for the past five years, claims his success comes from building brand recognition. “Today, medals help to reinforce your fan base and can help promote new varieties and new wines. The People’s Choice Competition in Grapevine is an outstanding consumer participation competition. We have consistently won best of class in 75 to 100% of our entries. It has helped us secure a very loyal fan base in Dallas/Ft. Worth and especially in Grapevine.”

  Bonarrigo said he enters some shows simply because he supports and believes in the cause. “A great example,” he said, “is the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Merrill (Bonariggo’s wife and co-founder) and I helped launch the competition.

  “We have won seven saddles—six for Best Texas Winery and one for Top Overall Winery. The Rodeo does a great job promoting the winners with a Grand Tasting and a Wine Auction. Messina Hof holds the record for the highest price paid for a Texas wine at the auction. Our Tawny Port fetched $105,000.”

Sponsorship

For the sponsors of wine competitions, the goal is to market their event to wineries. Jennifer Lindsay, director of the Rodeo Houston Wine Show, said, “We work with local distributors through our winery relations committee to reach out to their suppliers and encourage them to enter. We also offer incentives, such as exposure through the Roundup & Best Bites Competition, the Champion Wine Auction & Dinner and the Champion Wine Garden, ‘the biggest bar in Texas.’”

  Rodeo Uncorked! awards also generate interest in the event. “Our top awards are very unique,” Lindsay told The Grapevine Magazine. “When people see the saddles and buckles in tasting rooms around the world, the word gets around and helps grow our competition internationally.”

  In the world of wine competitions, there is something for everyone. Besides national, international, regional and local shows, wineries can enter competitions that feature women winemakers or specific typologies or varieties. There’s even a competition that judges wines alongside other wines in their particular terroir—the Grand Harvest Awards in California. New classes are continually added: canned and flavored wines, saké and even CBT-infused wines are making their way into wine shows. Whatever your interest, there may be a competition for you.

Preparing for the Exit: Why Winery Owners Need to Develop a Harvest Strategy

Cyndi

By: Edward Webb, Partner, BPM & Kemp Moyer, Partner, BPM

unidentified man at the end of a path

Successfully running a business means overcoming numerous challenges. Owners need to scale the business, find competent employees, deal with regulatory issues like taxes and licenses, and create processes and systems — all while developing a robust customer base and go-to market strategy. For agribusinesses, owners have all these challenges plus whatever Mother Nature decides to throw at them. For California’s wine industry, this includes increasingly unpredictable variables such as drought, flooding, landslide, excessive heat, cold snaps, pests, and the growing risk of wildfires and damage from smoke taint.

  Despite these challenges, several successful business models predominate in California’s wine sector. There are fully integrated vintners that grow their own grapes, ferment them into wine, bottle them, and sell and market the finished product. Some winemakers do not own vineyards and, instead, purchase grapes from various growers before bottling and going to market. Finally, there are virtual wineries that buy completed wine and sell it under a brand name. Each models bring its own unique challenges and opportunities.

  While a few large producers dominate the state’s wine sector, most businesses are family-owned and operated. This can lead to a new and significant challenge: What happens when the owner wants to retire and either hand over or sell the business? When you include a force like a once-in-a-century pandemic, you can understand why many baby boomers — about 10,000 of whom turn 65 every single day — might be looking at an exit strategy right now. But, as you might imagine, exits can be more complicated than just a simple sale when a family is involved.

Planning is Essential

  First and foremost, an owner should start planning a “harvest strategy” well before they are ready to pull the trigger. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, failing to prepare is preparing to fail. A harvest strategy is a much more detailed plan than a “kitchen table” document.  It goes into great detail on the owner’s goals when they will exit the businesses. It tells the financial and operating story that the next owners need to know. It does not hurt that after more than a decade of quantitative easing, historically low-interest rates and a multi-trillion dollar government spending plan, there is plenty of cash in the system fueling record M&A activity.

  There are various factors that need to be considered in a well-constructed harvest strategy, and it is essential that these succession plans are communicated to all stakeholders, both in the family and with the company’s vital employees or managers. Talking things through will illuminate potential pitfalls, such as the owner’s children not wanting to continue with the business or being unprepared to take on potentially substantial operational challenges. Key employees might want to purchase the operation or refuse to continue working with a new owner. Understanding these dynamics will help when it is time to put the plan in motion and limit any unpleasant surprises. Planning ahead may also allow time to employ tax mitigation strategies.

  The harvest strategy provides detailed instructions on how the business is managed, including all the different procedures and systems used in the business. This document becomes increasingly vital as owners age because of life’s unpredictable nature. An owner could become incapacitated or worse, and the company might not survive without their critical knowledge. Owners should revisit the harvest strategy frequently for updates. Plans made today could be vastly different in five or ten years.

Understanding Value

  Regardless of what an owner chooses — either handing over the business to their children or selling it to someone else — any transaction requires the company to have a fair market valuation. Federal and state tax authorities will demand it, so selling the business to family for a dollar will not work. This valuation will look at all aspects of the company to determine its worth, including its financial performance, assets, inventory, real estate holdings and even the brand’s value. Qualified appraisers are the professionals that will undertake this task and will use different techniques and methods for the equity and/or underlying assets. Sellers should note that having a valuation supported by a third party can help minimize pitfalls during deals, like overvaluing an asset, which can cause potential buyers to walk away or not engage in negotiations.

  Appraisers can use a few different methods to calculate the value of the company’s real estate holdings. However, putting a price on a business is more nuanced than selling a single-family home. A typical technique would be to look at comparable sales of similar properties in that area and base the valuation on the transaction price. This method would take things like the size of the property into account, but not necessarily the cash flow potential of operations, including the production of grapevines.

  The value of the land and the grapevines depend on several factors, ranging from the variety of the plant, age of the vineyard, plant density, production per acre, and the presence of pests like vine mealybugs (VMB) and Virginia Creeper Leafhoppers or diseases like Grapevine Leaf Roll. Other improvements to the land will affect its price, including trellis systems, irrigation and frost protection systems. An appraiser might estimate the fair market value for this asset by calculating how much revenue the land generates based on projected demand, grape price trends, and the yield the land produces. A discounted cash-flow analysis could also be used to factor in variables like projected cash flows, industry cycles and general economic trends. Of course, an appraiser could use a combination of all these methods to determine the asset’s value.

Brand Awareness

  One asset that could be harder to put a value on is the company’s brand. It is an intangible that could be worth more than all of the physical property and inventory of the company. There are three methods to determine a brand’s value, and they are sometimes used together.

•    The first is to calculate the replacement cost of the brand. Basically, this involves formulating how much time and money it would take to re-create the brand from scratch, which are divided into three subsections:

      Brand Identity: Covers all items used to create and develop the brand’s identity, including the name, designing the logo, novel bottle designs, trademark and legal fees, websites and choosing a color palette.

      Brand Awareness: The cost of advertising, promotion and publicity campaigns for the brand to achieve its current level of market awareness.

      Market Position: This is the cost of retaining the business’s current clientele and includes advertising, discounting with distributors, and building relationships with retailers.

•    The second is comparable pricing. This method requires researching the sale of similar brands and using that as the foundation for a valuation. This can be a challenge if there are little or no sales of similar assets.

•    The third and final method is an income-based approach, also known as an “in-use” approach. This involves calculating the future earnings that can be directly tied to the brand to determine its value. The formula looks at everything from income to cash flow to cost savings generated from the brand.

Sell High

  If a winery owner’s family is not interested in maintaining the business, selling is the other option. The sale could be to an industry peer, a current employee, a high-net-worth individual or even a private equity fund. However, certain factors go into the sale and the final price beyond the valuation process discussed earlier.

  Any potential buyer is looking for the ability to generate future cash flow. Operating a winery takes leadership with specialized education and experience. This knowledge includes how to grow and harvest grapes, the manufacturing process, as well as storage of the wine. If the sale is to anyone but an industry peer or employee, this can hobble a deal or result in a lower sales price. As mentioned earlier, having a detailed manual on how to operate the business can help reduce transition issues that may impact price, but locking down an expert to assist with a sale can be essential to getting the maximum return in a sale.

Distressed Resolutions

  All the information above is based on the orderly sale or transfer of the business at a fair market value. That means there is a willing seller and a willing buyer. However, the price could be much lower in a scenario where the owner is forced to sell or liquidate, either through bankruptcy, the sudden death of key people, or litigation. In these situations, engaging an experienced restructuring professional is essential.  Navigating a distressed situation is difficult, doubly so when the business is yours.

  There are multiple variables for owners to consider and plan for as they create their harvest strategy. Being prepared for this transition will help them avoid costly mistakes or address issues early enough in the process to make them non-factors. This planning is essential to maximizing the value of their business. Owners contemplating making this transition would be wise to start the process and create their harvest strategy today.

Edward Webb has over 35 years of experience in consulting and financial management, including specific experience in business restructuring and leadership advisory services. Edward has a Doctorate in Business Administration and currently leads the Corporate Finance Consulting group at BPM, one of the 50 largest public accounting and advisory firms in the country, where he sits on the firm’s Management Committee.

With more than 15 years of experience in complex financial advisory, and a primary focus on valuation services, Kemp Moyer has led hundreds of business and asset valuations in his career with substantial industry experience in technology, life science, professional services, food and beverage, digital assets, manufacturing, and consumer business, among others. A partner in BPM’s Advisory practice and head of the firm’s Valuation team, Kemp’s valuation experience includes M&A and IPO preparation and support, fairness and solvency opinions, and litigation support and dispute resolution, among other high impact analyses.

Why Your Winery’s Failure to Plan is Planning to Fail

Cyndi

By: Quinton Jay

overseeing vineyard from a winery

When it comes to creating a roadmap for your winery’s success, it can feel daunting to generate one that is both flexible and remains in line with your winery’s goals as a business. If it’s too flexible, then it will be difficult to keep your planning strategy aligned to your internal initiatives; if not flexible enough, your plan can break apart the first time you encounter an unexpected hurdle.

  The landscape of wineries, and wine as a business, is far different than that of five or ten years ago. Because virtually every piece of the value chain has changed — from distributors and retailers/restaurateurs to consumers and capital providers — new strategies, partnerships, and resources are necessary to ensure your winery’s continued success.

  Each piece of this chain has a unique impact on your winery’s business and its future as a brand. In order to not only survive but thrive amidst these changes and others affecting the wine industry, it is paramount that each winery formulates and implements a multi-faceted plan of success to help carry its business forward into the future. As founding father Benjamin Franklin once said, “a failure to plan is planning to fail.” However, like most aspects of operating a business, creating and enacting a successful roadmap is far easier said than done.

The Business Planning Process
Image Credit: Harvard Business Review

For the past 20 years, I have managed, consulted for, and invested in dozens of wineries and other businesses in the wine industry. Each one of those businesses, regardless of size, location, or consumer market all share one commonality: the most successful ones were those that possessed the foresight to plan for both the best and worst-case scenarios. In order to help you create a solid plan for your winery or wine business, I want to help offer some key steps to get you started.

Step #1: Gather the Facts

  Whatever your business plan will look like, you need to have a clear picture of what your aspirations and goals are for it. The obvious caveat here is that, to do this successfully, you will need to envision what you want your business to look like in the future. Do you simply want to be your own boss or create an environment that is a fun and enjoyable place to work? Do you want to grow your winery into one boasting 1,000,000 cases with wine sold throughout retail chains, or do you want to grow it into one with 5,000 cases with a focus on direct-to-consumer sales?

  Whatever your specific case may be, the first thing you need to do when forming your business’s plan is to gather the facts. This starts by analyzing your business’s segmentation, targeting, and positioning in the marketplace. Segmentation, or the process of grouping customers within a market according to similar needs, characteristics, or behaviors, will provide four key benefits to your business:

●   Opportunities for building and strengthening long-term relationships with key customers and partners;

●   Improved marketing efficiency and effectiveness;

●   A better understanding of the competitive landscape, and;

●   Faster responses to the changing needs of your customers

  Once you have the facts of these segments gathered, the next set of facts you need to acquire are those acquired through consumer market research. By gathering information and trends on your wine business’s target market — including who they are, their likes and dislikes, and whether those markets are growing, declining, or remaining steady — you can better understand their wine consumption statistics, trends by price points, as well as the various demographic and geographic trends of that market.

  After these facts have been answered and gathered, you will have a far clearer picture of your winery’s competitive niche, be it through a specific product (or set of products) or as a brand. From there, begin researching competitors with similar niche offerings. Who are they? What are their price points and pricing strategies? Is their business growing, declining, or remaining steady? What are their strengths and weaknesses, and how will your business compare to theirs?

  Lastly, you will need to gather facts about your market’s current conditions. For example, take a look at your distribution channels to see which ones are consolidating or undergoing management changes. Another example of this is to find out whether your target consumer market is purchasing more wine at restaurants, retail stores, or online. Along with external conditions such as changes in shipping laws or current economic fluctuations, each of these fact sets will play a heavy role in determining what your winery’s business plan will look like.

Step #2: Analyze, Synthesize, and Develop Strategic Initiatives

  After you have accumulated the different sets of factual data affecting your winery or wine business, the next step in formulating your business plan is to synthesize these facts with the strategic initiatives you develop that will affect your business’s marketing, sales, and finances as an operating brand.

Marketing Plan

  As a brand, your winery can be defined as the relationship between your business and its consumers. It is a promise to the consumer to deliver a particular experience each and every time. This is what makes the key element of successfully marketing your business dependent on understanding your customers, including their likes, dislikes, and expectations.

  By defining and analyzing your target market(s), you will be better poised to integrate your gathered facts into your marketing plan. You will also need a clear understanding of what your business’s goals are as an organization, which is where your consumer market research — as well as your competitive data set — comes back into play.

Sales Plan

  Once you know what your business’s market is and who it consists of, you can then begin constructing a sales plan to forecast future sales, revenues, and prices. This plan will also let you identify gaps in your supply chain such as those in your distribution network, forecast additional human resources necessary to make the sales you’ve forecasted, and evaluate opportunities for direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales, and the costs of goods sold (COGS).

Production/Winemaking Plan

  Though it may seem obvious, one integral part of a winery’s plan that often gets overshadowed is its production sales inventory (PSI) model. The PSI model allows you to forecast production and the tons of grapes needed to produce each case of wine made, as well as highlight vintage overages or shortages in sales and changes in release dates. Your PSI should also include a plan for sourcing grapes or bulk wine, as you will need to forecast the number of needed (and excess) tons of grapes both by vintage and product, and will help your business determine strategies in dealing with needs or excess of product.

  Overall, your production plan’s purpose will act as a precursor to your financial plan, as it will grant you the ability to analyze internal capacity and forecast the following factors:

●    Crush, production, and dry goods expenses;

●    Barrel needs;

●    Bottling costs, and;

●    Capital expenditures

  In order to create the clearest picture of these possible, you will need to gather historical data and information on your business. This historical data will likewise play a key role in forming your business’s financial plan.

Financial Plan

  When gathering and analyzing your business’s historical data, you will want to consider factors such as your historical crush and production expenses which include your COGS. Keep in mind that salaries, benefits, supplies, repairs/maintenance, utilities and rent, as well as depreciation all play a part in calculating your COGS. Along with this, your business’s packaging, bottling, and warehousing costs will also factor into your COGS value.

  Now that you have a clearer picture of your business’s COGS, as well as its sales and marketing plan, you can get started on formulating your financial plan. This will help you summarize your gross revenue, price support, EBITDA (operating profit), and net income, as well as craft stronger balance sheets and cash flow statements to better understand your business’s profitability by its products sold.

  Along with these factors, your financial plan will also need to include an income statement to show your business’s operational performance over time, a breakeven statement to show the volume of revenue from sales to balance the sum of its expenses, and a product profitability statement to compare your revenues COGS, and gross profit per case to ultimately determine which products are generating the most profit for your business.

  Each one of these individual plans is meant to help form concise and easily understood strategic initiatives for your winery or wine business. Together, they act as the foundation for creating and implementing those initiatives, as well as helping to determine which initiatives are meant for short-term or long-term business growth.

financial plan flow chart
Image Credit: Bacchus Consulting Group

Step #3: Aggregate Into the Business Plan

  Still with me here? Great — now that we’ve covered each crucial element to your winery’s plan, the next step is to outline that plan in a way that is easily digestible for you, your core team, your partners, and/or investors. As an example, a general outline for your business plan will appear as follows:

I.      Executive Summary

II.    Business Description

III.   Marketing Plan

IV.   Sales Plan

V.     Winemaking/Vineyard Operations Plan

VI.   Management and Organization

VII.  Finances

VIII. Appendixes

  Incorporating all functional plans of your winery or wine business into one unified document is where the results of each prior phase gets pulled together. This business plan will serve as the guiding document for your business’s entire organization, as it coordinates each sub-plan together to prepare them for execution.

  When aggregating each sub-plan into your unified business plan, remember to collectively review your business’s strategic initiatives and incorporate them into the business plan according to each initiative’s specific function to ensure that your business’s structure — including its capital structure and financing — are geared for long-term growth and success.

Step #4: Develop Tactics and the Operating Plan

  The last key step in forming a solid plan for your winery or wine business is to develop tactics and its operating plan. Though similar to a business plan, your operating plan is less an outline for your business as you envision it in the future and more a roadmap for how you will get it there.

  As a rule of thumb, the tactics you create for your business must include (and clearly answer) the following criteria:

●   What will be done?

●   When will it be done?

●   Who will get it done?

●   How do these tactics define our success and how that success will be measured?

  This is the point in planning where your key performance indicators (KPIs), otherwise known as the metrics used to measure your business’s success internally, become a vital element of your business’s future success or failure. If you haven’t already created KPIs use the SMART method:

●   S: Specific

●   M: Measurable

●   A: Actionable

●   R: Realistic

●   T: Time-bound

  Each metric used to measure your business’s success should contain a logical sequence of tasks, goals, and milestones, and should take into account your possession of the right resources and relationships to carry your organization forward through periods of growth.

  With these final elements outlined, you can now incorporate all of your strategic initiatives and tactics into one final plan: your operating plan. This plan will serve as your business’s roadmap and a working document for each strategic initiative, and must also contain each actionable tactic listed as a supporting factor to those initiatives which will help you achieve your goals.

Concluding Thoughts

  There is no single business or operating plan that universally supports each winery or wine business operating today. In order to create the clearest and strongest plans possible, it is your responsibility as a business founder or owner to understand your business inside and out. Once you do, you will be better positioned to formulate and integrate a plan that serves your unique business and its goals for continued success and future growth.

Software for Wineries: High-Tech Launches Wineries to New Heights in Productivity

Cyndi

By: Cheryl Gray

staff inputting order in tablet

Wineries worldwide use technology to their advantage when it comes to saving one of their most important assets––time. The right software applications simplify collecting, sorting and maximizing data. The type of software to use often comes down to the winery’s size, its specific needs and finding the best return on investment.

VinNOW

  Wineries with small budgets but big plans can turn to VinNow of Mesa, Arizona. The company was founded in 1999 by software engineer Ted Starr. VinNOW is designed to operate in either a single, stand-alone computer environment or a network of multi-POS operations and multiple locations.

  “VinNOW runs securely on your computer, not in the cloud. This ensures that if you lose your internet, you still have access to all your data and can still make sales. Having the program and your data on your local network also allows for better data security and gives you the peace of mind that you can do your business no matter what,” said Starr. 

“VinNOW is one program, using one database, that stays in your local system’s control. This is the advantage of having been created by winery owners: Knowing the winery environment and challenges.”

  With 40 years of industry experience, Starr and his team have poured their expertise into developing a versatile software program to suit wineries of any size. Starr added that customer support comes from a team knowledgeable in both software engineering and what wineries need to maximize production. 

  “VinNOW is comprised of professionals with many years of experience in both computer technology and the wine industry. Our expert team is intimately familiar with a winery’s needs and has the technical knowledge to offer and support our specialized integrated system for winery management. VinNOW was created by winery owners who are also software developers and have decades of hands-on winery experience. VinNOW offers a personalized and specialized approach that is dedicated to, and in touch with, the business needs of a winery,” Starr told The Grapevine Magazine.

  “VinNOW is dedicated to providing a quality, comprehensive software application specifically engineered to meet the needs of the wine industry. We provide personalized live customer service and support and pride ourselves in remaining a hands-on, efficient company. This means that when you contact us, you will be dealing with someone who understands your needs and can directly and personally handle any question.

  “With VinNOW, you don’t just receive a software package. You enter a relationship with a software company that has been in the wine business for over 22 years and is directly interested in the health and prosperity of wineries. Should you need us, our support team is available seven days a week to assist you with VinNOW. Our VinNOW support team is always eager to answer your questions and assist you with what you want to accomplish.”

  VinNOW, Starr said, is a fully integrated software system that is ideal for managing inventory, customer data, purchase records, tasting room and internet sales. The software program also manages email marketing and wine clubs with automatic credit card processing. For shipping needs, VinNOW generates UPS, FedEx and GLS shipping labels. VinNOW also allows wineries to track those shipments. It integrates with other software programs such as QuickBooks, Vertical Response, Constant Contact, VinoShipper and ShipCompliant. It also can export information to other email systems.   

  Another innovation from VinNow is VinTracker, a bulk wine tracking module. Starr says that VinTracker allows wineries to track products, everything from what wine is in which containers to what work has been performed on-site.

  Starr said that VinNow allows its winery clients to provide customers with targeted messaging rather than generic correspondence, which is vital to keeping and expanding a winery’s client roster. COVID-19 made this function a critically important tool. 

  “One of the challenges wineries have in a COVID-19 environment is keeping in touch with their customers in order to maintain and keep interest in that business relationship. VinNOW excels at data reporting and allowing a winery to target market instead of having to send the same generic message to everyone,” said Starr. “With VinNOW, wineries can create lists for an almost unlimited set of data points. For instance, you have the ability to create a list of people who have purchased above a certain dollar level, a specific varietal, has purchased futures in the past or are just on an interest list or in a specific range of zip codes. 

  “You can then refine your search to target market customers such as those associated or never associated with a wine club, or even inactive wine club members. Any data element that VinNOW captures can be used to create a specific marketing list to meet your needs.”

Dimensional Insight

  Helping wineries keep in touch with their customers is also a focus of Dimensional Insight, in business since 1989. Headquartered in Burlington, Massachusetts, Dimensional Insight is an analytics and data management firm specializing in integrating data from different sources and displaying the information wineries need in whatever way they need to see it. The company’s trademark Diver Gateway product allows access to data on any device. Its applications are specific to the wine industry for both wineries and distributors. Nancy Berkowitz serves as Industry Vice President.

  “Users of our software have the flexibility to do self-service reporting and analytics while ‘diving to the lowest detail’ from dynamic dashboards and scorecards. As a result, they are able to get unprecedented insight into the state of their business, and can make better, more informed decisions that help drive increased sales, bottom lines and customer satisfaction,” said Berkowitz.

  With COVID-19 mandates changing the wine industry, not to mention overall industry-driven shifts, wineries have to focus and pivot quickly. Berkowitz told The Grapevine Magazine that Dimensional Insight can help them do just that for data management and analysis.

  “In this economic climate, where there are fundamental shifts in how people are buying products and what they’re buying, it’s most important for wineries to look at not only the bottom line but also any associated numbers. What is changing? Are these short-term changes or long-term changes? To best assess this, wineries need to look at their outlier data to see what the causes for these changes are and determine how to handle them,” Berkowitz said.

  “It can be hard to pinpoint some of this data when you have huge data sets that pull together many diverse sources. That’s why we have an assisted analytics tool that uses AI to proactively look for these outliers or different data points and helps bring these issues forward for analysts. Wineries should make sure they look at not only sales and pricing data but also all data affecting the changes––operations, marketing, finance, economics and more. Then they can focus on short-term and long-term bottom-line goals based on what they discover.”

  Dimensional Insights also offers its winery and distributor clients other unique options and partnerships to expand their businesses.  

  “We also collect daily invoice level data from distributors for wineries through our BeverageLink division. Dimensional Insight has partnerships with the NielsenIQ as part of the Nielsen Connected Partners program and the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association for data relating to sales, pricing and more.” 

  Berkowitz said that Dimensional Insight looks to the future of winery software to increase its use of artificial intelligence and cloud services because of the large amount of data to be handled. 

  “Artificial intelligence is a focus for software and technology. This must be taken for what it is and must truly be understood by the wineries. Not just the results, but why those are the results of the AI software. Otherwise, the results can’t be trusted. Wineries are moving to the cloud for better service and lower costs. We offer the Dimensional Insight cloud for this purpose. All in all, we see technology continuing to move toward better data integration so wineries can capitalize on the data available such as eCommerce and more.” 

Innovint

  Napa Valley’s InnoVint, founded by Ashley Leonard in 2013, combines the expertise of winemakers and Silicon Valley software engineers with a focus on providing winery clients with mobile, flexible and intuitive winery management software designed to save time and streamline the production process. InnoVint is 100% cloud-based, which means that wineries can access the software wherever they are on any device. The company touts ease of use, saying that small wineries can use the applications in less than an hour. InnoVint offers training and an online support center.

  Experts agree that winery software will continue to be a critical tool for successfully expanding a winery business by keeping a connection with the most crucial element of that success—customers.

Is Your Wine Club Keeping Up With Modern Subscription Models?

Cyndi

By: Gaynor Strachan Chun

If COVID taught us nothing, it is that re-occurring sales are key to survival, and that customers are surprisingly resilient and creative with changes in channel or delivery methods. The post-COVID conversations around alcohol distribution include the so-called “fourth tier” of instantaneous delivery (Instacart), and online options like buy online now and pick up in store later (BOPUIS).

  At the same time as these channels evolve, the elasticity of the traditional Wine Club is stretched as well. It is now estimated that the average person is a member of two re-occurring subscriptions and 35% belong to three or more. 

  Why are we moving so swiftly into a subscription economy? For wine, it’s a perfect storm of three factors.

1. Our culture of consumerism is changing. The mindless and haphazard consumerism of old is giving way to thoughtful and curated purchases where the brand and its products add value to our lives. This significant change in consumer thinking and behavior has fueled, among other things, the rocketing growth of subscription models. Subscriptions meet the needs of concerns such as waste reduction and finding quality time with family. And, wine clubs need to catch up to remain relevant, resonant and competitive.

2. We’re curious. The primary consumers for subscriptions are young urbanites, 25-44 years old. What they have in common is a sense of discovery. They want to try new things and like being presented with options. Most subscriptions offer monthly mystery boxes, surprises, or trial sizes, giving customers a new product to try. This brings an additional level of excitement to the unboxing experience and gets consumers to expand their product knowledge and preferences.

3. We don’t value “saving” like our parents did.Our parents wanted the lowest price so they could show off the best quality brand they could afford. The new consumer is interested in saving time. The financial incentive is there, but you can’t just give a small discount to this group and expect to call it a day on your benefits alone.

  Only a few years ago, the model was simple. You joined a club to gain exclusive access to products and VIP perks. These membership clubs were found in categories such as luxury apparel, food and wine.

  However, with the onslaught of COVID, the dramatic increase in E-commerce, digitally native brands, and the growing influence of the Millennial mind-set and their expectations as consumers, the world of “clubs” has evolved. The consumer has moved on. Have you?

3 Subscription Models Have Emerged

3 Subscription Models

  A McKinsey Report lays out the current state of subscription models very clearly. What jumps out is that the traditional model of Subscribe for Access has been usurped by the newer models of Subscribe for Replenishment and Subscribe for Curation. And, while Subscribe for Replenishment accounts for a healthy one third of subscriptions, it is not a relevant category for wine clubs given its focus on essential household, wellness and grooming products. Which leaves the wine industry needing to evolve the traditional wine club model, beyond offering a choice here or there, to compete within Subscribe for Curation.

  What does this mean? Successful Subscribe for Curation offerings have the following imperatives as the foundation of the subscription offered:

•   Move from a focus on transactions to long-term relationships.

•   Shift from acquisition focus to retention.

•   Shift from selling products to selling experiences

•   High levels of personalization, flexibility and surprises.

•   A highly anticipated unboxing experience.

•   Impeccable customer service.

  In other words, focusing on delivering a great experience that puts the consumer in charge of what they order and keeps them coming back for more by including gifts, exclusive content, and other surprises.

Attracting New Subscribers and Keeping Them

curation subscription initiation and cancellation triggers

  Wineries traditionally relied on converting their tasting room visitors to club members. However, attracting members who will never visit your tasting room is an increasingly important consideration in any conversation around future revenue growth. We all know a subscription model is good for business – it delivers increased and predictable revenue, contributes to savings in customer acquisition spending, increases loyalty and lifetime value, and can reduce operational costs due to predictable demand. Therefore, understanding the triggers that cause a potential subscriber to sign-up and those that cause them to cancel is a critical component when evolving your current club model to a subscribe for curation model.

  The initiation triggers point to consumers’ desire to discover new things and especially, new things someone else recommends. A strong social media presence and refer a friend incentives are key to this discovery process. Cancellation triggers hinge on the experience – either the overall experience or the perceived value for money vis-à-vis the experience. Given the need to elongate subscription lifetime values, every step of the experience offered needs to be executed at the highest level. Consumers not only expect it, but they also know what a great experience feels like. After all, the average consumer now has somewhere between 3 and 10 subscriptions (excluding media and entertainment.

Less is More

  There is a reason most companies only offer 3 levels of subscription. Our brains think in threes. More choices are not better. They can cause confusion, delay the decision, or result in the potential member walking away.

  Rather than thinking about the subscription levels from your product line-up perspective, structure the levels from the consumer’s perspective – I want you to curate this for me, I want the option to add from a defined list, I want to make all the choices for myself. This will help reduce the number of levels and increase conversion.

Looking Ahead

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change”

-Albert Einstein

  There’s never been a greater time than now to be open to evolving our business models.  Changes in demographics and consumer trends have been coming for years and wineries who aren’t willing to look at adapting their Wine Club programs leave themselves open to becoming less relevant with consumers as the attitudes and behaviors continue to evolve.   Gaynor Strachan Chun is the Director of Strategy at WineGlass Marketing, a full-service direct marketing firm working within the wine industry in Napa, California. www.wineglassmarketing.com.

Holiday Email Best Practices

Cyndi
woman towards the mail icon

By: Susan DeMatei, President of WineGlass Marketing

If you’re like most, you have a holiday calendar crammed full of events, sales, shipments, and recipes ready to communicate to your mailing list. Email marketing is a staple among wineries trying to communicate to wine clubs, provide holiday offers and reach new customers. Follow some of these tips below to make sure your holiday sales are bright.

There are three major influences on the success of an email campaign. From most important to least, they are List, Offer, and Creative.

List: Take some time each year in September and October to perform some basic data hygiene. An intern or consultant can help you here with a well-organized couple-week project.

• Clean up duplicates and merge duplicate records from the tasting room, wine club, website, MailChimp, or other (sales_email_marketing) databases. When doing so, carefully identify the correct master record and fold all the visit history, source, and transactional data under that master customer record.

• Append data with addresses, emails, and phone numbers.  There are several resources to do this simply through excel for pennies a record.

• Remove bounces and anyone who has opted out of any communications over the course of the year.

• Add in any stray lists – like that tasting you did at the event in Vegas in July or the Winemaker’s alma matter list that wants to hear about his wines. And make sure you notate a source on all lists so you can refer back to see what programs procured good, qualified leads.

• Once you have a clean list, then take some time and segment and the time your communications thoughtfully – don’t just send every offer and update to everyone. Perhaps the October Wine Club should not get the Thanksgiving sales to email so close to their Club Shipment email alerts, but instead a printed insert in their club shipment.  If you have the transactional data, you’ll want to target email-marketing messages based on behaviors such as past purchases, tasting note downloads, visits to the winery, links clicked, or other captured actions.

Offer: Only after you’re happy with your lists should you focus on the offer.  Based on your steps above, now consider what sales message will incite the best response to your segmented list?

• What did they respond to in the past? Did you have any past learnings to guide you on what resonated, or failed, previously? If not, perhaps your database is big enough to split and test. For instance, if you suspect that shipping offers will be popular this season, should you give a % off shipping, shipping included, or shipping for $1? And at what volume: 6 bottles? A case? These are things you can test with an email and then do a follow-up email to the entire database of the winner

• What are your goals? What wines do you need to move, and what costs or discounts are appropriate for your other channels? Make sure the wine you just sent to the Wine Club at 20% off isn’t in a holiday sale email a week earlier for 25% off. (A calendar is beneficial this time of year to keep the tasting room, website team, social media, and emails all in synch.)

• Use tracking tools and analytics to determine which emails and corresponding landing pages are the most successful in generating sales.

• Know (or set) Click-Through and Open Rate goals. According to the 2020 WGM Wine Industry Email Benchmark Study (which you can download on our website), email Open Rates for wineries average 24.66%, and Click-Through Rates for wineries average 5.08%.

Creative: The design of your email is essential. There are two reasons email design should follow specific layout rules. First, as of August 2021, mobile phones account for 41.6% of email opens (Litmus). Second, most email service providers, such as Outlook and Gmail, now block images by default. If your graphics contain text including important information, such as the offer or wine details, make sure you repeat the information in the text.

•  Email marketing is just another branding opportunity. Place your logo in the upper left-hand corner or centered as a header of the email.

•  Include navigation like on your website. You don’t have to have every page from your site, but the significant sections help customers engage with you online and create familiarity with your website.

•  Make sure your email is no more than 500-650 pixels wide. Any more than that means your reader will be scrolling horizontally.

•  Keep text to less than 250 words and have frequent links to deeper levels of content or more information on your website.

•  Keep it clutter-free. The less clutter you have in your email, the better. Don’t use more than two typefaces.

•  Keep your main message and call to action (CTA) at the top of the email. It’s ok to scroll in an email and have it laid out vertically but keep your primary message upfront.

•  Create an engaging, concise subject line. A relevant offer that creates a sense of urgency will be your best bet. Your subject line needs to have an incentive for your audience to open the email.

•  While your site may have a lot going on, your email message should be singular in focus. Make sure the message and the requested action are clear. Instead of splitting up readers’ attention, focus on driving home a single-minded message.

•  The landing pages that prospects reach after clicking through are just as important as the initial email. Your landing page should match the email in terms of headline, copy, and content. Use similar colors, fonts, and overall design to keep your customer on the right track and avoid confusion.

•  Make sure your CTA from the email has a connection to the CTA on your landing page. Again, keep the call to action above the fold and relevant to your marketing message.

  Having an effective email marketing campaign is about being intelligent and concise. Focus on the list first, differentiate yourself with targeted segmentation, and then deliver a tested sales message with clean creativity, and your Q4 emails are destined to be a blast!

Susan DeMatei is the President and Nathan Chambers is an Account Director at WineGlass Marketing, a full-service direct marketing firm working within the wine industry in Napa, California

Tips for Helping Increase Bookings in Off-Peak Wedding Season

Cyndi
wedding couple standing in a vineyard

The months of January, February and March are typically considered “off-peak season” in the wedding industry and tend to be slower months. Getting more bookings in these months require a different strategy than peak season as well as thoughtful planning. Let’s look at some strategies to consider to help increase your business in the off season.

5 Tips to Booking in the Off-season

1.   Offer Off-Season Rates: There is a market for off-season weddings, you may just need to work smarter to reach it. Find budget-conscious couples through online target marketing (Social Media ads) and offer discounts for your slower months. Create a list of keywords that couples may use to search online for and include the words in your ad strategy. Some keywords may include affordable weddings, wedding discounts, wedding deals, wedding offers, wedding venue discounts, off-season wedding deals, off-peak wedding season discounts, etc.

2.   Promote Early: As you know, it takes time to plan a wedding. It makes sense to, start advertising your off-peak season discounts at least a year in advance. This gives couples looking for affordable alternatives a chance to decide if having a wedding in the off season is right for them.  An affordable way to advertise is through your blog and a special section on your website.

3.   Target Last-Minute Weddings: Most couples plan their weddings, at the very least, 6-months in advance. However, there are still couples who plan a wedding in less time. This can work to your advantage in the off-peak season. You may not have to offer the deepest discount to win this business because these couples are motivated to tie the knot. Again, the best way to find these couples is through targeted ads. Keywords that may appeal to these couples are last-minute wedding deals, last-minute wedding offers, booking wedding venues last minute, wedding planning in a short time, etc.

4.   Partner with Vendors to Offer Exclusive      Deals: The broader your network with local wedding industry professionals and vendors, the better positioned you may be for the off-season months. You may not be a couple’s first stop in their wedding planning – think bridal shops and jewelers. Consider exchanging voucher coupons with these vendors to promote each other’s businesses. In addition, if you partner with other local wedding vendors, you may be able to come up with an attractive package to offer budget-conscious couples and couples who are planning their weddings in a short amount of time. Partner with wedding planners, photographers, floral shops, DJs/bands, caterers, and more.

5.   Highlight the Advantages of an Off-Season Wedding: Engaged couples have a variety of concerns about booking in the off-season. Concerns they likely wouldn’t have to face in the peak season, mainly weather related. By highlighting the advantages of an off-season wedding to the couple, they may decide the risk is worth it. Here are some points to highlight:

•    Saving money with discounts.

•    Creativity with the theme and photos. Winter-themed weddings are unique and memorable because most weddings take place in the summer months. Their photos will be stunning with the natural beauty of the season and choice of winter fashion for outdoor photos (beautiful coats and capes for the wedding party).

•    Winter-themed décor and food choices that wouldn’t be offered in the summer months. For example:

      a. crystal icicles, shimmery linens and silver and gold accents lend a magical aura

      b. warm desserts such as death-by-chocolate, mini rum cakes, warm cobbler and crumbles

      c. hearty comfort food with creamy soup, whipped potatoes and roasted vegetables

      d. seasonal drinks like hot chocolate, hot apple cider, coffee, cappuccino, hot buttered rum, spiced wine, and eggnog

•    Increased attendance. People are busy in the warmer months and are more likely to decline invitations for other commitments. In addition, out-of-town guests, can experience lower airfare in the off-season.

•    Highlight the ways you prepare your venue for colder months, including your assurance of a comfortable, warm atmosphere (like a fireplace), cleared parking lot and walkways of snow and ice, a large, accommodating coat room, hand-warming towels in the restrooms, a backup generator, and many other ways you take care special care in the off-season to provide the best service possible.

  We hope these tips will help you attract more clients to your venue during the off season who should also think about event insurance. 

  Markel* offers event liability insurance to hosts and honorees, providing coverage such as property damage to the venue or injury to a guest. Up to $2 million in event liability insurance can be purchased by your client from Markel any time at least 1 day before the event. Policies start as low as $75. 

  By offering Markel Event Insurance, it will not only help protect your clients, but it can also help protect you by potentially decreasing your own business liability risk for accidents due to negligence of the event host or honoree. Markel Event Insurance is an easy and affordable solution for your clients – a free quote takes only a few minutes online or on the phone – turning you into a one-stop-shop for your clients.

  This document is intended for general information purposes only. The content of this document is made available on an “as is” basis, without warranty of any kind. Markel does not assume any obligation to update any information herein, or remove any information that is no longer accurate or complete. Furthermore, Markel does not assume any liability to any person or organization for loss of damage caused by or resulting from any reliance placed on that content.

* Coverage is underwritten by Markel American Insurance Company and policyholder services are provided by the underwriting manager, Markel Service, Incorporated, national producer license # 27585, in California d/b/a Markel Insurance Services, license # 0645481.  Terms, conditions, and exclusions apply.  Insurance and coverage are subject to availability and qualifications and may not be available in all states.  

The Pandemic’s Impact on the Wine & Spirits Industry

Cyndi
man in mask looking at wine section

By: Quinton Jay

The year 2020 was a complicated one for the wine and spirits industry. According to information published in Beverage Industry, the sale of wine at retail and convenience stores grew by some 11.4% in multi-outlet stores throughout the 52 weeks between December 1st, 2019, and November 29th, 2020, and champagne, as well as other sparking wines, saw year-over-year growth by nearly 29%, topping sales at roughly $1.6 billion.

  This boost to wine sales, however, could not fully offset the losses incurred by many other businesses throughout the wine and spirits (WS) industry.

  Fortunately, the U.S. seems to have since turned a corner in the pandemic struggle, and most restaurants and other WS businesses like wineries, distilleries, and breweries (WDBs) that were able to survive the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact are now back open and able to serve customers indoors, or at least in some form of hybrid indoor-outdoor seating arrangement. While this return to normalcy should help the WS industry experience an upswing capable of putting business back on track, some industry experts are still analyzing the true depth of impact the pandemic has had on the industry and the businesses in it, regardless of whether those businesses survived the pandemic’s fallout or not.

  One such expert is Quinton Jay, a WS industry expert, Japanese whisky otaku, and industry consultant with more than 20 years of experience in owning, building, operating, and investing in businesses–specifically those in the wine and beverage industry. We recently sat down with Quinton to learn more about the trends he saw arise within the WS industry throughout the events of last year’s pandemic, how those trends impacted the WS industry as a whole, and where he sees the industry heading over the next few years as a result.

WS Trends Resulting From COVID-19

  According to Jay, one of the most widespread trends that impacted the WS industry as a result of the pandemic was the increase in the amount of WS businesses – including WDBs – that began offering e-commerce and Omnichannel retail marketing. By offering these channels, businesses across the entire WS industry were able to continue selling products directly to consumers (D2C), saving many businesses from having to shut their doors to customers – both online and offline – for good.

  “Methods like Omnichannel retail allowed businesses in the industry to continue selling products D2C,” Jay tells us. “For many businesses, especially WDBs, this was the difference between surviving the pandemic or not.”

  Along with the growing trend of Omnichannel retail marketing, many business owners in the WS industry have experienced what Jay refers to as “business fatigue.” This feeling of fatigue is one that many business owners who experienced the pandemic can sympathize with, but for the WS industry specifically, it could mean more owners of WDBs, restaurants, eateries, or other businesses preparing for financial exits from their ventures.

  “Business fatigue is a real thing,” Jay tells us, “and rather than simply close up shop and call it a day, the better option for business owners is to sell their company to someone willing to acquire, rebrand, and revitalize it.” This trend of business fatigue, according to Jay, could hint at other ways as to how the pandemic left a lasting impact on the industry.

The Lasting Impact of COVID-19 on the WS Industry

  In describing the ways that Omnichannel retail marketing has affected the WS industry in recent years, Jay also mentions the historical lack of innovation – particularly technological innovation – within the industry. In mentioning this, it begs the question as to just how innovation, both during the pandemic and immediately following it, will evolve both for businesses and consumers.

  “Many WDBs and other businesses in this industry aren’t necessarily at the forefront of innovation, especially when it comes to growing their market share,” Jay says. However, as Jay continues to explain it, the writing is literally on the wall for the continued growth of Omnichannel retail, given the industry’s historical customer demographics, current and emerging technologies, as well as the ever-evolving nature and growing competitiveness of the WS industry’s supply chains.

  “The U.S. has been lagging behind much of the world in Omnichannel retail offerings, obtaining less than 10% of all global e-commerce sales for the WS industry compared to China’s roughly 25% share,” says Jay.

  In these matters, Jay’s predictions may not be far off from aggregated industry data. For instance, according to McKinsey’s 2021 Consumer Report, e-commerce sales in the U.S. were projected in 2019 to reach 24% of all retail sales by 2024. This projection later increased to 33% by June of 2020 after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, seeing larger growth in e-commerce retail across the U.S. in six months than it had over the past 10 years.

  “As we continue to emerge from the pandemic,” Jay continues, “I expect many more businesses in the WS industry – especially WDBs – will begin offering or broaden their offerings regarding Omnichannel retail as more American consumers opt for D2C retail channels.”

What’s Next for the WS Industry

  As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, every global industry was forced to evolve virtually overnight. The WS industry was no different. Along with broader implementations of Omnichannel and D2C retail methods and deeper technological innovations, Jay tells us that he also expects many businesses in the industry to rethink the way they operate internally and interact with customers on all levels.

  “Overall, I think the pandemic has left many business owners in this industry feeling defeated,” Jay says. “As a result, we can expect to see an increasing number of companies in this industry become more creative in the ways they can target, reach, and sell their products to consumers, as well as become more innovative in the ways that they handle and react to crisis situations.”

  Indeed, the revitalization of crisis management detail is one vital aspect that every business that survived the pandemic will inevitably have to revisit. For the WS industry in particular, this could mean the addition or inclusion of additional D2C sales channels (similar to the inclusion of Omnichannel retail), but also the way that many establishments in the industry hire and retain talented employees.

  “The U.S. has been experiencing a hiring crisis over the last few months,” Jay adds, “and tons of restaurants, eateries, WDBs, and other businesses that survived the pandemic initially are now struggling to keep up with increased consumer demand as the threat of COVID-19 wanes. By implementing policies that promote employee safety and wellness, offering more competitive wages, and remaining adaptable enough to stay ahead of society’s ever-changing curve, the industry as a whole can prevent the detrimental effects that came as a result of last year’s pandemic from having such a deep and lasting impact in the future.”

How to Succeed in WS Post-Covid

  As Jay mentions, there are a number of precautionary methods and strategies that business owners and managers, and other industry professionals in WS can use to better protect their businesses from suffering in ways similar to how they may have during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  “The first step every business in the WS industry should take is to implement more actionable mea

sures in planning their business strategy,” Jay says. “Start by taking a look at what types and quantities of grapes you have coming in, what bulk wine you have in the tank, your total count of bottled finished goods, and become intimately familiar with your sales run rate: if you know those 4 things, you can plan out your business very well and forecast what your business should be focusing on acquiring in order to avoid jamming up your supply chain.”

  For example, if your winery business finds that its sale run rate has slowed down, perhaps the winery needs to look at selling its bulk wine (wine in barrel or tank), or perhaps can temporarily focus on committing fewer grapes for an upcoming vintage. However, once any particular wine has been bottled, that’s it, which is why Jay says to avoid bottling your inventory until you know what your sales run rate is and how it directly impacts your business. While selling out of a certain inventory item can sometimes be a boon for your business, not selling enough can cause inventories to back up, alerting you that your business will need to discount other items and sell that portion of your inventory faster in order to get back into balance.

  A second method WS businesses should consider, according to Jay, is to revisit and revitalize their plan regarding capital management, or the funding of their business initiatives as they pertain to the needs of a business’s financing or cash flow.

  “Most business owners and professionals in the industry want their business to grow,” Jay adds, “but don’t realize how much money they need, especially regarding the lead time required for fine wines and of many products in the industry as a whole, especially aged beverage products.”

  Indeed, as Jay explains, it can often take one year for most white wines and Pinots to be made and bottled, as well as 2-3 years on average for wines like high-end cabernets. Most red wines can take anywhere between 12-30 months to properly process in-barrel and add to their in-bottle age time from Grape to Bottle. This, of course, takes cash, which is why planning your capital budget is just as important as your sales plan.

  By carefully considering these crucial factors to any business in the industry, Jay explains that they can be better positioned to survive in the face of the next inevitable threat the industry will face in the years to come.

Trends in Wine Packaging

Cyndi

Follow Consumer Awareness, Expected Use & Material Availability

beer beverage in a grocery stall

By: Gerald Dlubala

Statistics prove that a well-designed, eye-catching package can set the tone for consumers’ perception of a product’s quality and desirability. But with all the different wine packaging options available, how do you know which is the right one for your wine? Demographics and the corresponding lifestyle can heavily influence your packaging choices. By recognizing your preferred market segment, you can choose the most appropriate product packaging to enhance shelf presence and heighten your product’s perceived quality and desirability.

  Glass remains the overall preferred choice because of its ability to hold the wine’s intended sensory applications better than the alternatives, sometimes up to twice as long when compared to plastic options. In addition, glass can be molded into endless eye-catching, distinctive shapes and sizes, making it accommodating for different uses down to single-serve glass bottles, presenting a modern premium feel and look. Alternative and more innovative designs might feature Stelvin, or cork finishes on the bottle.

  Single-serve wine packaging has grown due to the pandemic and continues, including single-serve cups and goblets, plastic bottles, cartons, aluminum cans and anything else that offers convenience and transportability.

  Cork for use as a closure remains strong due to being an original and traditional choice, now enhanced by improved and more cost-effective technical corks. Aluminum screw caps and plastic dispensing closures on some current packaging present the opportunity for resealing and recycling.

  Ultimately, containers and bottles that are aesthetically appealing and fit a consumer’s lifestyle are the products that will cause them to stop, take notice and pick up the package. Consistency in using that same packaging will build consumer loyalty and recognition of your products in the future.

Using Packaging Options to Appeal to the Consumer

  Alcoholic beverages rely on packaging to maintain the integrity of the content’s chemical composition. For example, packaged wine must maintain the intended aroma, flavor and appeal. Glass keeps the chemical composition intact and has no chance of reacting with the alcohol. Additionally, colored glass adds a layer of protection against changes due to light exposure.

  “Glass goes as does the economy,” said Bradley Tucker, Vice President of Sales for Encore Glass. “When the economy gets tight, companies look to cut costs. Unfortunately, it’s common for packaging to take the hit, whether switching to lightweight bottles, choosing more cost-effective labels, or changing shipping methods. Our shippers remain popular because they are cost-effective, lightweight and stackable, made from 99% recyclable materials, and are themselves 100% recyclable and biodegradable. We also distribute custom printed boxes, decorated bottles and custom molds to meet specific customer needs.”

  Tucker said that all current packaging options have their place and purpose. Still, he believes glass will always be the preferred choice, especially when bottling premium wines. “Glass provides an extended shelf life, providing a premium touch and visual aesthetic without changing the taste, aroma or overall quality of the wine inside. We see increased use in the smaller 375 ml bottles. And the smaller, single-serve bottles are another way to appeal to customers who love wine but drink it only occasionally or want to avoid waste. Honestly, the bigger issue in packaging right now is supply. Like everything else right now, supply channels are difficult to maneuver. It’s a constant battle just trying to get the amount of glass needed, and it’s not going to get better anytime soon. Again, it’s a global issue. Orders that used to be ready in three weeks might now take six to nine months, so some winemakers are just going with what they can obtain.”

  When asked if the glass shortage may be driving some producers to choose aluminum packaging, Tucker told The Grapevine Magazine that it might be accurate, but aluminum distributors are going through the same supply difficulties as everyone else.

  “The most important thing to do is choose a packaging supplier that also can provide a type of supply insurance. Encore Glass fulfills your order by offering great selections of glass bottles, expert preparation, and a commitment to get your bottles to you when you need them.”

Aluminum Brings Versatility into Focus

  Like glass, aluminum is a solid and cost-effective choice for overall packaging effectiveness and performance, but similar difficulty in sourcing can be an issue. Aluminum offers convenience, recyclability, maximum portability and, in some cases, the ability to be resealed. Canned wines gained popularity and broader acceptance during the pandemic and continue to be favored by following the successful methods pioneered by canned cocktails and seltzers. Aluminum is easy to handle and customize with uniquely designed sleeves for shelf appeal and is perfect for occasions where glass containers are not allowed or practical. In addition, aluminum packaging is much lighter to ship and can ultimately help cut price points on wine.

Polyethylene Terephthalate and Plastic Find a Niche

  The pandemic brought on the idea that consumers would more frequently look to purchase and drink wine at home. To support this, wine companies looked to offer minimal contact accessibility, and plastic provided a solution.

  Garcon Wines acted on that new dynamic, finding that traditional bottles used in the wine industry no longer fit the dynamics of how and why most wine is purchased and consumed. With the growing belief that the existing carbon footprint of wine is unsustainable, they developed a 100% recyclable, 750 ml, flat Polyethylene Terephthalate wine bottle. It is designed to fit through mail slots and is manufactured from 100% food-grade, post-consumer recycled PET, saving energy and weight.

  When compared to the traditional glass bottles, they are 87% lighter and 40% smaller spatially. The flat bottles are a little taller than standard bottles and are stackable to save space. The taller profile helps them stand out and be a little more noticeable on a retail shelf. They pack tightly into shipping cartons without additional packaging, better utilizing the space on a standard pallet. Fewer deliveries are needed, and with more efficient loading and unloading times, the savings add up.

  However, under 30% of PET containers are recycled in the United States, so good intentions aren’t producing the proposed results. In 2023, Bacardi will begin using novel plastic for their containers that use seed oil rather than crude oil. The biopolymer bottles are made by fermenting canola and other seed oils that biodegrade within 18 months in any environment containing microorganisms, including compost bins and fresh or saltwater.

Alternative, Sustainable and Eco-conscious are Trending

  Packaging trends are moving towards more eco-friendly and sustainable options, thanks to shifting consumer ideology. Winemakers have found that the key to storing their wines in alternative containers is providing a tight seal. Among these options, boxed wines have been the most popular and recognizable, opening up new possibilities of how and where wine is consumed. Although it’s still a small segment compared to other packaging choices, bag-in-box wines are attractive to those who shop less and want to enjoy an occasional glass of wine at home without worrying about spoilage and waste. The inner pouch removes the need for glass, and the box shape makes them easy to store, transport and use without the chance of breakage. Additionally, they can offer a better price point, modern look and shelf appeal to consumers looking for more thoughtful, eco-friendly and sustainable options.

  With the pandemic driving consumers to drink differently and more often, boxed wine allows them that opportunity, staying fresh for six weeks after breaking the seal. Consumers continue to value convenient and lifestyle-friendly products—boxed wine answers that demand with a 2.25-liter box that perfectly fits a refrigerator shelf, saving space and offering on-demand accessibility.

Bag-in-a-bottle: a Paper Bottle

  Bag-in-a-bottle is an option for consumers who want all of those eco-friendly benefits but still yearn for the traditional bottle. Like the bag-in-box, the outer container is recyclable paperboard fused with water-based glue and molded with heat and moisture into a more conventional wine bottle shape. It is five times lighter than glass and is resistant to spillage, humidity and breakage, with a 12-month shelf life. Proponents believe a time will come where the paper bottle molding unit would be available for use on-site or near the winery for on-demand bottling. Five times more paperboard blanks than rigid bottles can ship at once wherever needed to be assembled and filled.

Return and Reuse: the Good Old Days

  Because only a little over 30% of glass wine bottles get recycled in the U.S., some distributors want to revisit the bottle deposit and return practice for use with wine bottles. The idea is that each glass wine bottle could be reused up to 10 times, allowing the consumer to experience the traditional and romantic experience of wine in a glass bottle while being eco-conscious. In addition, this practice hopes to appeal to those that still want to please those guests that are not comfortable with bag-in-box or canned wines. This business model would issue digital credits to distributors for returned bottles and help the winemaker build loyalty, communication and marketing contacts with participating distributors. The plan is to have the returnable program in thousands of venues, natural wine shops and participating big box stores in 2022, as a three-month pilot program in New York saw an 88% success rate.

  “Encore Glass started their business by sterilizing and recycling glass wine bottles to have an encore use, but with all of the current bottle shapes, sizes and custom structures, it would be nearly impossible to continue on a broad scale,” said Tucker. “I would have doubts about the feasibility of the program, including the willingness of consumers to continue long-term participation.”

Match Packaging to Consumer Awareness

  Creative packaging has always been one of the best and most effective ways to help a brand get noticed in a crowded market. But consumer awareness of a winemaker’s story combined with convenient options in packaging has never been more vital. Over half of consumers are committed to buying from sustainable brands when possible, and they are searching for more responsible behavior from the vineyard through the retail channels. Matching these behaviors with responsible packaging will help winemakers successfully differentiate their products and fuel their brand’s growth in today’s market.

The Importance of Review Sites

Cyndi

By: Susan DeMatei 

We all have a love/hate relationship with online reviews. We get angry when someone points out our flaws on Yelp, but we look for multiple reviews when considering something on Amazon. 

Four Reasons You Should Care About Online Reviews 

  Let’s start with your consumer. Chances are, if you’re a winery and you’re selling mid-priced wine, your consumers fall into the Baby Boomer and Generation X demographics. (The 2021 Silicon Valley Bank reported that Boomers and Gen Xers account for 71% of wine consumption.) 

  However, this won’t be the case for long. If you consider the SIZE of each generation, Baby Boomers are aging out, and GenXers aren’t that big of a group of individuals. The oldest Millennials turn 40 this year. So very soon – as in the next five years – our targets will be Millennials. 

  The shift is significant because of the vast difference in values between Boomers and Millennials. Boomers are the responsible generation and did what they could to justify purchases with tangible data like scores. They also liked outward recognition and status to validate that they made the right decisions. Millennials, on the other hand, tend to look for a purpose or meaning behind their products. Ideally, they search for companies and products with detailed backstories that offer intrinsic value to make them feel good about themselves and the purchase. And they care about what their cohorts think.  

  So, over the next 5-10 years, we will witness a massive shift in marketing, and one of the major transformations will be in the area of influence.  While today’s wine consumers are widely influenced by the established press or reviews, the consumers of tomorrow care about what peers say – even if they’re anonymous peers. 

  The second compelling reason is the sheer number of review sites and our reliance on them for purchase validation. It’s already evident that we’re groomed to look for ratings and reviews before we buy. Here is a brand-new ranking of the top 10 review sites based on searches. You can see here that these sites get millions of views a month.  

Vendista Chart

  A third reason to care about online reviews is Google. Reviews appear in, and help, Google search ranking. And incidentally, they also appear in search results by Alexa in voice-search. The number and quality of your reviews directly contribute to, or inhibit, people’s ability to find you and your products.   

  The best strategy here is to harvest Google reviews. Google supports Google. Google wants you to use its tools. So, it makes sense that Google cares if you have your Google My Business Page set up and that you’re collecting reviews. In addition to nepotism, it’s good business because Google will see that you’re a valid business and will have more credibility returning your company and product in search results. 

  The fourth reason you should care about review sites is because your customers care about review sites. 92% to 97% of customers look for or read a review before doing business with a company. 80% of us trust reviews by strangers just as highly as a reference from our friends. 72% of us look for only positive reviews, and 86% will not do business with those with negative reviews. (Clutch.co) 

  And it is surprising how quickly comfort levels fall when you go from five to one-star ratings. 94% of us will use a business with a four-star rating, but only 14% will consider a two-star rated business. 

  My advice is to be familiar with what people say about you. Search your brand. Know where you and your wine show up and what feedback you’re receiving. 

Tools to Help 

  Ok, but how can you efficiently monitor all those online review channels. Especially when you already have your hands full trying to run your business’s day-to-day without scouring Yelp and Google for new posts. Fortunately, there are some reputation management tools you can use to help out. 

  The easiest tool for tracking any mention of your company or product online is Google Alerts. This is a free search that lets you create daily alerts for any mentions of your brand online. Enter the name of your brand or product in the search bar to see who is talking about you. Then you can create a constant alert to get results emailed to you. The downside is it can be tough to filter the information out in an intelligent way. For instance, when I worked with Opus One, I was reminded daily how many products and companies contained “Opus.” That said, it’s a free, easy tool. If you’re a small winery on a time crunch with a limited budget, Google Alerts is worth your time. 

  ReviewPush is an excellent tool if you do have a small budget and want to take it one step further. With this service, for $89 a month you can create alerts for over 20 different review sites and have them sent to your inbox. Even more timesaving is a feature that allows you to respond direct to reviews from within those email alerts. This alone might be worth the cost. You can also involve an extended team with distributed reports and access to dashboards. So if you have multiple players in your tasting room or wine club, this might be an efficient way to have the entire team monitor and response quickly.  

  There are many other tools in this space that also fall into reputation management. So in addition to looking at reviews, they can monitor what anyone is saying about you on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. These are pricier options and typically involved working out your needs with a sales rep. 

  So hopefully this gave you some incentive to include reputation management as part of your marketing strategy, and some tools to help. In the next article we’ll talk about how to work with your tasting rooms to request reviews – it’s not as scary as it sounds. But until then, start to pay attention to where your customers are trying to communicate about you. Start thanking and replying to them if you aren’t already and take the view that feedback as gift to help you improve and delight future customers. 

  Susan DeMatei is the President and Nathan Chambers is an Account Director at WineGlass Marketing, a full-service direct marketing firm working within the wine industry in Napa, California.  www.wineglassmarketing.com