Archive for the ‘Business Tips for Wine Shop Owners’ Category

Though we devote most Wednesday posts to the how-to of marketing as well as some of the concepts behind the marketing we should all be doing, sometimes it’s worth looking at marketing your wine shop from the business perspective. [level-members] The reason for that is captured pretty neatly in this Drinks Business article, Wine’s Apparent […]

Yes, they are the youngest generation of legal drinking age and you’ve probably got very little in common with them, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be doing everything you can to attract them. [level-members] This is especially true because Millennials, as a generation, seem to have what is frequently thought of as a more European […]

It might be time to re-evaluate the labels in your shop – even tradition-bound Bordeaux is making an effort to keep up with the times. [level-members] It’s no secret that labels have an impact on consumer behavior for products in just about every category, including wine. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that savvy marketers working […]

On Tuesdays, we normally offer business tips for running your wine shop business. But in honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re going slightly off script. [level-members] Love Potion I have to admit that I have no idea where one might procure Schisandra Berries, but if you can come up with them, you’re all set to make […]

Leave it to economists to take (some of) the fun out of wine. [level-members] This Alternet article tells the story of a professor’s modest idea to create a small, specialized academic journal for a few dozen colleagues and how it has become the popular and respected Journal of Wine Economics. Along the way we learn about […]

We’ve written before about what your job is as the owner of a small wine shop. I’ve found another short, quick read that lays out the same idea: unless your shop caters solely to the very well off, your job is to find interesting wines that don’t break the bank. [level-members] Recently in his New York Times […]

We talk all the time of the importance to your business of being different, but being different for different’s sake is often just plain weird. You want to be different in a way that makes a difference for your customers and that sets you apart from your competition. [level-members] Here’s a way to consider. Washington […]

Is “Can I Help You?” the absolute worst opening line in the retail world? Probably. [level-members] And that’s because the answer, 99 times out of a 100, is, “No, just looking.” If you’re experience doesn’t mirror that, congratulations. Keep asking that question – there’s no reason to mess with what works. But for the rest […]

Matt Kramer’s recent piece on the Wine Spectator site gave me inspiration to sum up a wine shop owner’s job in one sentence. [level-members] The article, titled The Greatest Gift, is a pretty great gift in itself, not least of which because he quotes one of my favorite jazz musicians, Bill Evans, but it’s this […]

In an age of “user-generated content” and computer algorithms, does offering advice to your wine shop customers even make sense any more? [level-members] In a word, yes. In two words, absolutely yes! Even though you can read about the greater consistency that is the wisdom of the crowd, that macro-view really only counts in the abstract. It’s great […]