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

Pretty basic stuff: know what your customers want and it’s a whole lot easier selling it to them. But in our digital information age, there’s a whole lot more data to track and process and even though that can seem daunting – or pointless given the small data sets that small businesses generally have to work […]

Even setting aside questions of church and state for a moment(!), there are some interesting things going on in North Carolina … [level-members] It seems that a group of distributors has enlisted the help of a religious organization in their attempt to defeat a proposal by small brewers in the state who would like more […]

Maybe, just maybe, stand for quality. It’s kind of popular these days to be inclusive and accepting of opinions from all sides, to allow everyone his or her space to believe whatever it is that makes them happy. Sometimes, that becomes political correctness run amok, but mostly, it’s pretty great to let everyone be themselves. […]

There’s a reason Grapeseed Marketing doesn’t offer ecommerce in our digital marketing and website packages and unless you’re willing to essentially create an entirely new business, ecommerce is probably not for you. [level-members] The main reason we don’t offer ecommerce options is because you don’t have the marketing muscle to pull it off. How well […]

Wine and Vine’s article about trends in wine retail and what retailers like is aimed at wine producers, but it’s worth a read for those of us in retail, too. [level-members] Yes, wine in cans is hot. And labels absolutely affect consumer perception of wines. (As one supermarket executive put it, “It’s still a surprise […]

It’s tempting to think that scale solves all problems – even with low margins, the scale of profits is large enough to support you. But it may not be all it’s cracked up to be. [level-members] Strange concept coming from a firm that’s sole purpose is helping wine shops succeed, but bigger is not always better. […]

Are your customers using label-scanning apps? If so, how are they using them? [level-members] Jancis Robinson’s recent article on label-scanning apps is worth a read, even though she focuses mostly on trends from country to country. It’s the comments of other wine pros that are most illuminating. It seems that in some corners of the […]

Today, we offer an encore look at a popular post from 2013. It’s message still applies today.  The biggest hurdle in attracting new customers is gaining their trust. Why should they trust that you’ve got their best interests at heart? Nobody else does. Why should they believe that you’ve stocked your shop with interesting wines […]

Last week we talked about the importance of creating a consistently excellent customer experience. Let’s take that a step further this week – or even a few steps further – by walking a mile in your customer’s shoes. [level-members] It seems silly to say, but sometimes we forget how much we know about a topic on which […]

Sure, you’ll be out of stock on a popular item from time to time. We’re all human, so situations like that are unavoidable. But you can minimize the unpleasant surprises your customers experience by paying attention to a few basics of, well, customer experience. [level-members] We’ve touched on one of the key aspects of customer […]