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For the latest in Direct-to-Consumer sales. Featuring posts on compliance, direct sales tips and trends in the wine industry.

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January 17, 2012 | Joe Waechter

Vision and Mission

As we begin the New Year, it’s customary to reflect on the events of the previous year and to look ahead to what lies in store. This was a big year for our company, as we acquired the WTN Services division of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM and became WineDirect.

The process of bringing two companies together provides a unique opportunity to reflect on our vision for the future. The landscape for the wine industry and Direct-to-Consumer sales is constantly evolving. For us to help our customers succeed in this ever changing market, it’s important to look to the future and understand the trends that will shape our industry over the next several years. With that thought in mind, our team has used the merging of our two companies as an opportunity to reflect on our Vision and Mission. These two important statements capture the essence of who we are and provide guidance in everything we do.

So here are our new Vision and Mission statements. Please enjoy. I welcome your thoughts and look forward to working together as we see what changes the coming year will bring.

Vision
We aspire to be the leader in winery direct sales. To that end, we must fully support our customers with products, services, and information to help them succeed, and build a positive culture by encouraging and rewarding employees for delivering on our promises.

Mission
We make Direct-to-Consumer easier by providing responsive and efficient winery fulfillment, eCommerce, and telesales services. Our commitment to technology and a strong team allow us to deliver peace of mind to our customers as they build their direct sales programs.

Jan 17, 2012 at 8:00 AM

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January 13, 2012 | Sheri Hebbeln

Characteristics of a Great Winery Website

Are you missing out on opportunities in Direct-to-Consumer eCommerce?

Retailers often have an advantage over producers where eCommerce is concerned because this is their bread and butter. Buyers have become accustomed to shopping through retail sites and consequently they hold certain expectations regarding the user experience. As a producer, it’s important for you to meet those expectations.

There are a number of reasons you may be losing out on Direct-to-Consumer opportunities:

Your customers are unaware that you have a web presence, or they may be unable to find your website
Perhaps previous experience with your site has been less than perfect. Even if it’s improved a great deal since your early days online, you may have trouble winning them back.
It could be that experience with winery sites as a whole has been poor; in which case customers may have been conditioned to go directly to retailers. Retailer sites often have better features and functionality, particularly when it comes to finding what you’re looking for.

How can you overcome these challenges? You can start by working to build awareness and by following some basic principles regarding the design and navigation of your website.

Building Awareness

It may seem obvious, but remember to put your URL on every piece of marketing material that goes out (newsletters, package inserts, advertisements, etc.).
Do a little bit of research on SEO and make sure your title tags, marketing URLs and site content are optimized for search engines. Statistics show that 42% of search users click the top-ranking link, while just 8% click the second-ranking link. Your name should come up first in an Internet search for your brand or for your wines. If you’re not doing it today, you should also consider using Google AdWords to promote your brand.
Use analytics to gain an understanding of your customers and learn how they interact with your website. How are customers finding you and which pages do they tend to exit from? Use this information to continually improve the customer experience.

Basic Web Principles

Design

Last month I put together a quick list of design tips which you can read here. In addition to these basic tips, you’ll want to make sure your site displays well in all browsers. See this link for some interesting browser usage statistics. Usage among the top three has changed pretty dramatically over the past several years.

Navigation

Can your website visitors easily find what they’re looking for? Website navigation is often taken for granted, but research by User Interface Engineering shows that it’s a significant issue for customers. Their research indicates that people can’t find what they’re looking for 60% of the time. Even more importantly, Forrester Research estimates that approximately 50% of potential sales are lost because users can’t find the information they’re looking for. Your navigation should be prominent, i.e. it should be at the top of the page or above the fold on either side. It should also be logical with link copy that makes sense. For a good overview of navigation usability, see this article.

Just for fun, here is an example:

Great Navigation