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Sheri Hebbeln
 
March 30, 2010 | Sheri Hebbeln

Selling Your Wine Online to Someone Who Has Never Tried It

Wine is an experience…… in the same way that a gourmet meal or a luxury vacation is an experience. And because it’s an experience, the challenges in selling wine online are much greater than they are for commodities, which can often be sold based on price alone. That fact shouldn’t deter you, though, because it can be done. And in fact, if you understand the differences, it can be a whole lot more fun.

How do you sell an experience?

First, you need to engage the senses. Create a vivid image whereby your visitors can imagine themselves enjoying your wine. This is something best accomplished through exceptional copy and photography, not only on your product detail pages, but throughout your website.

Copy

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. –Mark Twain

Although it’s tempting to copy and paste wine notes or vineyard notes into your product descriptions, it’s important to remember that the product teaser and description are often your only opportunity to capture the attention and imagination of your visitors. Web visitors have short attention spans so your words should be chosen carefully, with an eye toward attention to detail. Your website may be the first and only opportunity you have to make an impression. Spelling and grammar errors will cause a lack of confidence or trust in your brand. And product descriptions which are too technical and lack personality will cause visitors to leave just as quickly as they arrived.

As an example, these are two very different product descriptions I found for sparkling wine.

  1. Champagne is a sparkling wine produced by inducing the in-bottle secondary fermentation of wine to effect carbonation.
  2. ………a shimmery coppery gold in the glass, with a gentle stream of tiny bubbles. Powerful and complex aromas of raspberry and fresh cut red apple are accentuated by appealing notes of cardamom and oak spice.
     

And here are two product descriptions for Chardonnay. Assuming you have no previous experience with the brand, which one captures your interest?

  1. The grapes for this wine are grown in an extremely difficult area – composed of rock and gravel. The yields are very low, as the vines must struggle greatly just to survive.
  2. This gorgeous Chardonnay defines the concept of synergy, and it beautifully expresses the character of its distinctive vineyard and wonderfully ripe vintage. The aromas are a lovely mélange of lemon custard, fresh apple and toasted coconut, with just a hint of pineapple: a fruit and oak combination that is as exquisitely balanced as it is luxurious.
     

And just for fun, here’s something I found on the Dove Chocolate site - yum.

“As you unwrap your DOVE® Chocolate, note the aroma. Take the same care in experiencing the smell of your wine. Swirl the wine in your glass, then sniff it lightly to sample the bouquet. Break a piece of DOVE® Chocolate, then place the chocolate on your tongue and let it luxuriate and coat your entire mouth. As the chocolate taste envelopes your senses, take a sip of wine. Notice the subtle layers of flavors from the two tastes mingling together in a truly sensual experience.”

I just may need to stop on the way home and buy some DOVE® Chocolate to enjoy with my wine this evening.

Photography

The primary purpose of the imagery on your website is to complement your words as they gently guide visitors through the buying process. Each image, whether product photography or images used elsewhere on the site, should aid in creating the experience you are trying to convey through your copy. Professional photography showing people enjoying your wines coupled with high quality product shots will go a long way toward guiding the purchase decision. Conversely, sloppy or unattractive pictures may actually hurt in your efforts.

I love this image I found on the Tamber Bey site.


 

Kudos to Mumm Napa for the lovely description of their 2004 DVX Rosé and to Chasseur for their 2007 Chasseur Rued Chardonnay description.

 


 

Time Posted: Mar 30, 2010 at 11:14 AM
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Matthew Mann
 
March 11, 2010 | Matthew Mann

REthink Compliance: Changing the “Whether”

“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it!”

— attributed to Mark Twain.

Wine shipping compliance is much the same way, with most wineries grumbling about whether it is worth taking on the hassles compliance can bring. The question is whether they want to do anything about it.

Much noise is made about compliance issues in the wine business. There is a tug-of-war in state legislatures debating direct shipment bills about what it means, how it should be accomplished, and in the minds of the opponents of such bills, whether wineries shipping into their state will stay compliant (see the recent battles in Maryland). There is also a tug-of-war within individual wineries over the allocation of resources in tight economic times and whether attention should (or can) be given to compliance issues. Compliance is rarely viewed as an opportunity opening doors to new markets and frequently viewed as a barrier to competing within those markets. It’s considered confusing, time-consuming and boring (even I have to give a nod to that last one). Until now.

In January we launched an updated version of our REthink Compliance web tool as a service to our IBG eCommerce clients at no addtional charge. REthink Compliance provides complete consumer direct wine shipment compliance reporting and, as an integrated compliance solution with our REthink Engine technology, sales order compliance checks at the point of transaction. All with quite literally a few clicks of your mouse. The website is at www.rethinkcompliance.com and is newly redesigned with an attractive look and more topical information on wine compliance and shipping issues, including updates on changes to state law, agency contacts and resources for acquiring permits and licenses.

  • Compliance Reports - Powered by eCompli, REthink Compliance will generate complete, accurate compliance reports using the sales data automatically passed from the REthink Engine directly to REthink Compliance. No order file uploads required! Just login and view whichever reports you need. Even reports for periods with zero activity are generated to make staying compliant in every state you ship easy.
     
  • Compliance Checks - The new REthink Compliance also can check orders for compliance status at the point-of-transaction from the REthink Engine. Check for permit status, volume limitations, dry areas, or prohibited states before you ship to ensure each shipment meets the requirements for each state.

For years I’ve said that compliance is important. Many of the dramatic changes to direct shipping laws in the five years since Granholm are directly related to whether wineries are willing to follow the rules, report and pay state taxes, and stay compliant. Doing so convinces non-shipping states to open their borders to direct shipments because it allays their fears of unauthorized shipments and unremitted taxes. That opens new markets and creates new customer opportunities. Now, IBG eCommerce clients have a new tool at no additional charge to solve their direct shipment compliance issues: quickly, inexpensively and with minimal effort.

Change the “whether” in handling compliance. Contact your Account Manager to learn how easy it is to set up your account in REthink Compliance.
 

Time Posted: Mar 11, 2010 at 11:52 AM
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