WHY YOUR RY NEEDS A CLUB! Most successful wineries have wine clubs. Don t get left behind - get started today!
2 TABLE OF CONTENTS What is a Wine Club?.3 Why Have a Wine Club?....4-6 How to Set up Your Wine Club...7-9 Managing Your Wine Club...10 How 360Winery Can Help You... 11-12
3 A wine club is a winery s best strategy to reach and engage its consumers directly with periodic wine shipments. Wine club members are not only offered a choice of wine packages to subscribe to, but also get access to special events and wine deals. Apart from ensuring a regular and guaranteed income for you, a wine club enables your winery to build a stronger and ongoing relationship with its most valuable consumers. DID YOU KNOW? 83% of wineries across the United States have wine clubs. * WHAT IS A CLUB? If you haven t got a wine club yet, you will learn today how to start, manage and scale your own wine club. Right from a wine club s many benefits and details of club structures to a list of tools for managing club operations and tips to multiply your wine club membership - you ll find it all in this only e-book you will ever need to read about wine clubs! * 2013 Wine Business Monthly/Silicon Valley Bank Tasting Room Survey Report
4 An increasing number of small and medium wineries around the globe have been setting up wine clubs. In Australia, the percentage of wineries with wine clubs jumped from 20% in 2009 to 60% in 2015. (1) Let s now see how wine clubs will benefit both your winery and your consumers. GREAT FOR YOUR RY INCREASED PROFITABILITY Wine clubs guarantee a level of income and cash flow with every wine club shipment. Every winery owner, like you, knows that DID YOU KNOW? Typically, a wine club accounts for 66% of a winery s profitability. (2) WHY HAVE A CLUB? Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) sales mean higher margin sales. A wine club, therefore, is crucial to your DTC marketing strategy, with an average margin of 50% per bottle (vs. 30% on other sales) made on each club shipment. REDUCED OVERHEADS Wine clubs have little overhead costs vs. other sales avenues. Distribution channels require additional sales staff, while a cellar door needs staff, infrastructure and marketing. (1) Australian industry estimate - Percentage of Australian Wineries with Traditional and Recurring ecommerce Wine Clubs (2) http://www.winebusiness.com/wbm/index.cfm?go=getarticle&dataid=38032
5 On the other hand, a wine club s major investments are typically a winery software and perhaps a wine club manager. GROWING YOUR CONSUMER BASE Wine clubs help wineries to establish a direct relationship with consumers. Club members can enjoy the exclusivity of the wine club experience and move from being your ordinary consumers to your ardent fans and advocates. Members can often spread the word about their club among friends, inviting them to winery events and adding to your wine club membership. DID YOU KNOW? Wine club members generate up to 16 times more revenue per year than regular ad hoc shoppers. * WHY HAVE A CLUB? BUILDING YOUR RY S BRAND Each wine club shipment can offer the perfect opportunity for you to communicate with your consumers as well as remind them about your winery s brand. Regularly offering your wine club members well-thought-out branded merchandise, such as free corkscrews, limited-edition glassware, cook books, t-shirts and industry magazines, can be an innovative method of building your brand. * http://www.cdngrapes2wine.com/doc/cg2w-fall2014.pdf
6 GREAT FOR YOUR CONSUMERS EXCLUSIVE CLUB EXPERIENCE Wine club members can enjoy member-only benefits including invitations to free tastings, discounts on purchases, access to limited-edition wines and preferred service. Once a member, your consumer can move from being a visitor to being a part of the inner circle. Winery software, such as 360Winery, enables winery owners like you to keep a track of member details, purchase histories and preferences, and consequently helps you to offer them a personalized service. ENGAGING WITH YOUR RY Most people who enjoy drinking wine wish they knew more about it! A wine club can give wine lovers a chance to interact with their winemaker, while providing a relaxed and informal platform WHY HAVE A CLUB? for discussing wine. Additionally, wine club members can enjoy the benefits of regular tastings, personalized cellar tours and wine blending classes. COMMUNITY OF ENTHUSIASTS Your wine club can offer a great opportunity for like-minded people to come together. Invitations to special winery events as well as mingling with fellow wine connoisseurs can make for memorable experiences that would revolve around your winery, and eventually be attributed to it.
7 Hopefully you have already begun to see how crucial a wine club is for the success of your winery business. If you haven t gotten one set up yet, this section explains everything you need to know about establishing your own wine club. HOW TO SET UP YOUR CLUB MULTIPLE PACKAGES Depending on the type of wine your winery produces, wine packages can be categorized as red, white, mixed, reserve etc. There s no limit to the number and kind of wine packages you can offer. However, do avoid the temptation to ship out wines that are not selling elsewhere. Your members deserve your best wines! NUMBER OF BOTTLES Sending between 2 to 12 wine bottles per shipment is a good choice. The key is to maintain the same quality, while introducing variety to your shipments. DID YOU KNOW? 59% of wine clubs offer guests a number of club packages to choose from. * * Using Data for Better Decision Making presentation at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, Jan 28, 2014
8 REGULAR SHIPMENTS Semi-annually, quarterly, and bi-mesterly are the more popular choices among wine clubs. However, you could additionally offer monthly, bi-monthly or annual shipping to give your members more choice. HOW TO SET UP YOUR CLUB Pick-up parties can be a fun way for local consumers to save on shipping costs. Moreover, subsidized or free shipping benefits can encourage other club members to upgrade to larger shipments. DID YOU KNOW? In 2014, domestic red blends were the fourth-largest seller in the US, after Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Grigio. * THREE-TIER PRICING Three tiers of pricing can enable you to offer your main wines in the middle, cheaper wines in the lowest and save your reserves for the highest tier. It is also helpful if your wine club software supports the option for customized pricing. * http://www.wine-searcher.com/m/2015/02/sauvignon-blanc-and-pinot-on-the-rise-in-u-s
9 DISCOUNTS AND SPECIAL DEALS Most people join a wine club for the interaction and relationship with the winery rather than for the monetary discounts it offers. However, you may want to offer your wine club members benefits such as free or subsidized shipping and discounts for purchases over and above their wine club shipments. Sending them free samples can also be another way for you to make your club members feel special. DID YOU KNOW? One in three (33%) wine shoppers makes purchases via smart phones or tablets. * HOW TO SET UP YOUR CLUB CHOICE OF MEMBERSHIP DURATION Consider offering your wine club members a choice of quarter, semi-annual, annual and even lifetime subscriptions. However, it is key that you also give them the option to switch or cancel their club membership packages at any time. A winery software, such as 360Winery, can help you keep a track of all your club memberships in real time. * http://www.blacksquare.ca/2014/04/wbm-magazine-top-10-tips-successful-wine-clubs
10 A good wine club software saves a lot of your time and money on paperwork, monitoring and processing payments, by automating many of these tasks. However, do avoid a standard CRM software that does not align to your winery s specific needs. It will need to be customized, and will ultimately cost you more money. Instead consider choosing a winery software that offers you the following: PRODUCTION PLANNING A good wine club software keeps you updated about all your club members orders. In doing so, it can help you plan the number of wine cases your winery needs to produce, in advance. This also helps you to control your expenses, in real time. MANAGING YOUR CLUB ALL-IN-ONE SYSTEM The wine club software should integrate with your Point-Of-Sales (POS) system so that the two can share product, price and inventory information, as well as consumer data. FLEXIBILITY Make sure that the software supports multiple club packages, pricing tiers and shipment frequencies. A good software also allows for customization of packages for individuals who do not want standard wine club packages.
11 HOW 360RY CAN HELP YOU Running a successful wine club can be easy if you have the right tools to help. A wine club software eliminates your reliance on complex spreadsheets, while recording customer data, managing multiple club packages, tracking orders and shipments and automatically processing payments. 360Winery is one such software that can help you manage your wine club operations efficiently. A cloud-based winery software, 360Winery lets you access your winery data on any device connected to the Internet. 360Winery s wine club module is synced with your winery s POS, Thus, wine club memberships and related functionalities can be managed through the POS terminal itself. 360Winery keeps you updated about all your wine club members orders. This helps you to plan the number of wine cases you need to produce for guaranteed sales, well in advance.
12 HOW 360RY CAN HELP YOU By scheduling batch invoicing and credit card processing prior to each shipment, 360Winery saves a lot of your time and reduces the scope for errors. Keeping a track of all memberships is made easier via an exclusive member log-in that lets members update their personal information, pick the wines they love and switch memberships at will. 360Winery provides customizable overall and targeted reports for an in-depth analysis of individual club memberships. It can also help you to track the performance and progress across all areas of your wine club. A wine club will give your winery the opportunity to connect with your consumers, while bringing in increased sales. With the backing of the right software and processes, your wine club can steadily drive a large share of consistent profitability to your winery, which will never be the same again! So go ahead and start setting up your wine club, today! Cheers!
4890 Victoria Ave. N., Vineland, ON Canada. +1-905-581-1770 cheers@360growers.com www.360winery.com