Hey, It's the economy...Why not start a new less expensive wine club tier ?
Instead of losing wine club members or putting their accounts on hold for 3 months, why not be creative and flexible?
I work for a small local wine retailer with a monthly wine club of 70 members. Our wine club retention is about average, but we are not as confident as we should be. We took a survey of our customers and found that they would certainly enjoy and appreciate a new "economy " tier. The average customer's response was, " hey I love my wine, I just can't afford my usual bottles anymore." and " I don't want to go without wine, so what do you have that I can afford?"
So we created a new tier with two bottles of wine a month for $25. Normally, we do a tier of two for $45. and a single bottle for $20. You can find great wines from Chili, South Africa, Argentina, and even France and Spain. And since we already have those wines onboard, we will start it March 1st. and........guess what?
We are already getting sign ups! It also attracts the 21 -30 yr olds! Once we get them in, we can offer them tastes of the 'more expensive' wines and offer a little wine education to boot!.
My point being, be flexible and be as creative as you can in your wine clubs. Invent new tiers, take surveys, find out what you are missing, give folks a reason to buy wine that they can afford and you will be more appreciated in the long haul. We all have to do our part! And we all want to keep our customers!
And please give them 'green' wine bags, so they can bring them in to refill.
Would appreciate hearing your ideas!!!! What are you small winery wine clubs doing?
And the large ones as well?
Maybe another topic would be..."And just HOW do you get them to pull off the road into my winery?" Or "WAIT, WAIT,turrn around and go back."
Carpe vino, Judith V.
I work for a small local wine retailer with a monthly wine club of 70 members. Our wine club retention is about average, but we are not as confident as we should be. We took a survey of our customers and found that they would certainly enjoy and appreciate a new "economy " tier. The average customer's response was, " hey I love my wine, I just can't afford my usual bottles anymore." and " I don't want to go without wine, so what do you have that I can afford?"
So we created a new tier with two bottles of wine a month for $25. Normally, we do a tier of two for $45. and a single bottle for $20. You can find great wines from Chili, South Africa, Argentina, and even France and Spain. And since we already have those wines onboard, we will start it March 1st. and........guess what?
We are already getting sign ups! It also attracts the 21 -30 yr olds! Once we get them in, we can offer them tastes of the 'more expensive' wines and offer a little wine education to boot!.
My point being, be flexible and be as creative as you can in your wine clubs. Invent new tiers, take surveys, find out what you are missing, give folks a reason to buy wine that they can afford and you will be more appreciated in the long haul. We all have to do our part! And we all want to keep our customers!
And please give them 'green' wine bags, so they can bring them in to refill.
Would appreciate hearing your ideas!!!! What are you small winery wine clubs doing?
And the large ones as well?
Maybe another topic would be..."And just HOW do you get them to pull off the road into my winery?" Or "WAIT, WAIT,turrn around and go back."
Carpe vino, Judith V.
Views: 3
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Margie Tosch on -
Great idea Judith - is is what I am hearing all over - restaurants, retailers, wineries, etc. People still want wine, but they just aren't (or can't) spend what they used to. The places that can take action and respond certainly have a better chance of survival than those who simply try to wait it out.
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Permalink Reply by Erica Lauesen on -
I hate to burst bubbles out there, but it has been my experience that in the current state of the economy, people are losing their jobs. Not just having inflation issues with necessities. The last thing that people want to hear when having to admit that they can't afford the wine that they love, is "Hey! We have a cheaper club you can join!" They just can't have these little expenses any more. You have to hang tough and try to reach people that still have jobs and can still afford little luxuries.
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Permalink Reply by Alana Gentry on -
J~
You are so right. Glad to see that you are getting more sign ups with your creative marketing. Write to me about your wine club and I'll put it on my blog. My readers might appreciate it! -
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Permalink Reply by Judith V. on
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Alana,
would love to, but am down with a bad cold since Tues. and can't function let alone type.
yuck,
get back in touch with the wine world ,....later.
Judith
p.s. took a wine blog class at SSU. it was fun. -
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Permalink Reply by Amerilis E. on -
Hello everyone! Yes, I know it has been quite a while since someone left a comment here but I just discovered it....and here I am. :-)
I can understand both sides of the fence since I have dropped a wine club membership recently and I work in a local tasting room. In my situation, I dropped my membership because I had been a member for 3 yrs, was not drinking fast enough (LOL!) and my wine inventory was quickly out-growing my home wine cooler (cellar, whatever you want to call it). I was also in another club that I chose to stay in.
I was happy to unload the one club to be able to pick and choose new and different wines, but a wine broker friend mentioned that the vintner should have offered a club membership at a lower $$ obligation. This way he would not lose a customer (that is, IF I took him up on the offer!) and I could continue to enjoy their wines. I'm glad he didn't and I do understand Erica's point regarding not being handed yet another sales pitch to get in my pocket. The good thing for me is that I *am* employed but do feel that a load has been lifted.
On the other hand, there may be those folks who would welcome the lower price point on a club membership. And if something like that was offered, it may be just what they were looking for. Creative marketing does have its place. -
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