Rebuilding Traffic after the Demise of Amazon Product Ads
In his classic text on the history of California wine, Leon Adams described the cycles of boom and bust that characterized the early days of that state’s budding wine industry. Sometimes it feels like he might as well have been discussing the options for selling wine online for retail stores. Recent changes in the available [...]
The Giants of Comparison Wine Shopping: Amazon and Google Shopping
It wasn’t so long ago that wine stores could afford to be complacent about their websites. Online traffic would likely find them from a product search on a search engine or wine directory site, competition wasn’t too bad and Google Product listings were free. It was tempting for retailers to treat online orders as less important than “real” customers [...]
Online Crossroads: Marketing Agents Seeking to Sell Wine Online get a Hearing at the SLA
The State Liquor Authority of NY is preparing a new set of guidelines that could have national implications for how wine is sold online. While the jurisdiction of the SLA is limited to licensed wholesalers, retailers and restaurants, the issue at hand is how unlicensed marketing agents can promote wine. As a price-posting state NY [...]
Retailers Respond to a Changed Landscape
Around this time every year we review the results of our benchmarking report which shows how retailer websites on the Bevsites eCommerce platforms have fared over the past year. Looking to share useful insights we characterize the differences at stores that grew significantly or sustained sizeable sales with their online business. Previous articles have described [...]
Why Distributors All Win by Competing on the Same Platform
As Beverage Media’s online view of the New York drinks market grows more complete it has attracted the attention of trade members in other parts of the country. The initial reaction is very positive with excitement about the product browsing and eCommerce. However as the discussion shifts to the prospect of something similar happening [...]
Email: The Key to the Health of your Online Sales
A report from the Pew Internet Project last year confirmed that email is still the top online activity and is nearly universal among adult users. It is still the most reliable channel for reaching customers and offers an unmatched rate of delivery. However, Julie Katz at Forrester Research cautions about the potential for abuse when [...]
A More Complete View of the Marketplace
An evolutionary leap has been taking place in New York with how retailers and restaurants access pricing information from their distributors. While Beverage Media has had an online version of the book for over 10 years, changes in the dynamics of this market have created an opportunity to expand the role of our online listings. [...]
A Coming of Age for Online Wine Sales
The online selling of products appears to be entering a new period of maturity where it can no longer fly under the radar. Two recent events have highlighted that eCommerce has become a significant part of consumer activity in the US. The first is that Amazon has agreed to collect sales tax for a number [...]
Google Drops Alcohol from Product Listings
Last month, without much notice, Google dropped all wine, beer and liquor from their product listing service. This move was in connection with a change to their free Google Product Search service which is becoming a paid advertising service called Google Shopping. Google Products represented between 10-15% of eCommerce revenue irrespective of the size of [...]
Getting Realistic about Social Media
I was recently asked what practical advice I would give an audience of wine store owners who want to use social media campaigns to increase sales. My response was not to bother, which reflected the experience of the retailers in the room, none of whom had an eCommerce website. My answer shocked me a little [...]
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