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 [...]
Articulating Value in a Competitive Marketplace
There was a time when moving online for a wine store would lead to a lift in business based solely on the strength of the store’s inventory and pricing. However the online wine marketplace has been an increasingly competitive space for several years now. These days few stores are satisfied with the incremental sales [...]
Chasing the Omni-Present Consumer
As we enter the holiday season retailers are struggling to keep up with the constantly evolving online consumer. The challenge used to be how a retailer could maintain a consistent experience in the store and on the web, with email marketing and print ads. Now those customers spend their time on even more channels like [...]
How Savvy Retailers Craft Tales to Sell More Wine
I was ready to respond to the offer before I even finished reading the E-mail. I couldn’t even tell whether it was a red or white wine being offered, but I knew I wanted it. The retailer’s story of pizzas in France, mosquitoes and olive pits was enough to make me believe that if I [...]
What Exactly are the Rules for Collecting Emails?
Retail stores have the often difficult task of trying to collect email addresses from their customers (or potential customers) so that the store can alert them of sales, tastings, and other special events but at what point does that hunger for emails cross a line?
I was recently in a situation where I started following an [...]
If You Build It, Will They Come?: Creating a Successful Retail Wine Site
Before I start this post, let me introduce myself. My name is James Laurenti, and I’m the primary point person at BevSites for new stores going through the web development process. I’m also one of the key people that support our sites once they’ve launched. Prior to my work here, I’ve spent the greater [...]
Wine Express email marketing case study
Marketing Sherpa published an interesting case study of how Wine Enthusiast’s ecommerce team (Wine Express) were able to raise revenue by 69% by increasing the frequency of their email campaign.
SUMMARY: Email promotions are the bread and butter of many ecommerce sites. But how can you increase the frequency of your promotions without causing a backlash [...]
A Predictable Investment in eCommerce
There is ample evidence that the economy is having an impact on retail trade. Retailers across the spectrum describe double-digit declines in sales while profits have been squeezed by the deep discounting used to attract customers. However, in contrast to these harrowing tales, come the reports that wine sales are actually up at retail while [...]
Five Stages of Growth for an Online Wine Store
Given concerns this year about economic uncertainty, the holiday season for retailers is being watched very closely. In general off-premise wine sales have not suffered the hardships that restaurants are currently enduring, but poor performance in late November and December can completely undermine what may have been a moderately successful year. As stores seek to [...]