BevSites :: Ecommerce for wine stores » Useful Stuff

Articulating Value in a Competitive Marketplace

Ian Griffith — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:01:19 +0000

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 [...]

The Imperative to Improve Retailer POS data

Ian Griffith — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 06:16:41 +0000

In this industry that trades in controlled beverages there are inefficiencies built into our business by regulators trying to contain the social cost of our products. Some of these regulations are being challenged in the courts and state legislatures, leading to political and legal battles that cause divisions by pitting one tier of the [...]

Supporting the Mobile Co-Pilot

Ian Griffith — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:45:08 +0000

In the build-up to the holiday season last year there was a lot of excitement about social commerce and how Facebook’s enormous user base was going to become a new force in the season’s retail business. Once the dust settled however, it turned out that social media didn’t have quite the direct impact some had [...]

Key Transitions in the Growth of a Wine Store Website

Ian Griffith — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:02:58 +0000

Every year we review benchmark indicators for the retailer ecommerce websites we support. This is a valuable routine for us to catch outliers who are lagging, stores that should be doing better than their performance suggests. We need to find out whether the problem is technical or design related, or it might concern store personnel [...]

Catching the Buzz: Mining Digital Word of Mouth

Ian Griffith — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:52:44 +0000

A recent column explored the potential impact of social media on retail by describing campaigns designed to take advantage of customers’ activity on Facebook. The goal was to leverage social interactions to amplify a positive shopping experience across their network. With social commerce, most retailers see their goal as building engagement and providing customer service [...]

As Online Wine Sales Grow So Do The Challenges

Ian Griffith — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 03:46:57 +0000

Given the state of the US economy retailers are more than a little anxious that this upcoming holiday season will provide a much needed lift in sales. Somewhat ominously the NRF is expecting season sales to be little more than “average” with a predicted 2.8% increase over last year. Meanwhile, comScore expects eCommerce spending to [...]

Chasing the Omni-Present Consumer

Ian Griffith — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 21:48:50 +0000

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 [...]

Social Commerce starts to get interesting

Ian Griffith — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:05:19 +0000

It has been 18 months since Facebook first allowed us to “Like” websites or products on other sites and broadcast that vote to our friends on our news feed. In that short period of time Facebook has built a series of features to support retailers who aim to leverage the power of that social network. [...]

How can improved UPC standards help retail wine stores?

Ian Griffith — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 14:35:14 +0000

The quest for a unique wine item number for use throughout the industry has been a recurring theme in this column. So much so that I was invited to sit on a panel at the Wine Industry Technology Symposium to present the retailer perspective in a discussion of what the 3 tiers could do better [...]

How Market Conditions Affect Wine Sales Online

Ian Griffith — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 20:14:15 +0000

Helping customers and sourcing product is the daily work of running a store and you tend to take for granted the conditions of your local market. A foray into new markets recently reminded me that retailers in some states don’t enjoy the benefits of a printed beverage journal or its online equivalent to find distributor [...]