http://www.winegoggle.co.za/?p=879 Wine, food and fun through rosé-tinted spectacles. Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:11:12 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://www.winegoggle.co.za/?p=879&cpage=1#comment-868 Emile Sat, 06 Mar 2010 07:35:50 +0000 http://www.winegoggle.co.za/?p=879#comment-868 Let's hope consumers and brands benefit from this opportunity. Let’s hope consumers and brands benefit from this opportunity.

]]> http://www.winegoggle.co.za/?p=879&cpage=1#comment-866 Dana Buys Sat, 06 Mar 2010 00:47:32 +0000 http://www.winegoggle.co.za/?p=879#comment-866 The strong trend around the world is for more direct buying via eStores and wine-clubs. We launched a full fledged eStore for our European clients more than a year ago and the South African store (www.vnlshop.co.za) in December. We do not undercut retailers but ensure that our wines are as widely available as possible. This is our job and we are more focussed on doing that well than any distributor will ever be (most of the large ones have too many fingers in various brands of their own anyway). The eStore also offers volume discounts on larger purchases and knows the special discounts available to our wine-club members. We will soon start rolling out the eStore as order platform for our trade clients who wish to use such a service. For a winery it is a crucial channel, as you get to know your customers, get paid immediately via the credit card companies and make a better margin. We use the extra margin to subsidize delivery so that we can deliver to all the major cities and towns at around R50 per case of 6 or 12 bottles. We have to adapt to how our customers want to buy. We also have to ensure that our products are available in a market with massive brand selection and thus easy substitution. In the rest of the world, this is already the way that most wineries have gone. The strong trend around the world is for more direct buying via eStores and wine-clubs. We launched a full fledged eStore for our European clients more than a year ago and the South African store (www.vnlshop.co.za) in December.
We do not undercut retailers but ensure that our wines are as widely available as possible. This is our job and we are more focussed on doing that well than any distributor will ever be (most of the large ones have too many fingers in various brands of their own anyway).
The eStore also offers volume discounts on larger purchases and knows the special discounts available to our wine-club members.
We will soon start rolling out the eStore as order platform for our trade clients who wish to use such a service.
For a winery it is a crucial channel, as you get to know your customers, get paid immediately via the credit card companies and make a better margin. We use the extra margin to subsidize delivery so that we can deliver to all the major cities and towns at around R50 per case of 6 or 12 bottles.
We have to adapt to how our customers want to buy. We also have to ensure that our products are available in a market with massive brand selection and thus easy substitution.
In the rest of the world, this is already the way that most wineries have gone.

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