Cellar Door Sales are often the lifeblood of a winery. And, yet, little research exists on how to increase Cellar Door Sales. What gives?
We got curious. We dug through articles and studies, and found some really interesting data... For instance, did you know that MORE descriptive tasting notes in a tasting room actually led to LOWER tasting room sales? True fact. We were equally shocked!
Our research suggested the following can increase cellar door sales...
- High Customer Satisfaction
- Immersive Tasting Room Experience
- Increased Wine Club Sales
Unfortunately, these are outcomes, not strategies. What’s more, they are vague, and quite frankly, obvious. So, we dug deeper.
You already know that strategies designed to create a pleasing, professional and welcoming tasting room and staff are fundamental to achieving these outcomes, but what does a winery do in the new era of COVID, where guests and staff naturally crave less contact, but not less information, attention nor feeling valued?
Based on our research and industry insight, we suggest wineries satisfy, immerse and sell AT the time & place of tasting, EVEN in the absence of staff contact. After all, common sense suggests guests are more likely to complete a purchase when they feel most emotionally connected to wine and/or a winery. A simple plan for increasing cellar door wine sales would be:
-
Immerse guests in the wine or a winery’s story by connecting them to visuals & videos
-
Connect guests to online Wine Club enrollment
-
Incentivize guests to enroll in Wine Club membership with FREE low-cost, high-value gifts.
-
Thank guests with custom-logoed mementos of their time at the winery.
Interestingly, all of these strategies can be achieved with a simple solution:
QR CODED winery-branded items
strategically placed at tasting tables and bars where guests can use their mobile phones to learn, connect, and/or be rewarded & thanked for their support, all while minimizing contact! Simple, affordable additions to your tasting room like Thank You Notes, Table Tents, Coasters, or Logo'd Wine Glasses WITH QR CODES can provide a greater sense of connection at a time when we all must increase isolation.
We scoured the market for low-cost, wine-relevant, custom-logo’d, & QR-coded solutions… It wasn’t easy, but we identified FOUR! The table below sorts these solutions based on price, and is followed by a more detailed overview of each option.
This strategy is far less complicated to implement in your tasting room than most believe. Click here for our team to send you a step-by-step guide on how to implement a QR coded strategy in minutes.
HaloVino Wine Tumblers
These shatterproof 12-oz wine glasses are designed to make wine taste and smell great, even when glass is not ideal. With state of the art customization technology, HaloVino can not only print your logo BUT ALSO take the guesswork out of printing your own unique, dynamic QR codes. With a QR code, your guests can learn about the wine, sign up for your wine club, or even order more wine AS THEY ENJOY THEIR VISIT!
HaloVino is also the least expensive of the 4 options, are lightweight & stackable, making them a great sales incentive for wine club enrollment or THANK YOU gifts at tastings and in wine club shippers. Finally, because they are stackable & dishwasher safe, HaloVino can easily be taken home and reused, increasing your brand visibility as its reused at the park, pool, and with friends. Your first case of 144 dishwasher safe HaloVinos is usually FREE ($150) and are also available without QR codes. Our team can send you a digital mock up for free! Contact us if you want a step-by-step guide on using QR codes or to learn more.
Thank You Notes
A THANK YOU NOTE is a classy, and yet affordable way to connect & immerse your guests in your story, all while making them feel valued and seen. Although this solution is single-use, they do slip easily into wine shippers, and look great alongside a tasting flight. Thank you notes do not come with QR codes automatically, so please reach out to our team to help you easily and quickly integrate QR codes into your next thank you note design. We designed the thank you note to the right and will happily send you a FREE customizable design DOWNLOAD that you can upload to different printing services or even print yourself! Email us for more information!
Coasters
Coasters go together with tasting bars like wine & cheese! They look great on a bar or table and are a great way to connect with your guests in an organic way. Even better, coasters can be taken home and reused for extended branding & PR exposure for your winery. Like the thank you notes, they do not come with QR codes, but we are standing by to send you steps to DIY. And, as above, feel free to ask us for access to this design so you can quickly customize it and upload to a printing service like this one.
Canvas Wine Totes
Canvas Wine Totes are probably too expensive to be used as a give away for ALL guests. However, canvas wine totes could be a a really great solution for INCENTIVIZING and THANKING guests AFTER a wine purchase or wine club enrollment. When a QR code is added to the canvas wine tote, a winery could link wine-specific information to a “BUY by the BOTTLE” or “PICNIC PACKAGE” on-site sale program so the guests can learn about the wine as they enjoy it outside or on-the-go. The QR-Coded Canvas Wine Tote could also act as premium wrapping for a purchase whether at the bar or in a wine shipper, and can CONNECT & IMMERSE the guest to the wine’s story and/or to purchase more!
Want to Learn More about Cellar Door Sales? Below are some links for continued reading that we liked when researching ideas for this report.