Why Corporate Gifting Should Be Part of Your Holiday Sales Strategy
Oct 1, 2024Karen Urquhart
As the holiday season nears, wineries tend to focus on individual customers—rolling out special promotions and curated holiday bundles. But here’s the thing: corporate gifting is an amazing opportunity that often gets overlooked. Companies are constantly searching for meaningful gifts to send to their clients, employees, and partners, and guess what? Wine is a popular choice because it’s both a crowd-pleaser and a versatile gift that suits various tastes and occasions. Including corporate gifting in your holiday sales strategy doesn’t just open the door to bigger, high-value sales—it introduces your winery to a whole new audience who might not have discovered you otherwise.
Fighting Fraudulent Orders in the Wine Industry
Jul 17, 2024Commerce7 Team
Fraud is a harsh reality for wineries, both large and small. While it was once a problem mainly for big brands, today even mom-and-pop wineries are targets. Fraud hurts, just like all theft. Every act of fraud is a direct hit to a winery’s revenue, whether it happens online, in the tasting room, or during fulfillment. At Commerce7, we recognize the impact of fraud on your business, and we’ve dedicated countless hours to studying fraud, consulting with experts, and developing solutions to mitigate it.
5 Free Ways to Drive More Traffic to Your Winery Website in 2024
May 17, 2024Commerce7 Team
"How do I drive more traffic to my website?" At some point, that thought crosses the mind of every winery. Whether you're a small family vineyard or a large-scale producer, getting more visitors to your website is crucial for growing your online presence and boosting your sales. In this blog, we go through five free ways to drive more traffic to your winery website in 2024.
3 Key Takeaways from Commerce7's 2023 Data Book
Apr 3, 2024Commerce7 Team
2023 was an economically challenging year for many consumers, which was reflected by a 1.66% decrease in total sales across all DTC channels compared to 2022. Despite this dip, there were notable positive trends seen within all sales channels, highlighting opportunities for growth and optimization. In this blog post, we'll explore some of the key takeaways from this year's Data Book, focusing on three fundamental sales channels: clubs, ecommerce, and the tasting room.
What Makes a Great Online Wine Club Sign Up Experience?
Mar 19, 2024Commerce7 Team
We've all been there – discovering a winery that piques your interest. You browse their website, learn their story and discover their wine club. The excitement is real until you encounter a club sign-up process that rivals the thrill of filing your taxes. Needless to say, a well-designed signup process shouldn’t be overlooked. After all, it's usually the first interaction potential members have with your wine club, and it sets the tone for their entire membership experience. In this blog, we break down what a great wine club signup looks like.
From Tasting Room to Inbox: How to Collect More Customer Email Addresses
Feb 21, 2024Karen Urquhart
Building lasting relationships with your customers begins with one powerful tool: their email addresses. We all know the importance of building a robust email list, but it's important to remember that quality is just as important as quantity. The task of collecting high-value email addresses in the tasting room presents a unique challenge, considering people's understandable reservations about sharing their contact information. So, in this blog we explore how to no only overcome these hesitations, but also how to build your email list with genuine, valuable connections.
Why Increasing your Online Sales Starts in the Tasting Room
Feb 8, 2024Karen Urquhart
So, you've crafted an amazing tasting room experience – but what if we told you that the key to boosting your online sales lies in a simple step you might be missing in your tasting room? Capturing customer emails is a key step in maintaining the connection and ensuring that the initial investment you made in creating an exceptional tasting room experience continues to pay off. By capturing those emails, you gain a direct channel to re-engage with customers after they've left, keeping your brand on their radar and encouraging them to continue their journey with your wines online.
Commerce7 Reveals 2024 Roadmap at Commerce7 Live, Continuing to Push the Industry Forward
Jan 26, 2024Karen Urquhart
Commerce7, the leader in providing modern commerce solutions for the wine industry, has successfully concluded its highly anticipated Commerce7 Live event. The livestream, held on January 26th, provided an exclusive look into the future of Commerce7’s roadmap, unveiling a host of exciting updates and features poised to push the direct-to-consumer wine industry forward.
Creating Memorable Online Shopping Experiences Through Brand Tone of Voice
Nov 16, 2023Karen Urquhart
Consistent and compelling branding establishes a memorable and relatable presence, creating an emotional connection with your target audience. In a world with thousands of online stores and an overwhelming array of choices, establishing a brand that resonates is more than just a trend—it's a strategic imperative. From your brand name and logo to the images, design, color scheme, and typography – each brand element plays a crucial role. However, in this blog, we’re going to dive deeper into the often overlooked, but incredibly impactful brand element: Tone of voice.
One Simple Strategy That Will Increase Your Online Sales
Oct 3, 2023Karen Urquhart
When you visit a winery, it's not just about tasting amazing wines; it's about immersing yourself in an unforgettable experience. You take in all of the amazing aromas, soak in the beautiful views of the vineyards, and enjoy the personalized attention that leaves a lasting impression. In the world of wine, the customer experience is everything; it's what makes a winery truly memorable. Now, as you step into the world of e-commerce, you should be asking yourself: why should the online customer experience be any different? In this blog, we'll explore how you can increase your online sales through personalization by mirroring the exceptional experiences your customers enjoy at your winery on your website.
Wine Subscriptions: Prioritizing Convenience for Millennials
Jul 27, 2023Commerce7 Team
With busy schedules and endless options at their fingertips, people are looking for seamless experiences that fit effortlessly into their lives. From ordering groceries with a few taps on their phones to signing up for personalized services, convenience has become a key aspect of the shopping experience. As modern consumers increasingly value ease and flexibility, subscriptions have emerged as the preferred choice for the growing millennial market.
Top 5 Ways to Upsell & Increase AOV in the Tasting Room
Jul 12, 2023Jennifer Warrington - WISE
It’s always important to make the most of every single guest walking through the tasting room door. While most wineries are hiring friendly staff with strong service hearts, sales skills continue to be an area of opportunity for our industry. Many people worry that selling wine is too pushy, but the reality is, it’s an extension of great hospitality.
How Iola Wines Achieved 221% YoY Growth with Commerce7’s Club Tools
Apr 21, 2023Karen Urquhart
Led by Marilee Bramhall, Founder of Iola Wines, the team realized the need for a wine club to create a sense of belonging for their customers and a new source of revenue for the business. The implementation of a wine club through Commerce7’s technology resulted in significant revenue growth, improved customer relationships, and a more predictable financial outlook for their ecommerce business. This case study explores the challenges faced by Iola Wines, the solutions provided by Commerce7, and the impressive results achieved by Iola Wines through their successful launch of a wine club.
Insights to Impact: Leveraging Data-Driven Insights for Long-Term Success
Mar 8, 2023Commerce7 Team
If you're a winery owner or manager, you know that growing your business and increasing sales is no easy feat. That's why it's important to stay on top of the latest market trends, statistics, and insights into direct-to-consumer performance. With more and more consumers looking to purchase wine directly from producers, using a data-driven approach to optimize your DTC performance and meet customer preferences is crucial for continued success in the wine industry.
Reaching New Audiences and Building Trust through Influencer Marketing
Feb 8, 2023Margaret St. John
Influencer marketing has become an increasingly popular strategy for businesses in the wine industry. By partnering with social media influencers, wineries and wine brands can reach new audiences and build trust with potential customers.
Commerce7 Introduces Brand New Features Designed to Streamline Wineries Day to Day Operations
Jan 17, 2023Commerce7 Team
Today, Commerce7 announced several exciting new features that focus on improving the day to day efficiency of wineries. Over the past year, the team at Commerce7 has spent a lot of time visiting wineries to better understand how they operate their DTC business, and their new releases are a direct reflection of the feedback they received. These upgrades, coupled with Commerce7’s existing suite of winery-centric features ensure their users have the tools they need to seamlessly run their everyday operations.
Commerce7 Launches Apple Tap to Pay - Allowing Wineries to Accept Contactless Payments on iPhone
Jan 17, 2023Commerce7 Team
Today, Commerce7 announced a new, secure way for US clients to accept payments - Apple Tap to Pay on iPhone. The new feature will allow wineries across the US to securely accept contactless payments including debit and credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, and other mobile wallets through a single tap on an iPhone. No payment terminal required.
5 Ways to Increase Conversions in January: Keep Sales Soaring after the Holidays
Jan 4, 2023Sonja Ringo
The holiday season can be an incredibly busy and lucrative time of year for wineries. Then, January inevitably arrives and with it, a historically more stagnant time of year when it comes to e-commerce and retail sales. So, how can you maintain your holiday sales momentum when the “January slump” is upon you? This guide shares tips and tricks to help you connect with and reward your customers, to encourage them to keep coming back throughout the slower months.
Say Hello to Live Chat on Commerce7!
Nov 30, 2022Commerce7 Team
Over the past few months, our team has been working hard to improve the support experience, and on November 21, 2023 Live Chat was made available to all Commerce7 users!
8 Email Marketing Best Practices that Drive Sales
Nov 16, 2022Karen Urquhart
Email marketing should be a staple in every brand's toolkit. It might not be the newest, most exciting form of marketing, but it works! When done right, email marketing can help grow engagement and drive between 20-30% of your total revenue. If you’re just starting out with email marketing, or are looking to fine tune your skills, this article outlines eight best practices you should follow to optimize your emails and create your most lucrative campaigns yet.
Commerce7's Guide to a Successful Black Friday
Nov 2, 2022Karen Urquhart
Black Friday is one of the busiest shopping days of the year, with American consumers spending $8.9 billion online in 2021, and it's crucial that retailers take the necessary steps to make sure they are prepared. For many businesses, Black Friday planning started months ago, but if last minute planning is more your style, here’s your guide to creating an efficient and effective strategy for a successful Black Friday.
4 Last-Minute Strategies to Optimize Your Sales This Holiday Season
Oct 19, 2022Karen Urquhart
If you haven’t already started planning your holiday eCommerce strategy, or you’re looking to add a little something extra to help you stand out from your competitors, here are four quick and easy to implement strategies to maximize your wine sales this holiday season.
The Migration Experience: Failla Wines
Oct 13, 2022Commerce7 Team
When the acquisition of VineSpring was made public in April of 2022, Failla Wines had just finished transitioning from VineSpring 2 to VineSpring 3 a few months prior, and a migration to a brand new platform was the last thing they wanted to endure. In this article, Failla Wines shares what went well, what didn’t and what they’re most looking forward to, following their migration to Commerce7.
Head Into the Holiday Season With Visual Assets That Sell More Wine
Sep 28, 2022Outshinery
In an e-commerce setting, photos influence buying decisions more than any other factor. Are you putting forth your brand’s best look for online wine shoppers?
Everything You Need to Know about Campaigns on Commerce7
Sep 21, 2022Karen Urquhart
At Commerce7 we know email marketing is a key component of your DTC business. Using email to communicate with your customers creates a channel to promote your products and an opportunity to engage with your customers. When this is done right, your email marketing efforts should be driving between 20-30% of your total ecommerce revenue.
Introducing the Ingenico Move/5000 Wireless Terminal for Commerce7 Payments
Sep 1, 2022Commerce7 Team
Introducing the Move/5000 wireless terminal for Commerce7 Payments! Designed for both indoor and outdoor use, the Move/5000 is the perfect business companion for hospitality and retail creating a seamless shopping experience.
Understanding the CRM: Grow Your Sales by Creating Exceptional Customer Experiences
Aug 24, 2022Karen Urquhart
The Commerce7 CRM (Customer Relationship Management) gives wineries the tools they need to build strong customer relationships that help grow their business. How? The Commerce7 CRM connects and stores all of the data from your customers in one easily accessible location. It consolidates all customer communications, order history, reservations, club memberships, loyalty status, and notes/tasks associated with each customer. Your winery staff can access these individualized details anytime in order to deliver outstanding, personalized customer service which fosters brand loyalty, retention and an overall increase in profits.
Increase Your Sales and Improve the Customer Experience with Flat Rate Shipping
Jul 29, 2022Karen Urquhart
When it comes to running a business, finding a shipping method to get your products to your customers that is appealing, convenient and cost efficient can be a challenge. It's important to meet that challenge however, because shipping is a crucial part of the customer experience. While there is no universal shipping strategy that works for every business across the board, flat rate shipping can increase your sales and make your shipping expenses easy to manage, all while making the process of checking out online hassle-free for your customers.
Subscription Clubs: A Modern Approach to the Traditional Wine Club
Jul 28, 2022Karen Urquhart
In the wine industry, traditional wine clubs don’t quite fit into the subscription category (or box, so to speak), as they’re missing a key foundational element: Flexibility. In a subscription box or service, customers can choose how frequently they want to receive their products or services, and are often able to have a say in the items they receive; creating a more customer centric experience. The wine club is an essential part of any winery, but the traditional approach lacks the flexibility and convenience that appeals to the modern shopper, which is why we created subscription clubs on Commerce7.
The Ultimate Guide to Personalizations on Commerce7
Jul 12, 2022Karen Urquhart
Personalizations empower wineries to get the right content in front of the right customer at the right time. Whether they’re a first time visitor on your website, or a valued club member, personalizations give your winery the ability to align the content a user sees on your website with their level of brand engagement, optimizing their buying experience and ultimately increasing your revenue.
Mobile Payments: What Are They and How Do They Benefit Your Business?
Jun 18, 2022Karen Urquhart
The way we shop is changing. Consumers are continuing to move away from the traditional wallet and opting for more user-friendly payment options; and that is exactly what mobile payments provide.
Introducing Loyalty on Commerce7
May 25, 2022Commerce7 Team
Rewarding your customers for their loyalty is pivotal to your business. A well designed loyalty program can help sustain long-term growth by increasing customer retention, creating strong brand associations and increasing sales, all while making your customers feel appreciated. That’s why we’re thrilled to introduce you to Loyalty on Commerce7. We’ve created an all in one solution built right into Commerce7 designed to help you harness the power of loyalty and build lasting relationships with your most valued customers.
Capture Emails in the Tasting Room to Generate More Revenue
Jan 6, 2022Commerce7 Team
A good tasting room experience should make a customer feel like they want to extend their relationship with your brand beyond that initial visit. You’ve likely already succeeded in creating this kind of experience for your tasting room. But are you truly giving customers the full opportunity to create a meaningful relationship with your winery? What happens after the customer leaves your physical tasting room?
3 Reasons Your Winery Should be Using Commerce7’s Personalization Feature
Dec 17, 2021Commerce7 Team
Personalization can improve your customer experience, drive sales and improve retention.
Upgrading Club Member Experiences from Start to Finish
Sep 22, 2021Andrea Dyck
We’ve made some upgrades to the wine club tools that will not only make it easier for customers to edit their membership and upcoming shipments, but will also reduce friction in the signup process. The tools you use should give you the ability to provide the best online experience possible for your members, increasing your conversion and club member retention.
Anticipate your Customers’ Needs Online with our Updated Customer Portal
Sep 14, 2021Andrea Dyck
When customers are visiting you in the tasting room or calling by phone, you’re able to provide a high level of customer service, but what about customers online? While some prefer a more high-touch experience, with today’s ecommerce market, it’s far more common that customers want to be able to self-manage their account.
Placing an Order on Your Mobile Device Just Got Easier
Sep 7, 2021Andrea Dyck
Oftentimes, completing a long form on your phone is a hassle, so we’ve introduced some additional ways to make it easier for your customers to complete a purchase. This means happier customers and a higher mobile conversion rate for you. It’s a win-win.
Behind the Making of an Even Better Checkout Experience
Sep 1, 2021Andrea Dyck
With the latest version of our website tools, we’ve reviewed the checkout process from start to finish. It’s not enough to just tell you that we’ve made improvements, we want to take you through some of the key changes to show you how they benefit both you and your customers.
4 Ways to Avoid Abandoned Carts
Aug 5, 2021Kaitlin Stratis
It’s a challenge that every online brand faces and is nearly impossible to avoid, abandoned carts. With an unlimited choice in today’s online world, businesses selling online understand the struggle of shoppers filling their carts, and leaving the site without a purchase.
Guest Post: Ecommerce Insights for Wineries
Jul 15, 2021Elizabeth Strickert
What does the ecommerce landscape look like for wineries in 2021? It’s easy to assume that the increase in alcohol ecommerce activity during COVID-19 was solely due to the pandemic, but the data suggest otherwise. Ekos explores ecommerce insights for wineries in 2021 & beyond.
Convert Tasting Room Guests into Repeat Customers
May 19, 2021Kaitlin Stratis
Tasting rooms are reopening, which means it’s the perfect time to develop initiatives for tasting room staff to not only create a memorable experience for guests but to also convert one-time visitors into repeat customers and create evangelists for your brand.
Get Started with Personalization
Apr 14, 2021Kaitlin Stratis
When it comes to wineries selling direct-to-consumer, more and more brands have opted for personalization but many are still left wondering what a personalized shopping experience looks like and how to get started.
Email Marketing 101: Best Practice Checklist
Mar 10, 2021Kaitlin Stratis
When email marketing is done correctly, it should account for nearly 20-30% of wineries revenue. While email marketing is a traditional channel, it outperforms social media and search engines.
How to Keep Your Customers for the Long Haul
Feb 18, 2021Kaitlin Stratis
For many businesses, it’s common for customer retention to take a back seat to customer acquisition. While customer acquisition will always be important, it is critical that wineries pay attention to their existing customers and ensure they are satisfied in order to create loyal customers and members.
Running a Modern Subscription Club - Your Top 3 Questions Answered
Jan 14, 2021Kaitlin Stratis
While the industry continues to evolve, there are many trends emerging that wineries need to pay attention to. One that we certainly can’t ignore is the modern subscription. 2020 showed us that while traditional club memberships remained stagnant, subscription companies such as Winc, saw a massive amount of growth throughout the year.
5 Ways Wineries Can Become More Customer Centric Online
Dec 3, 2020Kaitlin Stratis
In the tasting room, your customer is often on vacation, relaxed, wanting to learn more about your story, and tasting your wine. However, that same customer isn’t coming to your website for the same experience and story. Instead, they are there to make a reservation, make a purchase, or edit their wine club.
Ecommerce is on the Rise - How to Evolve Your Online Presence
Nov 19, 2020Kaitlin Stratis
The wine industry has been forced to navigate and prepare for what’s next in order to grow sales. Getting online is a great start, but with anticipated growth in this channel, it’s crucial wineries position themselves correctly in order to meet consumer demand and capitalize on the huge growth in ecommerce sales the industry is seeing.
Personalized Collections: The Digital Sommelier
Aug 17, 2020Matt Gemmell
When you are in front of your customers, you have a trained staff that recommends wines based on the customer’s tastes. By using personalized recommendations on your website, you can deliver that experience in customers’ homes every time they shop online.
The Club is Dead - Long Live the Subscription
Jul 1, 2020Zach Kamphuis
The wine club is dead - not even user choice can save it. The wine subscription is here and is the path forward for driving online sign ups, retention, and member experience.
3 Shipping Rate Tips to Avoid Abandoned Carts
Jun 24, 2020Matt Gemmell
If there’s one challenge common to every industry selling online, it’s abandoned carts. Read 3 quick tips to avoid abandoned carts.
What a High-Converting Wine Product Page Looks Like
May 19, 2020Lucas Machado
When you’re walking through the mall, you see nice, great looking showcases with “featured” products. These showcases have nice decorations, sometimes price tags at the bottom of the pieces, and good lighting to better call your attention to the products they display.
Why You Should Sell Wine Online
Feb 12, 2020Lucas Machado
4 Reasons to Sell Wine Online with Direct to Consumer (DTC) Wine Software
Signs Your Wine DTC Software is Stuck in 2009
Jan 8, 2020Andrew Kamphuis
Happy New Year!!! Its 2019. Is your Wine DTC software still operating like its 2009?
How Digital Wallets Increase Mobile Conversion
Dec 18, 2019Zach Kamphuis
Mobile wallets such as Apple Pay, Alipay, and Google Pay allow a customer to execute a 1-Click Checkout.
Faster Site = Higher Conversion Rate
Nov 13, 2019Zach Kamphuis
53% of all mobile site visits leave a page that doesn’t load in 3 seconds. If your website is not fast, you are losing sales.
Personalization: Creepy or Customer Centric?
Oct 16, 2019Zach Kamphuis
Digital transformations are not simply about integrating new technology. They’re about creating and providing new value to customers through technology.
Merchandising Your Product Pages Like It's 2018
Nov 14, 2018Andrew Kamphuis
Retailers have been merchandising their store aisles for years. A lot of thought goes into the location, display, and placement of products.
It’s Time to Let Your Members Cancel Your Club Online
Sep 12, 2018Andrew Kamphuis
Customers would rather clean toilets, have a root canal, even be punched in the testicals rather than call customer service.
Why is a Great Online Experience Important, and What Does it Look Like?
Aug 15, 2018Zach Kamphuis
The online customer experience you provide is more important now than it has ever been before.
The Crawl, Walk, Run Guide to International Shipping
Mar 14, 2018Andrew Kamphuis
International customers represent one of the biggest, if not the biggest DTC growth opportunity for wineries.
What is Customer Centric Commerce?
Feb 14, 2018Andrew Kamphuis
Customer centric commerce is about creating a positive customer experience to drive repeat business, customer loyalty and profits.
Improving the Wine Ecommerce Experience
Jan 17, 2018Andrew Kamphuis
When you sit down to build a new website do you consider the needs of your customers?
The Modern Wine Club
Dec 20, 2017Andrew Kamphuis
What differentiates the modern wine club from a typical wine club? Rather than placing focus on the product the modern club focuses on the customer.
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