Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/561374
w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m S e p t - O c t 2 015 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 2 1 hings don't seem to change that quick- ly in the retail wine world. Five-case wine stacks with the top case hacked open with a box cutter are still the favored way to spotlight a selection in most retail settings. And so it has been since the box and blade invented. Attach some scores from prominent critics and that's pretty much what has been known as point-of- sale wine merchandising. That said, there are four variations on the retail wine front. The high-volume movers are big-box stores such as Costco, Sam's Club and chain supermarkets including Safeway and Kroger, where wines are bought, discount- ed and passively sold. In those settings, it's all about brand pull-through and how much discount the customer gets off the suggested retail price. This is where sheep save a dollar. Somewhere in the middle are stores MARKET WATCH TIM TEICHGRAEBER such as Cost Plus World Market, BevMo!, Total Wine & More and Trader Joe's, which offer some attempts at curation and engage in some opportunistic buying and discount- ing. They make subtle efforts to jazz things up with seasonal selections, exclusive cus- tom brands and their own tasting notes. Then you have the old- school, hardcore retailers. These are the hands-on stores that have carefully selected wines and might use critics' scores for assis- tance, but also have wine- g e e k s a l e s p e o p l e w h o will talk your ear off for 30 minutes about Pinot Noir clones, or wheeze with exasperation when you tell them you're looking for a nice Merlot. And hovering up there in the cloud, there is online retail. Flash-sale sites, club- b a s e d s a l e s a n d W i n e . com, the site that not even t h e d o t c o m b u s t c o u l d kill. Online purchases only account for 4% of domes- tic sales, but that number is likely going to rocket up. With shipping logistics effi- ciencies increasing, expect this sector to continue to Slow to embrace technology, stores count on discounting, relationships + Retail channels have been slow to adapt to technology beyond QR codes to help with inventory tallies. + Big-box retail channels still depend on brand pull- through and discounting, but custom brands are new profit leaders. + Hands-on, local retailers are helping build smaller, intriguing brands and engaging consumers. + Wine competition awards are increasingly important in merchandising wines in the under-$20 sector. + Online retail is the segment to watch for growth. AT A GLANCE Despite the promise of QR codes on wine bot- tles, wine retail is still a low-tech experience. Photo: Thinkstock The State of the Art of Retail Merchandising