Sophisticated algorithms that began in academia and NASA have migrated to everyday life, from music on your phone and now to wine. Taste Factor has developed a recommendation engine that takes user ratings, aggregates them, and applies a patented process to determine which wines a consumer is guaranteed to enjoy.  For wineries, critics and ratings don’t matter.  Taste Factor is about building relationships and building brands by matching consumers’ preferences to high quality wines.

If you are a winery customer interested in learning more about how you can participate in the Taste Factor program, contact us via email.  We would love to hear from you. 

Read more from our March Newsletter including MORE Uncorked: Now Live and How to Sell More Direct-to-Consumer.

Acquire new buyers...Access differentiated branding opportunities...Sell more wine

WineDirect is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of the Vintners’ Alliance Marketplace. Since 2009, VA has been a leading provider of Direct-to-Consumer marketing technology and services to the wine industry. And now they are focusing their data based marketing methods on acquiring new customers for wineries.

 

VA is composed of leaders from the online and retail space. Board members include the Chief Marketing Officer from Williams-Sonoma and the Head of Retail from Google. Through their unique online marketing tactics, they are tracking more than 1 Million online wine buyers and enthusiasts… every month!

 

VA’s Marketplace exists to convert those online wine buyers into sales and new customer names for you! Contact marketplace@winedirect.com to find out more!

 

And see the Meet Our Team video!

July 8, 2013 | WineDirect Buzz  | Sheri Hebbeln

We talk a lot about culture at WineDirect. In fact, our culture is our #1 focus right now because we know that with a strong team and culture we can do anything. Our enduring focus on service wouldn't be possible without the truly amazing people who make up the WineDirect family. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to deviate from our typical blog posts a little bit and give you a glimpse into the WineDirect family and what I’ve learned from them. 

Click here to read the post.

Connect social media and ecommerce data to get a more complete customer view.

NAPA, CA and ABBOTSFORD, BC-- Vin65, a subsidiary of WineDirect, and VinTank, two of the wine industry's leading innovators, have formed an exclusive partnership which connects wine industry social media data directly to customer ecommerce records.  Through this partnership, the two companies have created a bi-directional integration which merges social interactions (or social customers) with the records of commerce customers. This means that Social Media managers can now understand the lifetime value of the people they're interacting with, and ecommerce managers will have access to a 360 degree view of their customers including all social posts of your brand.

While CRM tools provide wineries with the means for collecting and managing traditional customer ecommerce data, the ability to supplement with social data provides a strategy for customer engagement where increased sales and lifetime values are a by-product. According to Bain and Company, customers who engage with companies over social media spend 20% to 40% more money with those companies than other customers.

The two companies place a heavy focus on helping wineries sell more wine Direct-to-Consumer. With Vin65, that commitment takes the form of a market leading ecommerce platform. With VinTank, it's via a cutting edge social media management solution for wineries. By merging crucial data from the two companies, wineries will enjoy a competitive edge, not only in revenue generation but also in managing important customer relationships.

Features and Benefits for Wineries

In VinTank

When monitoring a social media conversation of a customer, you will understand that customer's commerce value with a view into statistics such as customer lifetime value, last order date, club memberships, and ecommerce segments.  Wineries can drill down to this important information without ever leaving VinTank’s platform.    When viewing a particular Vin65 customer segment from within the VinTank admin panel (club members for example), you will see all relevant social interactions for that segment.   VinTank offers the ability to build Twitter Lists of club members or any other Vin65 Contact Types.

In Vin65

The Vin65 Platform shows the most recent social media interactions for your winery in conjunction with sales and other ecommerce information.  In the CRM tool, wineries can view a customer’s social interactions from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Foursquare in one easy-to-view feed.   Vin65 offers the ability to create actionable lists to segment customers in both social and ecommerce segments.

Andrew Kamphuis, President of Vin65, had this to say: "I’ve known Paul at VinTank for a long time and we are very excited about this partnership.  The ability for our customers to relate social comments to ecommerce transactions is a step forward for monitoring the ROI of social.“

“When I look at what the future of commerce will be for the wine industry, I see Vin65 leading the way through their culture of helping wineries focus on their customers.  By coupling social media to their customer interactions we can enhance that vision like never before seen in any industry,” added Paul Mabray, CEO of VinTank.

The integration is available immediately in beta to Vin65 or WineDirect customers who request it.  It will be widely available for all Vin65 and WineDirect customers on July 31st. More importantly, it is being made available at no cost.  Vin65 has paid a licensing fee for the professional version of VinTank for every winery on its platform (a value of $1,800 per year).

About Vin65
Vin65 is the leading provider of website and ecommerce solutions to wineries and wine retailers interested in selling their wine Direct-to-Consumer. The Vin65 platform has received attention from wine technology thought leaders and technology savvy wineries for its ability to drive innovation in the wine ecommerce space. The platform includes: ecommerce, wine club, content management, customer relationship management and mobile ecommerce all tailored for the wine industry. For more information, call 604-852-8140 or visit www.vin65.com.

Blog: www.vin65.com/blog
Website: www.vin65.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Vin65
Twitter: twitter.com/vin65team


About WineDirect
WineDirect is a leader in winery direct sales, providing technology and services that enable wineries to sell more wine through Direct-to-Consumer channels. Headquartered in the Napa Valley, WineDirect offers a broad range of logistics solutions including a technology driven fulfillment system, compliance tools, and marketplace partnerships which provide access to new markets and consumers. In addition, the company offers an ecommerce and wine club processing platform with integrated marketing capabilities, and telesales services to help wineries grow their businesses profitably. Each of the company’s services is offered on a standalone basis, or as part of an integrated, end-to-end solution. For further information, visit www.winedirect.com.

Blog: www.winedirect.com/blog
Website: www.winedirect.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/WineDirectCA
Twitter: www.twitter.com/WineDirect_CA

About VinTank
VinTank is the world’s largest software solution for social media management for the wine and restaurant industry.  Measuring over 350 million conversations about wine, profiling over 14 million social wine consumers and serving over 4500 wine brands, VinTank helps wineries and restaurants connect and understand their customers in ways never before imagined.  VinTank – Powering Social Intelligence for your Business.  For more information visit www.vintank.com

Website – www.vintank.com
Blog - www.vintank.com/blog
Twitter – www.twitter.com/vintank
Facebook - www.facebook.com/VinTank

Whether 2013 was a good year for your winery or you're looking forward to better prospects in 2014, it's time to start preparing now. Maybe you already have some resolutions for January. With a number of new trends set to emerge next year, you may need to reassess your wine marketing strategies. Here are some developments to watch in the next year:

1. Wine consumption is set to increase In 2013, Morgan Stanley released a report that predicted inadequate global supplies of wine, sending many wine enthusiasts into a panic. Industry experts have disputed these findings, especially after a large California harvest, and this may have had the ultimate effect of driving up wine sales, according to Wine-Search. In fact, 2013 could be the wine industry's 20th consecutive year of growth - in spite of the recent recession.
   
   But higher wine sales aren't guaranteed, especially with legitimate competitors emerging in the market in the form of  ... click here to read the full article.

Late Monday afternoon we completed a full inspection of our warehouse in American Canyon and are very happy to report that damage was even less than our original estimate. We currently have well over 1 million bottles in inventory and of that, a very small percentage were broken (121 bottles in total.)

Our racking systems held up well. Of course they're engineered to withstand earthquakes, but you hope they never have to be tested the way they were this weekend.

Our thoughts are with all who have suffered damage. It's heart-warming to see our community coming together as it has to provide assistance to those who need it most - we're #NapaStrong.

The Napa Valley Vintners have provided a full listing of community resources HERE.

And the County of Napa has provided a listing of buildings that have reopened to the public HERE.

All the best from WineDirect

At the heart of any winery business operation is the point of sale system, which handles all transactions and payments between customers and wineries. A retail POS is a critical component of running the business, and having a system that runs transactions quickly and provides a great customer experience will help a winery develop stronger sales and a lasting relationship with the consumer. Of course there are certain things to look for with a POS solution, especially with the rise of the cloud and mobile devices. This new technology will prove handy over the long term.

Dependencies on complexities
There are various systems out there which a winery can use in any setting, all dependent on the needs of the business. For the most part, what will likely suffice is a single standalone terminal, sometimes referred to as an electronic cash register. According to InformationWeek, it's more viable since you're likely selling the wine from the same place that you do production and tasting. Another option is utilizing a linked network, where multiple terminals are connected to a single "primary" station. This option is a little more flexible and useful if you have a large enough operation to need multiple terminals on the premises.

A third option, the controller-based system, runs like a network, but the primary station is usually a computer that collects data, generates sales reports and stores inventory similar to an enterprise resource planning system. If you sell wine online, you can also record sales and optimize the experience by creating an omnichannel environment: one where both the physical side of the winery and the online wine store function together to create a single customer service experience.

Then, there is the matter of picking the hardware to run the terminal. There are various card readers and computer-based terminals that can be used for optimal sales. More recently, though, retailers are turning to mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones to deliver the same level of transactions in a much more personal way.  It also allows them to take the retail experience outside of the winery itself into places like wine-tasting events. Many of these devices use card readers attached via a dongle to complete transactions.

A good vintage of software
When using a tablet or computer-based POS solution, you may want to consider the software to install with it. There are a significant amount of software-based POS systems, so looking for something that works with your winery's needs is relatively easy. The main issue to consider is what features are available for use in transactions. Wine software can be a particularly useful tool, especially if you intend to sell direct-to-consumer both on-site and off-site, in order to properly handle state compliance laws.

More importantly, though, a critical feature that should be considered is where the software stores the data. Some solutions will store locally with a hub computer, which can be useful but inefficient. Many newer solutions serve as a software as a service, storing their data on the cloud. In this situation, wineries are able to access data anywhere they go on any device. This is particularly useful in an omnichannel situation, since you're able to find out which whites and which reds are getting more attention on the website at any given time. You can also find out what times of year are strongest for particular blends.

Along with this information, you'll want to know how you're securing your customers' data. There are options such as end-to-end encryption and tokenization, which provide different methods of completing the same result: keeping your transaction data and consumer's credit card information secure. A custom solution that takes into consideration all these options can make it much easier and more effective to sell wine to your patrons.

Our October 2014 Newsletter is now available.

Featured: Upcoming Events

Be sure to stop by and see us at the January trade shows:

Direct to Consumer Wine Symposium
Where: The Concord Hilton Hotel
When: January 14th & 15th

Unified Wine & Grape Symposium
Where: Sacramento Convention Center
When: January 28th & 29th

Napa, CA (December 4, 2014) – Joe Waechter, CEO of WineDirect, announced today that Andrew Kamphuis has been promoted to President & COO. In this expanded role, Andrew will be responsible for leading the company’s day to day activities; working closely with senior management to support client needs across all lines of business.

“I am very pleased that Andrew has accepted this new leadership position,” said Joe Waechter. “Andrew is an accomplished executive whose vision and technical expertise have helped position WineDirect for growth.  We’ve worked closely together over the past three years and I look forward to the coming year as we pursue some very important objectives for WineDirect.”

Under Joe’s leadership, WineDirect set out on a mission four years ago to provide a full suite of services to enable and drive Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) sales for wineries. Since that time, the company has evolved to become the industry’s only end-to-end platform; combining its existing fulfillment business with ecommerce, point-of-sale, telesales, compliance, and financial management tools to deliver a true “commerce as a service” experience.  That strategy has been successful and the company now supports more than 1,000 wineries in their efforts to build DTC sales. This organizational change will support the company’s sustained growth by allowing Joe to focus on its longer term strategic objectives.

Andrew joined WineDirect in 2012 with the acquisition of Vin65, the wine industry’s leading ecommerce platform and the company he founded. Since joining WineDirect, he has been instrumental in cementing the company’s position as the leading provider of DTC services for wineries.  The new title recognizes his growing responsibility within the company.

More Information

• Website: www.winedirect.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/WineDirectCA
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/WineDirect_CA

About WineDirect     

WineDirect is the leader in winery direct sales, providing technology and services that enable wineries toSell More Wine Direct-to-Consumer. Headquartered in the Napa Valley, WineDirect offers a broad range of logistics solutions including a technology-driven fulfillment system, compliance tools and marketing programs that provide access to new markets and consumers. In addition, the company offers an ecommerce and wine club processing platform with integrated marketing capabilities, and an outbound sales team to help wineries grow their businesses profitably. Each of the company’s services is offered on a standalone basis or as part of an integrated, end-to-end solution. For further information, visit www.winedirect.com.

You don't have to be a large winery to have a successful direct-to-consumer sales platform. Even the smallest of wineries can have a large reach. In fact, only 2 percent of the top-selling D2C wineries have an annual output of more than 50,000 cases, according to a recent our data. If you think price drives the most successful D2C wine sales, think again. Those at the top are only 8 percent more likely than others to sell wine priced higher than 60 dollars.

Engage your customers
What's the winning strategy for a profitable D2C model?  We found that larger email lists factored heavily into sales success. The wineries with the highest D2C sales reported an average of 29,100 recipients on their email lists. Compare that to an average of 6,010 for others. It makes sense that this would be the case. Email is the most direct and effective way to reach your customers. Through email correspondence, you can deliver individualized communication, including unique offers and invitations to loyalty programs.

Use a segmentation strategy
Software allows you to collect contact information across channels, organizing your outreach in one database. Further, the analytics allow you to segment your consumer base according to the wine-buying preferences and behaviors. The more you know about each customer, the better you can deliver individually-relevant communications that drive sales.

For example, you can increase your average order value by offering personalized recommendations, allowing you to upsell without compromising the customer has already ordered. Shipping incentives help increase sales across segments. The large majority of consumers prefer to qualify for free shipping, even if it means purchasing more than originally intended. Loyalty program rewards are another great way to encourage your customers to buy more.

Increase each sale
To understand which strategies appeal to which consumers, you can use your analytics software to highlight patterns in the ways individuals think about wine and decide on purchases. Price-conscious consumers are the largest contingent of wine drinkers, according to a recent Constellation Brands study. For those who believe a good bottle of wine doesn't need to cost a lot, an upselling strategy may not work as well as shipping incentives. Likewise, the customers who adhere strictly to one type of wine may not be inclined to follow suggestions to try new wines. But special offers can entice this segment to purchase more bottles at a time, driving up your average order value.

Direct sales strategy begins with direct communication with your customers. Through email outreach, you can get to know your consumers and deliver precisely what each wants.

In partnership with UPS, WineDirect has released several new features to improve package visibility, shorten delivery times, and ultimately reduce the number of missed shipments and returns.

Napa, CA (December 9, 2014) – In an effort to help its winery customers build direct-to-consumer sales and drive repeat business, WineDirect has introduced five innovative new services.

The new additions will help wineries and online retailers improve the customer experience with tools allowing them to:

• Offer world-class service and full visibility into package progress
• Dramatically reduce the need for multiple delivery attempts and the disappointment associated with missed deliveries
• Alleviate the financial and operational burden of returned shipments, and
• Expedite delivery to core customers in Southern California during this critical time of year

“Through our strategic partnership with UPS, we’ve been able to achieve solid and measurable service improvements for our customers,” said Joe Waechter, WineDirect’s CEO.  “In short, we’re helping them Sell More Wine by using service as a differentiator.”

The list of features announced today includes:

Automated Package Reroutes

WineDirect is the first company in the wine industry and the only company other than Amazon to work with UPS to automate the package reroute process.  Due to the complexities involved in shipping wine, rerouting packages has historically been problematic. The new automated service allows winery DTC staff to respond much more quickly to customer requests to reroute shipments; resulting in successful deliveries, happier customers, and a reduction in costs associated with returned wine shipments.

Free Rescheduling of Deliveries via UPS My Choice®

WineDirect now offers free UPS My Choice® memberships to customers of its winery partners. Eleven million customers strong, the My Choice program has been shown to significantly reduce the need for multiple delivery attempts; resulting in an improved experience for package recipients.  With this service, consumers can login to UPS My Choice® and reschedule deliveries at no cost (the service normally costs $5 for My Choice members.)  Those customers can also take advantage of all other My Choice features that are available for wine shipments.

Expedited Delivery to Core Customers in Southern California

UPS has established a new transportation route which is exclusive to WineDirect. This new route enables delivery in one business day (formerly two) to a core market for wineries – Southern California. Last year alone, approximately 17% of shipments made by California wineries that fulfill with WineDirect were shipped to Southern California.

Delivery Alerts via Text (SMS) Messages

This exciting new service is available to wineries or online retailers who utilize the services of WineDirect’s ecommerce subsidiary, Vin65. Consumers who opt-in will automatically receive shipment updates via SMS message alerting them to pending deliveries or changes in package status. This important new service provides customers the advance notice they need in order to ensure they are home to sign for delivery. Even more importantly, it comes in the form of a text message, which is less likely to be overlooked than an email.

Advanced Shipment Visibility

Customers ordering online, via the wine club, or through the tasting room, will now receive beautifully branded email updates with links referring them back to their online accounts with the winery. There, they have the ability to login and view detailed tracking information without being redirected to a carrier website. The newly revamped emails and account management tools provide an additional marketing opportunity for the winery, with both upsell opportunities and processes for handling exceptions.

All of these new features are available immediately for customers of WineDirect and/or Vin65. For more information, please contact your Account Manager or a WineDirect sales representative.

More information:

• Blog: www.winedirect.com/blog
• Website: www.winedirect.com
• Documentation: //documentation.winedirect.com/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/WineDirectCA
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/WineDirect_CA

About WineDirect

WineDirect is the leader in winery direct sales, providing technology and services that enable wineries toSell More Wine Direct-to-Consumer. Headquartered in the Napa Valley, WineDirect offers a broad range of logistics solutions including a technology-driven fulfillment system, compliance tools and marketing programs that provide access to new markets and consumers. In addition, the company offers an ecommerce and wine club processing platform with integrated marketing capabilities, and an outbound sales team to help wineries grow their businesses profitably. Each of the company’s services is offered on a standalone basis or as part of an integrated, end-to-end solution. For further information, visit www.winedirect.com.

WineDirect has a new fulfillment warehouse in Santa Barbara County, and our local team is looking forward to connecting with our new neighbors. Allow us to introduce David, Aaron and Taylor, who are already hard at work helping Santa Barbara wineries improve their DTC fulfillment and ecommerce operations.

Sit back, pour yourself a glass and let's get to know these great folks.

David Dennigmann - Director of Operations

As Director of Operations, David oversees our winery fulfillment services in the Central Coast, specifically in Paso Robles and Santa Maria. He's been in the wine industry for over 25 years, spending his time working with retailers, wholesalers and, since 2007, in fulfillment. This experience gives him different perspectives when it comes to fulfillment and customer expectations, and he uses that knowledge when working with WineDirect partners now.

"I probably have the most dynamic job, which keeps me motivated," he added. "My day-to-day focus is serving our customer base out here. I often go out to meet with local wineries to understand their needs. Our relationships are tried, true and tested - they're what keeps the community together and what keeps these wineries moving forward."

One of the things that most excites David about the new facility is its design.

"Santa Maria was custom-built with our clients in mind," he noted. “The building’s foot-thick concrete walls create a natural cave-like environment to keep wine cool and stable. Our streamlined industrial design, loading docks and fiber optic cable system allow us to provide fast, consistent service no matter what kind of volume we’re seeing. This is especially critical now, in OND, when order volumes are high.”

When he's not in the warehouse, David still enjoys the California wine experience. He and his wife spend their time at many of the local artisanal restaurants and wineries. In particular, David enjoys eating at Arigato Sushi and attending the annual Celebration of Harvest festival. He's also, of course, a huge, old-school wine enthusiast.

"I was into Pinot before the movie 'Sideways,'" he added.

Aaron Dean - Quality Control Manager

Aaron's current position is Quality Control Manager, and he'll soon take over operations in Santa Maria. Born and raised in Santa Barbara, Aaron is a Dodgers fan who attended school at California Polytechnic State University.

"I've worked on three harvests in the past, which is how I got my start in the industry,” he said “Living on the Central Coast, the job market here kind of lends itself toward wine."

A typical day for Aaron includes checking orders, reading emails, drafting reports, predicting volume and organizing tasting room deliveries. His ultimate responsibility is making sure all orders go out in a timely manner and that the customer is satisfied. Still, Aaron isn't all work and no play. He enjoys spending time outdoors, making the most of the weather.

"Santa Barbara has the best climate anywhere around," he said. "It almost doesn't seem real. I'm also spending quite a bit of time preparing for my wedding in October with my fiance, Skylr!"

Aaron is excited about where the industry in the Central Coast is headed. He loves the community for its mellow, tight-knit nature and can't wait to see what emerges in the future.

"Alcohol as a whole - local wines, craft beer and spirits - is on the upswing," he noted. "There are a lot of new brands and a lot of existing brands expanding. It's very fun to watch the industry grow."

Taylor Gilkey - Sales

For the past three years, Taylor worked as an account manager in our Paso Robles facility. Now, she brings her intimate knowledge of the WineDirect product to the new Santa Maria facility. Like Aaron, Taylor also attended Cal Poly, from 2006 to 2008. Agriculture and production are in her background: Her family grows wine grapes, pistachios and cotton.

“We’re larger cotton growers, which is a rarity in California these day. There are so many politics involved with farming that it’s become harder than ever to keep it around,” she noted. “Our long staple cotton is used in high end brands such as Brooks Brothers and Lands End. I’m super proud of my family's hard work and perseverance.”

In fact, it's this background that makes her such a perfect fit for the Santa Barbara team. When asked about the differences between the wine community in the Central Coast compared to the rest of the U.S., Taylor was quick to answer.

"A lot of the wineries here are still family owned and operated," she began. "These people work the land, and the grapes they grow are their babies. It's something I love and appreciate, coming from an agricultural family."

Taylor is passionate about the wine industry, and she enjoys bringing new wineries on board, introducing them to the technology that helps them increase sales and process orders more efficiently.

"We’re pushing the wine industry forward in terms of technology," she said. "WineDirect and Vin65 are pushing the limit. We want to enable wineries to sell more, and we've done that.  Not only do we make sure wineries are selling more wine, we come full circle in topnotch fulfillment.  We take pride in making sure wine is being delivered to the recipient fast and safely. As our clients’ businesses grow, that’s what allows us to expand our services as well.”

Interested in learning more about our new Santa Maria fulfillment center? Contact us to schedule a tour and speak to our local team about how we can help you improve your DTC operations.

Learn More

Are you ready for the holidays?

 End 2017 strong with some great marketing! Our toolkit makes it easy, including:

• 1 content calendar for November and December 2017 (4 page PDF)
• 8 lifestyle images (square + rectangular formats)
• 5 Outshinery lifestyle demo images: take your campaign one step further and put your bottle in that picture!

> Download Your Free Copy <

Integration optimizes CRM to provide greater hospitality, improve efficiencies, reduce no-shows and increase sales.

NAPA, California, July 11, 2018 – WineDirect and Tock today announce an exclusive partnership to fully integrate their innovative software systems to improve hospitality and sales at wineries throughout North America. Tock’s reservation system and WineDirect’s market-leading direct to consumer software will combine to provide better hospitality to millions of wine drinkers, whether on a visit to their favorite vineyard for tastings and tours, or making a purchase from home.

“As wineries increasingly offer seated tastings, vineyard tours and culinary experiences, the need for a robust reservation system that integrates with our existing point of sale, wine club and CRM software has become clear,” said Joe Waechter, President and CEO of WineDirect.

“Tock’s focus on facilitating high quality hospitality and customer experiences align closely with WineDirect’s philosophy and made them the obvious partnership choice. We are pleased to be able to offer these best-in-class tools to our winery clients.”

The integration between Tock and WineDirect will enable mutual clients to leverage deeper customer insights, improve efficiencies in the tasting room, reduce no-shows and increase direct to consumer (DTC) sales. &quot;Together, Tock and WineDirect help us provide the most personalized tasting experiences,” said John Trant, Director of DTC Sales at Italics Winegrowers. “For the first time, our staff has a complete view of our guests in one screen with the insights to deliver exceptional hospitality that is expected from our winery.”

Tock provides the most advanced reservations and hospitality management system to restaurants, pop-ups and wineries in 18 countries and over 100 cities around the globe. World-class wineries are a natural and complementary extension of the culinary experiences that are booked via Tock, both on the web and on the Tock app. Michelin starred restaurants such as The French Laundry and Eleven Madison Park, and marquee Napa and Sonoma vineyards including Clos Pegase, Darioush, Viansa and dozens more, utilize Tock to manage tastings and tours, and better understand their guests’ desires.

“WineDirect is the clear industry leader with over 1,600 wineries and vineyards relying on their innovative software to sell and deliver wine,” said Tock CEO Nick Kokonas. “Tock is the bridge to connect wine lovers to their favorite vineyards for that special tasting or tour. Together, WineDirect and Tock provide a perfect and unique end-to-end solution that allows wineries to connect to their passionate consumers in an elevated and elegant way that matches the values of their brand.”

About WineDirect

WineDirect is the leader in winery direct-to-consumer (DTC) services including ecommerce, point-of-sale, wine club, fulfillment and marketplace distribution solutions. In an era of rapidly increasing consumer expectations, our unique end-to-end platform enables wineries to provide next-level service and create customer relationships that last. Serving more than 1,600 wineries worldwide, WineDirect is headquartered in Napa Valley with offices in Paso Robles, CA; Santa Maria, CA; Glenwillow, OH; Vancouver, BC; and McLaren Vale, Australia. Learn more about how we are helping wineries succeed with DTC at www.winedirect.com

About Tock

Tock enables guests to book the best culinary experiences at restaurants, bars, wineries, pop-ups, and events across the globe. Tock offers the culinary industry a robust reservation, guest, and table management system that puts them in control of the booking process. The platform has standard and prepaid reservations, sophisticated hospitality and dynamic pricing tools, and allows guests to see everything a culinary destination has to offer, all in one place. Blueprints by Tock is the most flexible and dynamic way to visualize and plan a restaurant’s service and optimize its revenue, while setting the front of house up for success. Tock has processed over $290M of prepaid reservations in addition to millions of standard reservations in 18 countries around the globe. Find them all at exploretock.com.

Starting today, WineDirect clients can leverage our integrated payments solution. From automatic credit card updates to custom gift cards, we make payment processing as painless as possible.

Benefits include:

• Exclusive features such as Automatic Credit Card Updating, Same Day Refunds on POS, and the EMV terminal (coming soon).
• Top-notch customer service, available 24/7 from a team with deep experience with the wine industry.
• Enhanced security, complete PCI compliance and $100,000 in protection against a data breach.
• Easy setup: All WineDirect clients are pre-approved for processing, and setup generally takes only a day.
• Competitive rates and discounts on tasting room hardware.

Seamlessly integrated with the rest of our offerings in the US and Canada, WineDirect Payments is the latest addition to our toolkit to help your winery achieve DTC success.  

To learn more about integrated payments and the full suite of WineDirect services, please contact us for a demo.

Request a Demo

Wineries selling direct-to-consumer can take their businesses to the next level by leveraging online sales, moving to mobile, and valuing the tasting room as a customer acquisition engine.

June 11, 2019 – A report released today by WineDirect, the winery’s leading partner in direct-to-consumer (DTC) services, indicates there is significant room for wineries to increase sales and grow their businesses by selling wine online. Ecommerce sales have high average order value (AOV), yet they represent the smallest share of orders across all sales channels – suggesting an important opportunity for wineries to capitalize on this under-utilized channel. 

The comprehensive report includes transactional data from nearly 1,200 wineries and $1.2 billion (USD) in DTC sales in the US, Canada and Australia. Sales channels in the report include Wine Club, Point of Sale, Website and Other, which are broken out by region, price range and production range. 

Overall, Wine Club sales make up the largest share of DTC revenue at 36 percent, with Point of Sale coming in a close second at 34 percent. While Point of Sale orders rank high in quantity, they rank lowest in Average Order Value (AOV) at $110. This is less than half the AOV of Website and Wine Club orders, at $282 and $237 respectively, and less than one-third the AOV of Other orders, at $355. Orders in the Other sales channel represent back-of-house transactions such as telesales, corporate orders and private tasting sales.

The opportune nature of Website orders, considering their high AOV, is even more evident when compared to Point of Sale Orders: It is much less costly to execute an email marketing campaign to drive online sales than to increase sales through a fully staffed tasting room, which draws the lowest average sales as indicated by Point of Sale figures.

Additional key insights from the report include:

• If your website isn’t mobile friendly, you are missing out on sales: In 2019, mobile traffic to winery websites is poised to exceed 50% for the first time. And in 2018, mobile orders on winery websites were up more than 30%.
• Growth starts in the tasting room, then moves on to Wine Club and Website channels: Point of Sale revenue accounts for slightly more than one-third of DTC sales. In emerging regions such as Texas, Virginia and New York, however, they make up closer to 60 percent. In more established regions, Wine Club, Website, and Other orders all increase in importance, illustrating that as wineries mature, they come to rely more heavily on repeat sales from loyal customers.
• Wine clubs are small and plentiful: Nearly 60 percent of clubs globally have fewer than 1,000 members. This is most pronounced in Australia, at 80 percent. Even in California, the most mature wine club region, more than half of clubs have fewer than 1,000 members. This suggests wine clubs have significant room to grow, even on their already robust base.

To download the full report, visit info.winedirect.com/2019-dtc-sales-report. Tune in to WineDirect’s webinar for a closer look at their 2019 DTC Sales Report on June 25 at 10:00 a.m. PT by registering at: info.winedirect.com/webinar-2019-dtc-sales-report.

About WineDirect
WineDirect is the leader in winery direct-to-consumer (DTC) services including ecommerce, point-of-sale, wine club, fulfillment and marketplace distribution solutions. In an era of rapidly increasing consumer expectations, our unique end-to-end platform enables wineries to provide next-level service and create customer relationships that last.  Serving more than 1,600 wineries worldwide, WineDirect is headquartered in Napa Valley with offices in Paso Robles, CA; Santa Maria, CA; Sherwood, OR; Glenwillow, OH; Vancouver, BC; and McLaren Vale, Australia. Learn more about how we are helping wineries succeed with DTC atwww.winedirect.com

Scout & Cellar, the creator of the Clean-Crafted Commitment®, is pleased to announce their fulfillment partnership with WineDirect as of January 2, 2023. WineDirect -- the leader in direct-to-consumer services for wineries around the world -- is providing fulfillment operations services to Scout & Cellar in Scout & Cellar’s Texas warehouse and fulfillment facilities.

“WineDirect is thrilled to partner with Scout & Cellar for this next chapter of their operation,” explains Joe Waechter, CEO of WineDirect. “We are looking forward to using our industry-leading fulfillment technology and expertise to ensure an incredible fulfillment experience, driving consultant and consumer confidence, while empowering Scout & Cellar to focus on their core competencies and high-quality growth.”

Scout & Cellar and WineDirect have been partners since August 2020, with WineDirect fulfilling some of Scout & Cellar’s orders from their Ohio and Napa Valley locations since that time. The partnership between Scout & Cellar and WineDirect is industry-leading and will transform Scout & Cellar’s business through a best-in-class customer order experience powered by WineDirect’s expertise, market position and superior warehouse management and order management systems.

“Scout & Cellar is a company that is powered by people, for people,” says Sarah Shadonix, Founder and CEO of Scout & Cellar. “Expanding our relationship with WineDirect to provide best-in-class delivery services for all of our customers and independent consultants will serve as a catalyst to elevate the consumer experience, drive brand loyalty, elevate consumer-consciousness, and support future growth. It will also allow us to focus on what we do best – sourcing and producing delicious products backed by our Clean-Crafted Commitment®- and advancing our mission to become carbon-neutral by 2028 and a household name by 2030.”

As part of the agreement, all of Scout & Cellar’s fulfillment operations employees accepted employment offers with WineDirect. The partnership with WineDirect supports an overall strategy by Scout & Cellar for long-term growth through product diversification and accessibility. Last year, Scout & Cellar ventured into brick-and-mortar retail with Scout Wild™ (a national wholesale brand now available at select retailers) while the rest of their product portfolio remains available online. Additionally, Scout & Cellar diversified their primarily wine-based product portfolio to include a coffee line called Scouting Grounds Roasting Company™. These recent expansions are part of Scout & Cellar’s efforts to be a competitive force in the food and beverage market and broaden the reach and impact of the Clean-Crafted Commitment®.

For more information about Scout & Cellar, visit the Website, Facebook, and Instagram.

About Scout & Cellar
Founded in 2017, Scout & Cellar is a Clean-Crafted™, woman-founded and led winery that has created a higher standard for how wine is made by creating a more authentic, sustainable, and delicious approach to the wine-making process. With its expansion into retail and coffee, Scout & Cellar has broadened the reach and impact of its Clean-Crafted Commitment®, which eliminates the need for anything artificial on the farm or throughout the production process. Scout & Cellar products are available online at ScoutandCellar.com where you can shop directly or with the help of a diverse network of Independent Consultants who share a passion for the standard by which our products are made.

About WineDirect
WineDirect is the leader in winery direct-to-consumer (DTC) services including ecommerce, point-of-sale, wine club, fulfillment, and marketplace distribution solutions. In an era of rapidly increasing consumer expectations, our unique end-to-end platform enables wineries to develop, manage and grow successful DTC programs.  Serving more than 2,000 wineries worldwide, WineDirect is headquartered in Napa Valley with offices in Paso Robles, CA; Santa Maria, CA; Sherwood, OR; Glenwillow, OH; Vancouver, BC; and McLaren Vale, Australia. Learn more about how we are helping wineries succeed with DTC at http://www.winedirect.com.

Paso Robles, CA – August 30, 2023 — WineDirect, the leader in direct-to-consumer (DTC) services for the wine industry, has officially broken ground on its highly anticipated fulfillment center in the heart of Paso Robles, California. This groundbreaking ceremony marks a significant milestone for the company, further cementing its commitment to providing exceptional service and innovation within the wine industry.

The new, 200,000 square foot, state-of-the-art fulfillment center, strategically located in Paso Robles, a renowned wine region known for its rich viticultural heritage, will replace the existing, 30,000 square foot facility. This facility will allow WineDirect to bring their cutting-edge logistics technology and deep understanding of the wine industry’s unique needs to a much greater number of wineries as well as expand the company’s services to offer much-needed storage for wineries on the central coast. 

“We are thrilled to announce the groundbreaking of our new fulfillment center in Paso Robles,” said Joe Waechter, CEO of WineDirect. “This expansion represents a step forward in our mission to provide all that wineries need to run a successful DTC business. While wineries provide incredible experiences for consumers, whether it be onsite in tasting rooms or online, WineDirect Fulfillment Services ensure that exceptional experience is extended right up to the point where the wine is unboxed. Our current facility in Paso Robles was too small to adequately service the growing wineries of Paso Robles so we are very excited to take this next step.”

The fulfillment center features advanced inventory management systems and innovative logistics technology designed to support WineDirect’s 99%+ order and inventory accuracy. Temperature and humidity controls and processes built to minimize handling, combined with easy-to-use weather hold tools and available premium services ensure that wine arrives in perfect condition. Furthermore, WineDirect remains dedicated to sustainability, with carbon-neutral shipping, energy-efficient practices, and eco-friendly packaging solutions.

WineDirect’s expansion in Paso Robles aligns perfectly with the company’s commitment to supporting growth within the wine industry. As a hub of innovation, Paso Robles offers a unique blend of tradition and forward-thinking, making it an ideal location for WineDirect’s newest location.

Local authorities, WineDirect clients, industry partners, and members of the community joined the groundbreaking ceremony, symbolizing the collaborative effort that will shape the fulfillment center’s success. This project is expected to generate employment opportunities for the local workforce, contributing to the region’s economic development.

About WineDirect 

WineDirect is the leader in winery direct-to-consumer (DTC) services including ecommerce, point-of-sale, wine club, fulfillment, and marketplace distribution solutions. In an era of rapidly increasing consumer expectations, our unique end-to-end platform enables wineries to develop, manage and grow successful DTC programs.  Serving more than 2,000 wineries worldwide, WineDirect is headquartered in Napa Valley with offices in Paso Robles, CA; Santa Maria, CA; Sherwood, OR; Glenwillow, OH; Vancouver, BC; and McLaren Vale, Australia. Learn more about how we are helping wineries succeed with DTC at www.winedirect.com

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