Your next customer will see your winery before they ever taste your wine. They'll see it on Instagram while planning a weekend trip. They'll see it on your website while deciding whether to book a reservation. They'll see it in an email while considering whether your wine club is worth joining. And in every one of those moments, they're making a decision based on what your visuals tell them about who you are. This isn't a trend. It's how people buy now. According to a 2023 study by Cloudinary and Harris Poll, 75% of online shoppers say product photos are the most influential factor in their purchase decisions. That number holds across categories, and it holds in wine. The difference is that wineries aren't just selling a product. They're selling an experience, a place, a feeling. Which means your visual content has to do more work than a product shot on a white background. It has to make someone want to be there. Most wineries know this on some level. Fe

Windsor, CA – July 9, 2025 - Vinoshipper, the leading direct sales wine commerce platform, announced the launch of their POS 2.0, a major upgrade to its point-of-sale system featuring new tab management capabilities. This release marks a significant step in Vinoshipper’s evolution from a compliance and commerce provider to a fully integrated platform, giving wineries a unified solution for managing all sales channels.  Transforming tasting room operations  The centerpiece of POS 2.0 is tab management, which allows tasting room staff to open and manage multiple orders simultaneously. This functionality addresses a key challenge in busy tasting rooms by allowing staff to keep multiple orders open as guests add items over time, from initial tastings to bottles, merchandise, and more.  “The new multi-tab functionality is a game changer for our clients - giving them a fully integrated solution with all customer data in one place, at no additional cost.&

The Marketing Behind Come Over October Hopefully, by now, you’ve seen some wineries participate in Come Over October, a new program launched to benefit the wine industry. Our industry is facing a critical shift where the cultural narrative around wine is being scrutinized. At the same time, loneliness and isolation are now at epidemic levels, and the simple act of sharing wine, which has always been a catalyst for connection, seems to be losing its place. The goal of Come Over October, launched by wine journalist Karen MacNeil and PR veterans Gino Colangelo and Kimberly Noelle Charles, is to counter these trends. The idea is simple: encourage friends, family, and colleagues to “come over” in October to share a bottle and reconnect. It’s not about fancy wine pairings or breaking the bank—just using wine as a focus to celebrate being together in an increasingly disconnected world. The wine industry, as always, adapts to challenges, and this campaign is a re

While winery eCommerce has been around for a while, many wineries did not fully embrace this direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel until they were forced to during the pandemic. Some wineries have adapted quickly, leveraging modern technology and eCommerce platforms to thrive, while others have struggled to keep up with the fast-paced world of digital marketing and SEO. Thanks to the rise of eCommerce giants like Amazon, consumers expect seamless, fast, and personalized experiences. Wineries face the added challenge of shipping regulations, compliance, and managing perishable goods like wine, but SEO (Search Engine Optimization) can help them stand out and thrive in this competitive market. In the United States, the eCommerce share of wine sales grew from only 0.3% in 2018 to nearly 3% in 2022. The eCommerce channel promises to be lucrative, too. The top five wine and liquor online stores in the U.S. together generated more than one billion dollars in eCommerce net sales in 2022. For long-t

MODERN WEBSITE DESIGN TRENDS PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD ONLINE. As humans, we have many good and bad qualities, but one thing we excel at is the ability to make rapid judgments. In fact, studies suggest that it takes merely a fraction of a second—about 50 milliseconds or 0.05 seconds—for individuals to form an impression of a website. (This has been confirmed by Google research). This initial perception significantly influences our decision to either engage further or navigate away. Just as we evaluate people at lightning speed, the same principle applies to websites online. And these impressions matter. Research has proven that the better the first impression, the longer a visitor will stay on a page. So, what makes up that first impression? A British study showed that 94% of initial opinions were design-related, and only 6% content related. (We’re not just saying this because we design websites, honestly!) It is absolutely essential to your business’s success

Social media for wineries, a crucial aspect of marketing, can be challenging for many small to medium-sized businesses. Often, the responsibility for managing social media and other marketing efforts is shared among employees who juggle multiple roles within the winery or are outsourced to external agencies. This guide aims to simplify social media strategies, providing actionable insights and tips for achieving success in 2024. 1. Engage Your Audience and Build a Social Media Community Your social media platforms should feel like a welcoming place for wine enthusiasts. A strong online community enhances brand loyalty and transforms casual followers into brand loyalists. Regularly interacting with your audience–through responding to comments, engaging with similar accounts, and hosting live events and behind-the-scenes content–should be a cornerstone of your social media strategy. Being engaged in the social media world doesn’t have to take up all of your time, but i

When launching or expanding your winery's direct sales, you're likely to face various regulatory challenges, including taxes, recycling fees, and shipping limits. These can become potential stress points for both new and growing ventures  Vinoshipper simplifies this for you. We ensure every sale is compliant, managing the correct taxation, collection, remittance*, and simplified reporting. With us, each sale is worry-free and compliant.  Choosing how to sell—whether directly at your winery, online, or through a wine club—starts with the right POS system. Vinoshipper offers versatile POS solutions tailored for 2024, designed to support sales anywhere, anytime.  Explore the top POS options offered by Vinoshipper for a seamless, compliant selling experience for your winery.  iPad with card reader The iPad POS system is a classic choice for wineries, offering versatility and convenience. Easily

“Our goal is to have e-commerce, shipping, compliance, sales and excise tax reporting rolled into one convenient, user-friendly solution for our clients.” So says Steven Harrison, CEO and Founder of Vinoshipper, the company he co-created in 2006. The initial idea for Vinoshipper was to develop a software system that simplified the burdensome work of compliance for small craft beverage producers (wine, beer, spirits) across the U.S, says Harrison and with over 2,500 producers now utilizing the platform, the goal of helping these producers is being met. The unmitigated success of that, as well as customer feedback, prompted Vinoshipper to build additional features into the software package, including Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) sales through e-commerce and club management, the ability to collect and submit tax reports to individual states, and the development of a mobile app for use with iPhones and iPads in the tasting room and while working remotely. “The DTC consumer ma

For many operations, forklifts are some of the most important assets. That’s why it’s so important to keep our forklifts in tip-top shape. Earlier this year, we talked about the importance of doing routine inspections on forklifts in this maintenance checklist, troubleshooting any issues before they become disasters. Let’s zoom in a little bit on one of the most important - and underlooked - aspects of the forklift: the fork. How do we know when it’s time to replace a fork? And, once we know forklift forks need to be replaced, what’s the best course of action? Read on for all the details from the Papé Material Handling team. WHEN TO REPLACE What are the signs that a forklift fork needs to be replaced? If you see any of the following, it’s time to replace your forklift fork: Excessive wear to the forks. Any wear over 10 percent means the fork needs to be replaced. Uneven or bent blades. If you see any bending or uneven surface on either the bl

Dark Mode is becoming surprisingly popular and it can have serious implications on your email effectiveness, resulting in adjustments needed in not only how you format your emails, but also how you use images. This article will explain what Dark Mode is, why more and more are using it, and why we all need to be ready for it, like, yesterday. What is Dark Mode? Dark Mode was introduced with macOS Mojave (10.14) released in the fall of 2018 and was quickly followed by a similar feature in the Windows 10 release last May. It’s an accessibility setting that changes the interface to display content with dark backgrounds and light color text. While it’s ideal for people with light sensitivity and minimizes blue light, it also enhances readability and reduces eye strain. When you switch a service, such as an email client to Dark Mode, it will automatically turn basic black text white and basic dark hyperlinked text to a brighter color. An IFL Science article indicates th