Why It’s Time to Take Control of Chain Retail Pricing In the wine & spirits business, the difference between a best-seller and a case that never sees the shelf often comes down to something so mundane, it’s almost embarrassing to say out loud: Pricing. Not the actual price point — the accuracy of it. There are already plenty of reasons your product might not make it to the shelf — a buyer reorg, a freight delay, the seasonal shuffle, or simply the chaos of modern retail. So when you’ve beaten the odds and secured a coveted placement with one of the nation’s top chain retailers, the last thing that should kill the momentum is a clerical error. And yet, that’s exactly what happens when the price on the invoice doesn’t match the price in the retailer’s system. One mismatch, and the product gets refused at the dock — benched before it ever had a shot. No match = no receiving. No receiving = no shelf placement. No pl

For most wineries, marketing still follows a familiar path: email campaigns, wine clubs, tasting room experiences, and social media. These channels continue to drive direct-to-consumer sales, but they are also becoming increasingly saturated. Reaching new customers often requires more content, more spend, and more competition for the same audience. At the same time, another force is shaping consumer behavior at scale—film and television. A single streaming series can influence travel, dining, fashion, and brand awareness almost overnight. Within those moments, wine is already present. It appears in dinner scenes, celebrations, restaurants, and quiet evenings at home, serving as a natural extension of lifestyle and hospitality. Historically, however, the bottles used on screen have rarely represented real wineries. That is beginning to change. Wine product placement is emerging as a viable and strategic marketing channel for wineries looking to expand beyond traditional touchpoin

Imagine your VP of Sales announcing they’ve ditched CRM for a Rolodex. Or your finance director saying Excel is too modern, so they’re switching to chalkboard.  And yet, here we are — 2025 — squinting at billbacks for hours on end and sending reps to visit every retail account like the entire industry is running for sheriff. Automation isn’t new, but for the wine & spirits world, it might as well be black magic. We love to talk about efficiency, scaling, and modernizing — right up until someone proposes replacing busywork with bots. Suddenly, it’s “But our rep relationships!” or “This is how we’ve always done it.” As if nostalgia for manual labor is part of our brand identity. Let’s get one thing straight: no one’s asking you to hand your label design to Midjourney or let ChatGPT pick your clones. We’re talking about automating the parts of your business that drain time, w

The cost-effective wholesale Square Plastic LED Bucket is popular for its stackable design and potential for four logo placements. The Square Plastic Bucket fits 2-4 bottles and ice comfortably while the Acrylic, “see-through” nature of the bucket means varied LED light colors can be utilized. The LED light choice is especially important with this model as the chosen color will illuminate the entire bucket, effectively changing the bucket color. Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Battery. 12 Hours of power. Our most popular LED Ice Bucket for large-scale promotional use.🍷 Free Mock-Ups 📦 Free Worldwide Shipping 🔁 Fast Turnaround Learn More

Upcoming opportunities include wine placements in new studio productions, including an MGM feature starring Charlize Theron. IRVINE, CA — Sipcrü Studios, a media placement company connecting wineries, spirits, and craft beverage brands with major film, television, and streaming productions, today announced a partnership with Corksy, the modern direct-to-consumer platform for wineries. Through this partnership, Sipcrü Studios serves as a sourcing partner for productions seeking authentic wine and beverage brands for on-screen environments, working directly with studios, prop masters, and production teams responsible for building dining, restaurant, and hospitality scenes. Corksy will help connect wineries with these placement opportunities while giving its clients priority access to certain productions. Wine and spirits are a natural part of the environments portrayed in film and television, appearing regularly in dining scenes, celebrations, and hospitality settings ac

At LibDib, one of our core cultural mantras comes from our longtime technology leader, Richard Brashears: “If you are always ready, then you never have to get ready.” It started with our engineering team. If someone asked for a demo, the answer was yes. If someone wanted to see progress, it was ready. No scrambling. No excuses. Just an advanced preparation meeting opportunity. That mindset now runs through the entire company. And, in today’s beverage alcohol environment, it may be one of the most important philosophies a Maker can adopt. Change Is No Longer the Exception Distributors are exiting markets. Large houses are consolidating. Portfolios are being rationalized. Big alcohol companies are selling brands, triggering redistribution across states. Executive teams are shifting priorities. Inventory resets are forcing hard decisions about which brands get attention and which do not. You may suddenly find your distributor leaving a state. Or you may find yourself al

The Actionable Version (Yes, Another One — But Hear Us Out) It wouldn’t be the end of the year in beverage alcohol without a million prediction articles telling you what might happen next. You’ve probably already read a few that say consumers will drink less, premiumize more, and still somehow want everything new, nostalgic, global, and convenient at the same time. All of that may be true — but this isn’t another “interesting but abstract” trends piece. This one is about what’s actionable right now for: Makers who need flexible, reliable distribution, and Buyers who want to keep their sets fresh, differentiated, and relevant in 2026 Here’s what we see coming — and how to actually do something about it. 1. Volume Isn’t Growing — but Opportunity Is Getting More Targeted Overall volume across many beverage alcohol categories remains flat or slightly down. At the same time, Buyers are still actively looking for n

The beverage alcohol industry is facing one of its most challenging periods in recent memory. Across the country, wholesalers are rationalizing brands, trimming SKU counts, and shifting portfolio priorities. Large players are consolidating, overhead costs are rising, and many wholesalers simply cannot support the long tail of emerging or niche brands the way they once did. For Makers, this can feel destabilizing. A brand that once had strong distribution support may suddenly find itself deprioritized, shuffled, or even removed entirely from a wholesaler’s portfolio. Placements disappear. Chain authorizations shift. Buyers who love your products can’t reorder because the wholesaler no longer carries you. It’s frustrating—and it’s happening everywhere. But this is exactly the environment LibDib was built for. A Modern Distribution Model for a Changing Industry LibDib is—and always has been—an open, accessible pathway to three-tier distribution fo

The future of wine looks different than many wineries see it today. Maybe, like many wineries today, your winery sees your DTC business in a separate silo than your wholesale business. There are lots of historical reasons why that’s true. But what’s worked in the past for some businesses isn’t what’s working now for most. And it isn’t what’s going to work in the future. We believe that the future of wine will belong to the brands that break down the silos, and bridge the tiers. That's the strength and the money shot of Enolytics' ability to combine winery DTC data with distributor depletion data. Wineries who win, now and in the future, are taking advantage of this combination that breaks down the silos and bridges the tiers. "The possibilities are just wild," said Scott Reed, Director of National and International Sales at Round Pond Estate in the Napa Valley. "It's incredible to see a specific area where we have a clust

Finding skilled, reliable staff has become one of the biggest challenges facing wineries today. Sci-Tek Staffing helps businesses overcome those hurdles with flexible hiring options tailored to their needs — from temporary and temp-to-perm positions to direct placements. Their recruiters work year-round to identify qualified candidates, with every applicant undergoing thorough screening to ensure the right fit for each role. With experience supporting clients across production, lab, and administrative operations, Sci-Tek understands the importance of dependable staffing during critical times of the year. Whether it’s cellar crew for harvest, lab techs for quality control, or support staff to keep operations running smoothly, Sci-Tek’s team helps wineries stay fully staffed and focused on what they do best. Learn more → sci-tekstaffing.com