Do you believe in rosé all day? No pain, no champagne? Or simply chardon… yayyy? The past several years have seen an unprecedented boost in wine eCommerce sales, with “Online sales now represent[ing] 23% of the $7.2 billion in revenue from U.S. direct-to-consumer wine sales” (1), and that number is only expected to grow. But, inquiring minds may ask, how does one bust into this mysterious market? With rules and regulations galore surrounding online alcohol sales in the United States, entrepreneurs and wine shop owners alike may feel overwhelmed when trying to expand their business into this market. Enter, Shopify.
The bottom line is this: Shopify simplifies wine sales. How? Through the integration of customized apps, developed specifically for wine sales.
Vin.co for beautiful, clean, organized product pages
Wine, while beautiful and complex, can often feel intimidating to the average consumer. Choosing the right bottle, understanding one’s own likes and dislikes, knowing the history behind a bottle of wine - these are all aspects of the sales process that can potentially be lost in translation when moving to an online platform. BUT, what if there was a way to have the convenience of eCommerce with the benefit of a knowledgeable sales associate? Vin.co is, “an all-in-one solution for centralizing brand and product information, creating electronic and printed catalogs, and ensuring their publication and instant update on all of its communication and sales channels” (2), and the pages look fabulous. When purchasing wine, presentation matters. Organization matters. Visuals matter. Vin.co makes this process approachable and easy to execute for business owners.
DRINKS for simplified up to date alcohol tax and compliance
Simple. Accurate. Fast. These are words one might assume do not describe dealing with tax compliance, but guess what? With Shopify, they CAN. Imagine a world in which real-time tax calculations are integrated into the customer check-out process. You can relax knowing that you are using the same trusted technology used by Fortune 20 retailers. “DRINKS allows wineries to take full advantage of the powerful Shopify ecosystem and use the same regulatory technology trusted by national wineries, Fortune 20 retailers, leading brands, and e-commerce marketplaces” (3). You, the savvy wine shop business owner, are not mystified by the complexities of a fine Pinot Noir. And now, you don’t have to be mystified by the tax regulations surrounding it either.
Shopify Point of Sale - tying it all together
Sync and streamline your brick and mortar with your online presence seamlessly using Shopify Point of Sale. This app, “...has all the essential features you need to make sales, track performance, and manage customers, orders, and inventory” (4). What does this really mean? It means you can have your Riesling and drink it too. Your business can flourish both in person and online and neither will be at the expense of the other. Welcome to eCommerce, my friends. The future awaits.
Recharge Subscriptions - did someone say wine club?
Wine clubs are an excellent way for brick and mortar wine shops to show off their knowledge, recommendations, and personal love of different wines. Once you build trust with your customers, there is no better way to keep them coming back than with monthly boxes (aka subscriptions!!!) to keep them excited and interested in trying new wines - specifically the ones curated by YOU. Shopify has a host of subscription apps available, one of the most popular being Recharge. Recharge allows you to, “Manage your subscription business within Recharge’s powerful merchant portal all while enabling your customers to fully manage their subscriptions directly from your store” (5). We love a wine club. Cheers.
Evey Events and Tickets for the wine connoisseur looking for a tasting
Have you ever dreamed of hosting wine tasting events at your wine shop? Perhaps a wine and cheese night? Or maybe an online Italian themed evening accessible to people not in the area? Shopify has the tools for you to integrate events management right into your online presence! Evey Events and Tickets allows you to, “Sell tickets to your in-person or online events, with no hassle set up, code, or no-code customization options, with this full-featured app for your Shopify store” (6). Thanks to Shopify, the most difficult events-related question you’ll have to answer is, should we go with the gorgonzola or the brie? (Gorgonzola. Always the gorgonzola).
In conclusion…
We hope this journey has shed some light on the benefits of creating a wine store with Shopify or migrating your current wine store over to Shopify. Here at Hazil Studios, we love wine, and we understand the complexities of how to sell it online. We would be delighted to work with you and answer any questions you may still have on this topic! Please direct any inquiries to support@hazil.studio, and we look forward to hearing from you soon - cheers!
Resources:
- https://www.northbaybusinessjournal.com/article/industrynews/online-sales-jump-to-23-of-us-direct-to-consumer-wine-revenue/
- https://apps.shopify.com/vin-co?search_id=826229b0-96aa-4738-ba41-9e60ba0ed1cb&surface_detail=wine&surface_inter_position=1&surface_intra_position=2&surface_type=search
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https://apps.shopify.com/drinks?surface_detail=shopify-for-wine&surface_inter_position=1&surface_intra_position=1&surface_type=collection
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https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-pos?surface_detail=shopify-for-wine&surface_inter_position=1&surface_intra_position=4&surface_type=collection
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https://apps.shopify.com/subscription-payments?surface_detail=shopify-for-wine&surface_inter_position=1&surface_intra_position=2&surface_type=collection
- https://apps.shopify.com/event-tickets?surface_detail=shopify-for-wine&surface_inter_position=1&surface_intra_position=6&surface_type=collection