Just a few short years ago, integration was one of the biggest hurdles facing wineries of all sizes as they worked to combine mobile point-of-sale (POS) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems with a host of disparate back-end systems. The industry’s software as a service (SaaS) providers have responded by offering robust bundles of subscription services that address every aspect of winery management and sales cycles.
While challenges still exist, particularly for capturing disparate social media channels and CRM, wineries of all sizes have effectively closed the gap on integration. Today, customization has emerged as the newest challenge confronting both business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) wine sales.
According to Dave Dobrow, vice president of business development and marketing for Copper Peak Logistics, who recently spoke on a panel addressing customization at the Ship Compliant 2016 conference, wineries are doing a good job embracing the curated economy. “The subscription food business has gone berserk and wineries are looking to copy that success offering wine club shipments that are specifically curated to add value and recreate the experience of visiting the tasting room.”
As a fulfillment service partnered with Ship Compliant, Dobrow has witnessed a market flooded with conventional wine clubs be undermined by high customer churn rates and rising import volumes that are driving substitution. “E-commerce is a growing, moving experience, and wineries are customizing their shipments by including premiums like food products and kitchenware or using specialized packaging to create additional value,” he says.
Dobrow points to carriers including FedX, UPS and GSO that are embracing customization by offering delivery experience tools. “FedEx recently introduced free residential phone calls and text messaging to cell phones for Alcohol Signature Required packages. This is a game changer and gives customers more control over their delivery experience,” he says.
Read the article here – crm-customizationsept2016.
Deborah,
In your piece you quote Mr. Debrow: “FedEx recently introduced free residential phone calls and text messaging to cell phones for Alcohol Signature Required packages. This is a game changer and gives customers more control over their delivery experience.” I assume you mean that the shippers will alert customers that a package is coming that requires an adult signiture. But it could also mean that there might be a digital means for collecting an electronic signature via a smartphone as is done for other applications that require a legal signature. Does FedEx use this second meaning? If so I’ll mention it here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/WineryDirectSolutions/ .
Best regards,
Tom
Tom,
No, they don’t. FedEx offers a service called “FedEx Delivery Manager” that let’s customers schedule delivery options for a fee but does not offer an online digital signature for ASR packages like wine. But they highlight a wine club on their website, https://www.fedex.com/us/delivery/#. They do offer digital signature options for non restricted deliveries. Cheers, Deborah