Premium (higher) pricing of wine is one way to display the quality associated with the wine. Before you decide to enter the premium pricing arena, get some opinions on what others think about your wine. Don’t go to your friends or family who may have a bias towards your wines and (for the most part) don’t like to tell you anything negative about those wines.
Taste other wines already at the premium price level and see if your wines meet those standards. You may also enter your wines in competition or ask people in the wine industry you know are good at discerning the quality of wine and ask them to taste the wines.
Before you start promoting premium wines:
- Identify what you need to be successful at a higher price. It could be packaging, your marketing, the decor of your hospitality center, superior customer service and hospitality, and the appearance of your employees.
- Regularly remind your hospitality employees to convey the value of the wine to your customers. Hospitality employees should remind regular customers about why the wine deserves to be sold at a premium price as well as telling new customers. Just because customers have purchase wine before doesn’t mean they remember.
- Give your long-time customers new reasons to continue to buy wine at these premium prices. Explain the value to the customer and demonstrate why the wine is worth the extra money.
- When selling premium wines be ready to offer customers small additional incentives to make the wine even more attractive. For instance, offer regular customers and those who buy in large quantities the opportunity to buy at a better price occasionally if they buy in quantities (6 bottles or more). It is hard to be considered a premium or high-end wine if you discount too much.
Spend the time you have with customers presenting the value of your wine and promoting the quality of your wines. When people internalize the quality, they are more likely to buy the wines regardless of price.
Thanks to an article by James Woodruff for some of these ideas.
A tip of the glass from me to you.
E Column
by Elizabeth “E” Slater, In Short Direct Marketing
A recognized expert in the fields of direct marketing and sales in the wine marketplace. Slater has taught more wineries and winery associations how to create and improve the effectiveness of their direct marketing programs and to make the most of each customer’s potential than anyone in the wine industry today.
