‘Tis the Season for Holiday Promotions—Are You Ready?
Between Christmas and New Year’s Eve, U.S. wine sales generate more than $1 billion in sales. With more people shopping online—and more states legalizing wine shipping and beer and spirit shipping becoming more common—businesses like yours are poised to turn record profits. If you play your cards right, that is.
To help you attract your fair share of holiday business, we’ve rounded up some simple, effective ideas for creating successful holiday promotions.
1. Create Special Offers
During the busiest shopping days of the year, consumers expect amazing deals, so it’s essential that you offer special holiday pricing during November and December. The key is to offer consumers something of value and make the shopping experience pleasant and straightforward.
In a previous post, we covered the 4 Steps to a Profitable Cyber Monday for Your Winery. (Free shipping is an absolute must!) For Black Friday, when the deals are to be found on foot, consider offering some of the following promotions in your winery’s eCommerce store:
Free Gift With Purchase
Buy One, Give One Savings
Special Vintage Releases Signed By Winemaker
2. Make Deals Last for a Limited Time
There’s something about a deal of the day, deal of the week, or deal of the hour that drives sales, so feel free to put the pressure on. Be prepared with “Sale Extended” messaging, so if you still have inventory in stock, you can extend the promotion. Plan out your offers using a content calendar so you can carefully promote these time-sensitive deals on social media, in emails, and on your website.
3. Track Channels with Discount Codes
Discount codes are simple way to offer savings, and you can match the code to the specific deal you’re offering. CYBERMONDAY, for example, conveys that the deal is good for that day only.
Even better, you can vary the codes you use by marketing channel to easily keep track of which channels are working the hardest for you.
DISCOUNT CODE BY CHANNEL
General Email List: HOLIDAY18
Club Members Email List: VIPHOLIDAY18
Facebook: FBHOLIDAY18
4. Offer Holiday Packages
The holidays are the perfect time to create themed packages at a discounted price—people are looking for gifts and to stock up for the celebrations ahead. We’ve seen some wineries get crafty with their packages, like Red Car’s Mystery Cases. Gift sets are also attractive to companies looking for client or employee appreciation gifts for the end of the year.
HOLIDAY PACKAGE IDEAS
Wines for Your Thanksgiving Meal
Christmas Dinner Favorites
New Year’s Champagne Trio
The Year’s Top IPAs
Spirits to Ring in the New Year
Assorted Whites Gift Box
Assorted Reds and Whites Gift Box
Best Vintages of the Year
Buy One, Give One Boxes
5. Promote Simple Bulk Purchasing
Corporate orders for large groups are extremely valuable to craft producers. Whether it’s a real estate agent looking to thank her clients or a human resources executive buying employee gifts, it pays to make buying in bulk as easy as possible.
These orders put your wine in front of a whole new group of potential customers, so put your best foot forward and consider including a festive bow, gift bag, or holiday card with details about your winery.
Entering each order separately for a corporate gifting bulk order is tedious, time-consuming, and leaves room for error. Luckily, VineSpring V3 users don’t have to do that anymore. VineSpring has a bulk ordering feature that allows craft producers to do a large batch order where each individual can customize their selection. It makes corporate gifting a very lucrative and easy moneymaker at the end of the year. Plus customers love being able to provide such fun and personalized gifts to their employees and partners. For more information on how bulk ordering works, watch this video.
As you can see, the holidays are a huge opportunity to grow your business. Taking some time now to prepare special promotions will ensure your winery enjoys a successful—and profitable—holiday season.