Didier Séguier
Winemaker
Domaine William Fèvre
Chablis, France
When people sign up for your new mailing list you’ll finally know who your most passionate U.S. customers are.
We help our winery partners craft email offers one to three times a year, in the winery’s voice. You decide which wines to offer and at what price.
Your customers place orders, and VinConnect does the transaction processing, fulfillment and compliance in the U.S.
Ciacci Piccolomini Brunello di Montalcino DOCG ‘Vigna di Pianrosso’ 2015
Essentially every major high-end winery in the U.S. sells direct to their mailing list, from exclusive cult wineries like Harlan Estate and Screaming Eagle to well-known and broadly-distributed brands like Chateau Montelena and Caymus.
Many also have their own online stores and use other direct channels, building strong customer relationships that also serve to drive demand for their wines in the traditional channels (retail/restaurant) since consumers often prefer wines they are familiar with.
In short, they have trained U.S. customers to buy in this way, and top European wineries must do the same if they hope to compete for U.S. consumers’ share of wallet and share of cellar.
The Direct-to-Consumer (DtC) model accounted for 12% of domestic U.S. retail wine sales in 2022, totaling nearly $4.1 billion (+11% annual growth over the prior 10 years).* Looking ahead, primary growth in off-premise sales will continue to be from DtC channels, as the wine industry as a whole evolves, e-commerce continues to grow, and regulations adapt.
VinConnect provides our international winery partners with a legal means of recreating the U.S. mailing list model. This functions as a parallel, complementary channel, offering wineries the opportunity to communicate directly with their most engaged customers – those who have a relationship with your brand (through tasting, visiting, referral, etc.) and are actively seeking your wines.
These are YOUR customers, not a retailer’s, and VinConnect provides the ability to track your customer order history. Mailing list members are more faithful and less sensitive to vintage variability than other buyers, and DtC provides a channel to make special offers and sell older vintages just like at cellar door to these members.
VinConnect provides crucial 360-degree insight into your customer data, enhancing your relationships with your private clients who have visited you, joined you for dinner, have heard about your brand, and want to stay in touch – including buying direct from you. This means you are able to know exactly who buys your wine, and you are able in turn to reward them and engage with them more deeply.
Ultimately, you can enhance your existing sales strategy in the U.S. with better-targeted sales trips and marketing efforts – Imagine a private dinner with 25 of your best customers in NYC or SF – and mailing lists actually INCREASE 3-tier sales by building brand loyalty.
If you are interested in learning more, or would like to discuss whether this model works for your winery, please reach out to us: info@vinconnect.com
We let Americans with a passion for Old World wine connect with and purchase wine directly from many of Europe’s best estates.
