The traditional wine business model is based on finding domestic and international distributors who could match volume sales with volume production. For many wine businesses this remains the case, and necessarily so as multiple distribution channels are required to sell wine outside the winery’s home territory.

Many business owners have long recognised the importance of a vertically-integrated sales model where the winery product is sold by the organisation through an on-site cellar door as well as a perhaps a restaurant operation.

With the strong upturn in tourism numbers, there have been recent studies that demonstrate wine tourism is a significant part of the international visitor experience. This wine tourism should also translate into business opportunity to individual winery operations.

NZ Winegrowers have recently undertaken a research project giving a valuable insight into the scale of wine tourism in NZ and this presentation is available through your member’s portal https://www.nzwine.com/members/ .

The main take-outs from this research for me were the number of international visitors that visit wineries as part of their New Zealand experience. Around one in four visitors visit a winery, with a higher ratio if the visitor has cycled or played golf during their stay.

The research also showed that winery visitors were wanting a tasting experience that was not hurried, in a pleasant welcoming environment and hosted by knowledgeable, professional staff.

The real opportunity for wineries is to convert the visitor to a customer. From charging a tasting fee, making a multi-case sale, signing up a wine club member or selling a winery visitor experience, the cellar door should be viewed as a positive contributor to the overall financial and brand health of the organisation.

Certainly, the cellar door is still the touchpoint for your customer to discover and engage with your brand but with the summer season starting, how is your organisation best placed to take advantage of the wine tourist?

Focusing on how the cellar door is the pathway for your customer to discover your wine brand, we’ll work together to develop a four part strategy for your business based on:

1/ What is your unique story or value proposition?

2/ How your cellar door environment reflects your unique brand to the customer.

3/ Building and retaining customer loyalty to maximise the earning potential of your business.

4/ How your cellar door experience can influence customer purchasing preference.

Contact me for more details