12 Must-Haves for Your Online Wine Store

1. Story: The Story behind the wine is the most important story you can tell. It's the brand. No Story, No Brand. No Brand, No Interest or Sales. No Sales, No Money. Here are some slides from A Good Grape blog posting that can help you make sure your "story" is on target :




2. Wine Reviews: Reviews allow customers to provide you with valuable feedback -- feedback that companies in other industries need to pay market researchers and focus groups to obtain. Reviews allow for transparency and honesty- in turn, building credibility. If you're not displaying wine reviews or allowing customers to submit their own reviews then you're missing the boat to success and greater sales.
3. Age Verification: A must. Before I get intothe shopping process, or while I'm going through checkout, my age must be verified. Hear's a great resource for Age Verification: Ideology
4. Google Tools: Make sure Google knows you are out there with Google Webmaster Tools. Then, figure out how people are searching for and finding your wines with Google Analytics .
5. Sitemaps: Have an XML sitemap and Robots.txt file. These enable website owners to list all pages that should be indexed in a given domain. First, XML sitemap : when the search engines find the sitemap, they essentially have a list of URLs they now know need to be crawled. The second file created is a robot.txt file. When a search engine spider finds a homepage it will check to see if a robots.txt file exists. This file points to the XML Sitemap file, essentially enabling the sitemap to be found automatically--once the spider finds the domain itself. If your store does not allow for this or is not search engine friendly, checkout Nexternal's Search Engine Friendly eCommerce System.
6. Marketplace Feeds: Having numerous channels to drive traffic from is crucial to any online business. Here are some marketplaces anyone in the wine industry should be using- Snooth, Wine Searcher, Google Product Search
7. Social Media Links/Pages: With the recent craze and adoption of social media, it is now recommended for wine industry merchants to have a Facebook and Twitter page, along with other wine specific social networks pages: Wine 2.0, Open Wine Consortium, Cork'd. Here are some tips for updating Facebook: Ways of Updating Facebook - http://bit.ly/9nApNi
8. Shipping Map: The added convenience of seeing where a winery or wine shop ships to is huge. I recommend spending a couple minutes putting together a US Map highlighting the states you ship to. It should look like this:

9. Mailing List Sign Up: Direct communication with new and existing customers is still very effective for generating future sales. Sending out coupons, event reminders and important updates or releases are great ways to continue communicating with customer's once they've left the store. Make sure you have a way for them to join your mailing list.
10. Wine Club: It amazes me that some wineries and wine stores still don't have or offer Wine Clubs. Everyone enjoys being a member of some exclusive especially when it gives them a way to save money. Whether it be a Case Club which helps raise the amount of wine customer's purchase or a Recurring Wine Club which ensures future revenue, give your customer's a reason to come back and have more of the wine you sell or produce. If you need a wine club management system check out Nexternal's.
11. Winery/Store Events: For some vineyards/wineries/stores events can be influential in generating sales. Tastings, Concerts, Dinners, and Meet the X events can be great ways to create new revenue streams or get customers in the door. Tell me if I need to: make a tasting appointment, schedule a tour, attend an exclusive dinner/concert/barrel tasting. Tip: Create demand and higher prices by keeping spots available or attendance limited.
12. Awards: An award telling a customer this wine is "best of" or "great" gives them a reason to try it out or pay a higher price for it. If your winery/wine/store has won an award show it to the customer. If you haven't won any awards submit your wines for review or make better wine.

These 12 don't say it all but they're a great starting point. TAKE YOUR TIME while implementing these. The time and effort you put in prove invaluable in the development of your unique and memorable BRAND and pay dividends toward the success of your online winery.

React Below :

1. Are there other factors or tools which you consider crucial to your online store?

2. On a scale of 1 to 5 rank the importance that a wine's Brand has to its online sales.

If you have any comments, questions, thoughts, or additions please let me know.

Branding Part 1 - What's it all about

Branding is all about:

-Personifying an organization, product, or service
-Creating an association that enhances or detracts the customer's experience.
-A person's gut feeling: Confidence
-The source of emotional connections
-The Promise to Customers
-The embedded idea or concept
-Perception

To understand how a brand is being associated and perceived by your customers ask the following questions:

1. What is the vision, mission, goals, and objectives of my company, product, or service?

2. Who are my customers? What are their defining characteristics: ages, demographics, creative and visual triggers, associations, and habits?

3. What is the best way to differentiate your experience from your competitors, and make this differentiation visible to my customers and prospects?

A company's, product's, or service's "story" is key to personifying and associating a brand with a customer's need or want.

What is your story and how will it connect with your customers?

Sources of Online Wine Sales

Helpful information about marketplaces and channels that drive online wine sales in reference to: Wine Comparison Shopping Engines: traffic and conversion combined | MyLocalWineStore (view on Google Sidewiki)

A winery or wine merchant selling online would be wise to read and consider the information Bruce is presenting here.

My comments:

Hi Bruce,

I think it depends on two things: the marketplace and what is considered a conversion.

Google Product Search is clearly an effective channel for almost any merchant because Google is a credible source for any information/solution. Marketplaces like Shopping.com, Shopzilla, etc do not have the same reputation among wine consumers. A marketplace like Snooth or Wine Searcher.com tend to cater to a specific niche or industry and may be more effective.

For most people conversion = revenue or a sale. What happens if that sale/conversion takes 2+ impressions or visits to the merchant's website/store? Does the time from when a consumer visits or sees a merchant's brand in social media or a search engine until they make they purchase get factored into conversion? If not, maybe it should because their brand may have influenced the purchase decision. In this case additional channels may have an impact on the end result.

Your data displays the importance of allocating more time, effort, and funding to marketplaces. Given that eCommerce merchants select the right marketplaces they should see the returns and benefits quickly. Keep in mind the influence other channels have.

What is your opinion?

Nexternal Solutions & Salesforce.com eCommerce Integration

Contact me to learn more about how this integration can help your business: (800) 914-6161 x206 or bcintolo@nexternal.com

Authorize.net Account Setup for Nexternal's eCommerce System

Within Authorize.net grab your API Login ID and Transaction Key from the Account section.

Directions: To obtain the API Login ID and Transaction Key:

1. Log into your Merchant Interface at https://account.authorize.net.

2. Click Settings in the main left side menu.

3. Click API Login ID and Transaction Key.

4. Under Create New Transaction Key, enter your Secret Answer.

5. Click Submit.

Be sure to store the Transaction Key in a very safe place. You will also need to take your account out of Test-mode.

To turn Test-Mode off:

1. Log into the Merchant Interface at https://secure.authorize.net

2. Select Settings under Account in the main menu on the left

3. Click Test Mode in the Security Settings section

4. Click Turn Test OFF to take your account out of Test Mode.

Once finished log into your Nexternal Order Management System and enter your account information:

1. Go to Settings
2. Click "Edit" for Compatible Software
3. Enter your API Login ID and Transaction Key
4. Check the "Authorize credit card before accepting order" box and click Finish at the bottom.

Lastly, I recommend placing a "test order" with a real credit card to make sure everything works. If it does not or you run into difficulties please contact me directly: (800) 914-6161 x 206 or bcintolo@nexternal.com

Great Resource - On-Page SEO Cheatsheet

Any online merchant seeking information about how to optimize their website and store should give this page a read.

in reference to: The On-Page SEO Cheatsheet | Internet Marketing Strategy: Conversation Marketing (view on Google Sidewiki)

Google Product Search Setup - Steps to Verifying and Claiming your URL

Uploading products to Google Product Search through Nexternal's Automated Marketplace feed is very simple.

First, Click here to create a Google Product Search account.

After entering your company/business information (website = store.YOURURL.com) click on the Account & Settings link on the left navigation bar. Click FTP in the sub menu to create a Google Product Search FTP Username and Password.

When finished, enter this Username and Password into the Google Product Search FTP Username and Password box found in the Product section - Export Traffic Tools blue button - Marketplace Exports Preferences link in your Order Management System.

Once the Google Product Search FTP Username and Password is entered into your Order Management System the next step is to Verify and Claim your URL (store.YOURDOMAIN.com).

According to Google Merchant Blog this requires a couple steps:

1. Create an Account with Google Webmaster Tools

2. On the Webmaster Tools Home page, click "Verify this site" next to the site you want.

3. In the Verification method list, select Meta tag.

4. Copy and Paste the META tag into your Nexternal Order Management System in the Layout section - Advanced Layout - Head Addendum.

5. Once you've added the tag to your Layout section, click Verify.

You’ll have to go through this process once, but it’s important to make sure you’re store is authorized to upload product listings.

Seek assistance from Google Webmaster Tools Help or contact your Nexternal Account Rep: (800) 914-6161 x 206.