Point of sale (POS) material is an essential tool in the wine industry today. BTN looks at how brand owners need to design their website so it is trade friendly and how it can help them grow their brand. Our focus in this article is to hone in on what tools brand owners need to have so distributors and retailers can easily navigate and use the brand's website as a resource in promoting the brands that they 'bought'.

Time and time again, we get asked from many distributors if we have POS (shelf talkers or case cards) for a brand that is listed as a selling lead.

Why: Because they distribute the brand and the POS person was asked by the the wholesalers sales rep to get a hold of some shelf talkers. The POS department opens google and searches for the brand. They may see the brand's website first and then also see the brand listed on BTN as they are looking for distributors in other countries or states.

The POS department or the wholesaler tries to find shelf talkers on the supplier's website and sends an email to them. The email address in a general contact form us "info@mywinerybrand.com" and mostly, the generic info email is not being checked and the email is lost. The POS department in a large company like Southern Wine and Spirits or a big Beer wholesaler may be too busy to chase it up and find out who the point of contact is as they carry thousands of brands.

Result: No POS for your brands. No POS = slow sales = no repeat order from the retailer = no repeat order from wholesaler.

POS is your sales person, CEO, brand manager, merchandiser and everyone in your company. 

BTN demonstrates in an example format, how your website should have a ‘trade section’ or a ‘distributor’ area and list ALL of the below (at the very least).

-Shelf Talkers
-Logo
-Sell Sheets
-Bottle Images

Have a look at http://www.lispirits.com/trade.php

Check out their trade section.

Point of sale is an overall branding and merchandising play for your brand and is specifically designed for impulse sales. A point of sale for your wine should educate and convince the shopper to pick your bottle.

You will notice how the above brand owner has clearly provided high resolution files for Bottle images, awards, logo and shelf talkers.

In your first couple of years, your website can focus on trade and as you grow your brand you can integrate your website towards consumer as your brand where store locator plays an important role.

Next, access your website as if you were a local customer. How would you find out about your brand? What search terms would you use in Google or Bing? What would you want to see on a local beer/wine distributor or retailer’s website? What makes them stand out?

It starts with how a potential customer might find you, and here is where Google Adwords can help. The national website you have used may try to underbid you on terms such as price or package size, but consumers scan beat them on the local front by claiming terms like best price in area or most craft beer and/or artisan wine offerings. More and more consumers are including a local destination in their search terms. They want to “buy local.”

Source: Google

Have a look at the image above of the real search we performed. We searched for a few brands but were surprised to see that even some national brands did not come up in the results the way they should. We finally found a brand that displays results as expected.

See how YellowTail wine has created their store locater page and how it helps them. The serach term was "where can I buy yellow tail wine in delaware". Not only do I navigate via their official website thus helping the brand owner "connect" with the consumer but also have a trusted resource that I can rely on as an end consumer. Tip: Your store locator page should have the title "Where To Buy" as we can see that it works.
 

(Source: Vodquila)

As you can see from the example above, the brand owner has a distribution map which not only helps the distributor see the states currently open for distribution and the states that are open but also advises end consumers which states the brand is available in.

The brand also provides a link for consumers to enable them to buy the product online. In the US market there is a 3 tier law in most states, so brand owners prefer to direct their online buyer to a retail store like the brand mentioned above. But, if you are a winery in Australia you can have your online store on your website. (Do ensure that your retail prices via your distribution model are lower than your online prices if you plan to take the traditional distribution route).

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