Oregon Symposium 2025 Fireside Chat

Reimagining the Wine Club

  1. Subscription Models
    The subscription model offers members flexibility with options for monthly, quarterly, or bi-annual shipments, often without traditional benefits like pick-up parties, focusing instead on discounts. This model appeals to those seeking a straightforward, commitment-free experience. However, transitioning from legacy clubs to subscription models presents challenges, particularly in revenue predictability, as members can pause or modify shipments, complicating financial forecasting. Shipping costs also cited as a draw back to subsciption model.
  2. Subscription Challenges and Loyalty Strategies
    While some subscription models have faced challenges due to members skipping shipments, strategic pricing ensures subscriptions cover shipping costs. Retention remains strong, with notable crossover into traditional wine clubs. Implementing loyalty point systems tied to purchases and event attendance drives engagement and rewards active members.
  3. Social Club Model
    Focusing on the social aspect, some wineries have developed clubs centered around events and communal experiences rather than regular wine shipments. These social clubs offer benefits such as access to exclusive events and spaces, appealing to members interested in the experiential side of wine culture.
  4. Flat-Rate Clubs
    Some clubs have adopted a flat-rate model, offering fixed-price packages, such as six-packs, twice a year. This approach simplifies inventory management and appeals to members who prefer predictable costs.
  5. Handling Cancellations
    While formal cancellation fees are uncommon, some wineries back-bill discounts if a member cancels before fulfilling a one-year commitment, ensuring fairness and discouraging early termination. Winery is encouraged to be more lenient with cancellations, and allowing online cancellations has been listed as a major factor for younger generations when considering whether to join, or if they would recommend a club to a friend.
  6. Wine Wallet Concept
    Innovative approaches like the “Wine Wallet” allow members to pay a monthly fee that accrues as credit, functioning similarly to a gift card. This model offers flexibility and can attract members who prefer to decide on purchases spontaneously rather than committing to scheduled shipments.

Personalization Wine Club Engagement

  • Customization is King—within reason. Some parameters such as minimum bottles or dollars purchase and selected SKUs.
  • Shipping Perks for Out of State + Club-Member for a Day Vouchers, teaming up with local hotels or other organizations for added benefits
  • Retention – anniversary gifts
  • Postcards, Notes, and personal e-mails after sign-up
  • Top-tier dinners with special buyers
  • Events access and discounts
  • Virtual Tastings & “Unboxing” videos of shipments
  • Texting – offers as well as logistics updates.
  • New Ideas – rewards points and subscription model.

Professional Development & Sales Training

    1. Internal Training & Resources
    • What types of professional development opportunities are you currently providing?
    • Train the Trainer exercises are a good way to approach sharing education across the company.
    • “Homemade pairings” where team brings a wine/food pairing to share and suggest. Fun team building.
    • Cross training across the whole guest experience so everyone has a view into every step, even if it’s not their area of focus.
    • Use international harvest interns as trainers.
    • Trainings while they roll silverware, polish glasses. Manager takes notes all day, run through notes during silverware rolling schpiel.
    • Actual quiz / testing system to assess readiness before launching into hosting solo. Better than having to correct later. PRIZES! Bottles, wine credit, cash. (Test stuff like, “can they identify buying types…”?)
    • Cater to the winery’s story, e.g. if the founder is a scientist, use that lens for education topics and tactics.

2. Education Incentive Programs

    • WSET or support for other classes
    • Some paid for the small team, pay if they pass ** 😉 Pay half if they don’t. Or pay a portion, to get literal buy-in.
    • $250 per month is budgeted for educational activities.

3. Who? When? How?

    • Provide extra hourly rate for staff who usually reply on tips from service, to incentivize participation in education.
    • How do you make use of slower season to provide education?
    • Saturday morning huddle before opening.
    • Look at who’s coming in on the calendar, get ready for the guests, look at their buying history. (Basically, go over best practices that busy morning to help make the most of it.)
    • What are your current sales training methods
    • Use Whatsapp to disseminate data / trainings to PT team members. (Use their preferred tools as opposed to email, etc.)
    • Read a specific book together and review together, or per person.
    • Trainings – and by whom?
    • Who is responsible for telling the story and setting the tone?
    • Winemakers, in-house educators.

DTC – Employee Incentive/Compensation

  1. Club Bonuses
    • most, if not quite all, wineries are offering some sort of club bonus. That ranges wildly in the amount given per sign-up, what the cadence of payout is, and if it is individual or team-driven.
    • Are there some new and different ways to freshen this up or is cash king?
  2. Team Member On-Line Reviews Incentives
    • Incentivizing the team member who is mentioned most in online reviews. This could be done monthly by offering a magnum of wine, a specific gift card that team members like, etc.
    • As guests rely more on online reviews this can become an essential way for new guests to find you.
  3. Volume Sales Incentives
    • Volume sales or comma sales, wineries are incentivizing based on those larger sales. It seems there is usually a payout of a specific dollar amount for those, sometimes in lieu of a tipping option.
  4. Tipping and/or Commissions
    • Are those being offered?
    • Individual vs Pooling
    • If it is too difficult to explain your incentive programs then your team will not be engaged