Are you suffering from bad news fatigue like I am? It’s one thing after another—COVID-19 hitting us in March. Now, the fires. And the constantly changing rules and regulations for restaurants, bars and tasting rooms.… With so many moving parts, how do we plan for OND—October, November, December—the biggest annual boon to all retailers?
In just a matter of weeks, the nature of the wine business in the US—and the world in general—has drastically changed. Restaurants and bars have been shut down, wineries have closed their tasting rooms, and wine retailers have had to rethink the way they do business. Some have closed altogether, at least for now.
Anyone who has worked in retail will quickly recognize OND as October/November/December—that three-month period when your sales will either make or break your year’s profits.
Every year, the Wine Business Monthly publishes its annual Tasting Room/DTC Survey results. Did you know that on average 8% of DTC wine sales occur online? What would your business look like if you were able to increase your online DTC sales to more than 8%? How would that impact your bottom line?
Most tasting rooms experience downtime during which there are no guests. That leaves you with three options: let the staff sit and wait, send staff home, or have them perform other strategic tasks. I’ll bet you can imagine what Capiche recommends!
Recently we took a trip to the Willamette Valley—specifically the city of Carlton. Why? Because we had gotten to know a winemaker from that area at the Oregon Wine Experience this summer—and his wines piqued our interest. He is Terry McIntyre, owner and winemaker at Stone Griffon Vineyard and he was all in at the OWE.
Anyone who has worked in retail will quickly recognize OND as October/November/December—that three-month period where your sales will either make or break your year’s profits. Consider both your in-person sales and your DtC shipping orders.
In anticipation of the Nov. 6 Southern Oregon Wine Industry Roundtable, Capiche conducted a Q&A with Bree Boskov to get a preview of her presentation “Figuring out Distribution: What’s Best for You?”
When Whitman Parker and his wife, Jo, moved from Denver to Jacksonville, Oregon, they harnessed their backgrounds in real estate to embark on new career trajectories. Whit purchased the Jacksonville Review, and Jo set up WillowCreek Gifts in downtown historic Jacksonville. It wasn’t long before Whit realized he’d better seize the opportunity to launch a magazine celebrating the budding Southern Oregon wine industry, and thus Southern Oregon Wine Scene was born. Fourteen years later, and the region is now a major industry player racking up international acclaim and attracting world-class winemakers.
