Harness technology like Vivino to improve your sales
Posted on Fri 21st Aug 2015 at 12:35
Reporting from the recent Digital Wine Communications Conference, Harper's has noted that the wine industry is being stymied by its failure to grasp the potential of new technology.
Whether you're a wine wholesaler, distributor or retailer, there is undoubtedly a lot more you could be doing to make your products attractive to the consumer, simply by harnessing the technology they use on a day to day basis. One example of this is a popular wine app called Vivino, which allows users to take a photo of a wine label whilst shopping, upload this to the app and see what other drinkers have thought of the wine. It's beautifully simple, not to mention very popular - when they released the latest version, Vivino were getting more than 30,000 downloads per day. Its founder, Heini Zachariassen, created the app for ordinary consumers of wine who need a little help when choosing products in a shop or supermarket. As he explains in an article for Forbes Magazine: "The type of user that Vivino attracts is one that doesn’t have a wine cellar, for example, but probably has about a dozen bottles sitting around the kitchen. These users are low commitment drinkers — they don’t want to write lengthy reviews about how “earthy” or “acidic” a wine is. They just want to remember it for next time and maybe give it a quick five-star rating." These users are a huge segment of the market, and wine suppliers can maximise their opportunities from this by engaging with the technology. For example, Vivino uses wine writers to provide value-added content to the app, and encourages users to share their reviews via social media - why not get your staff to join in with both of these activities?
Your consumers are looking for quick, easy, and trusted information, and there's no reason that you can't be part of the process that provides the details they need. It’s a great way to engage with them and have a bit of fun too! You can show them the great reviews Stobi have had already for the Stobi Cuvée. You can also identify which of the bottles you stock doesn't currently appear on the app, and upload the description so that customers are more likely to take interest in your wine. Why not go one step further and arrange a display based around the top-rated wines on Vivino that week? Demonstrating to consumers that you understand their purchasing process, and facilitating this, will earn you customer respect and loyalty.
For more information on the Vivino app, visit http://www.vivino.com/