Offer letter timing

There was a thread about this on another forum, but unfortunately, I couldn’t participate there.

A poster wondered why wineries “shoot themselves in the foot” by all sending out their offer letter at the same time: basically either Sept-Oct and/or Jan-Feb. We are all chasing the same wine buying dollars. The resulting consensus of the thread, I think, was right on. Wineries are aiming for offering their wine in time to be able to ship during the Spring and Fall shipping windows. If offers were sent out at another time, wineries could certainly adjust their expectations of cash flow accordingly. Also, the way mailing lists are created is with the assumption that folks on the list are interested in buying the wine. But, once an offer gets set aside on a desk for later action, I know from my own wine buying, the chances I will make that purchase diminish.

So I guess I have a question and a suggestion.

Question: Have other wineries experimented with sending offers during non-traditional months and if so, what was the result?

Suggestion: If a deadline or allocation doesn’t fit your time line or budget, by all means, contact the winery when you are ready to buy. Even though a winery says they are only holding your allocation until “X” doesn’t mean they won’t have wine that they would love to sell you in June. This is especially true this year when economics are leaving many allocations unclaimed.

This is a timely post as a couple weeks ago I received 4 offers in one day and probably 7 that same week. In years past it was fun, but this year not so much. I think through the years you kinda know when the offers are coming and have probably decided ahead of time what your going to buy. As for off season releases one that comes to mind is Copain and their summer release which I always jump on as there aren’t many offers at that time.

Ditto, in year’s past this was a ball. It was like Xmas, even though we weren’t getting the wines yet. Fast forward to today, and it’s like standing outside looking in.

Randy,

Off the top of my head I believe Kongsgaard at least used to send out their mailer in June and both Jones and Switchback would send theirs in July at one point. Outside looking in I don’t think it hurt them any.

Very interesting concept, and a good exercise in marketing that some wineries might want to try.

The market has changed - drastically - so the old mantra of ‘it always worked before’ need not apply. Now is the time to mix it up, try new things, and see what takes. My gut reaction is that mailers that are spread out would get more action. Today I received Williams-Selyem and Brewer Clifton - both are in the recycling bin. I didn’t even look.

I think the reason you see January so front loaded with mailers is shipping windows. Not everyone who buys wine is clued in on not shipping wine when it’s hot. I’ve heard several makers talk about how customers are complaining that their wines won’t be shipped for three months when they buy them in July. Not a good situation for either side.

If wineries say they will only ship in Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb I’ll happily give them my money any month and ENCOURAGE them to spread it out.

I’ll give you money in April for December delivery.
I’ll give you money in July for January delivery.

I’d rather wineries help me manage my cash flow, and adhere to shipping windows that I want/request. I could buy a lot more if I got a mailer a month rather than 12 in February.

I cannot tell you how many offers that come out in Jan/Feb with “shipping in April” need to be held for me because April is too damn hot to ship to the Southwest. So everything I order that is “shipping in April” is actually “delivery in December” for me. So why wouldn’t I rather give them the money in June or July or August?? I could order MORE BOTTLES, they’d MAKE MORE MONEY.

In short, right now, I’m “giving money in February for December delivery”. For December delivery I can give you money anytime between now and then. Help me budget! The wineries aren’t aiming for shipping windows to the southwest best I can tell. April delivery… give me a break

Then there are the Harlan’s of the world, pay 20 months in advance, ok but not great, and then they still ship to me in late March. With 20 months in advance, can you not FOR THE LOVE OF GOD ship to me in late February? Is March somehow sacred?

I believe Shafer HSS is a July offering that shows up in December.

Do wineries fear that if most go out in Jan and Feb. and they send there’s out in May, or something that people will say, “Oh, I spent so much already, I’ll have to pass.” whereas if you are part of the frenzy, people may just buy as a matter of course???

I hesitate to mention this . . .
. . . but if we are recieving too many mailers at once, maybe we are on too many lists. Maybe we could do ourselves a favor and just pick a set number of wineries we wish to support through a mailing list and then keep that number - if we add one, we have to subtract one.
I suspect a lot of credit card bills would look better and we would not feel any (or as much) pressure or frustration when the offers roll in.
Just a thought . . .
Best, Jim

Sure, I think that is true. A winery must assume that folks join their mailing list because they are interested in the wine and want it to be part of their wine buying each year. I’m not sending you an offer letter hoping to steal you away from brand “X” but rather because I believe since you have joined our mailing list, that you are interested in buying single vineyard Napa Cabernet from my vineyards. But, be that as it may, everyone has a budget either a defacto or even planned budget and a winery wants to be part of that budget.

All of our inboxes are being flooded by supplemental offers and special deals from retailers. I’m wondering if such a campaign, or even just reminder postcards in the off season would be effective.

During the drive from my house to work, no more than 15 minutes - I received 4 new emails – all from retailers. This could play back to Jim’s comment about de-listing from retailers, wineries, etc – but the volume I see these days is staggering. It’s the same few people, hitting me with what seems to be an offer 2x’s a day. It is tiring, but being ITB, I feel like I need to know what is going on, what my clients may be seeing.

Well, I do know I get a couple mailers in July that state they are for November shipping. That is a good idea in that it is an “off-period” purchase where I may have dollars. But inevitably some won’t like it because they pay money 5 months before they get the wine.

There is definitely 2 camps on this topic - those who want to spread out their spending, and those who want to pay right before shipping happens.

I’ve had good results sending out a special offer in June. It includes a 15% discount and free shipping. A full case purchase is required, and it only applies to the wines we are closing inventory on after the spring shipping season. It’s a good way to bring in some mail order business during a slow month, and it also cleans up our inventory remnants. Other than that, I send out an email blast every two months or so. Even if we don’t have much wine to sell, I’ll direct people to the blog or send them some other news and tidbits. We get a rush of inquiries and orders after every email. I also remind people to send their address and credit card changes somewhere in every email–that helps spread out the flood of changes, last minute pickups and special requests that occur each release.

I would LOVE to get offer letters in the summer. I would gladly buy in June/July/August and receive in November. Much like others have said here, it’s mailer overload right now. And if I put an offer to the side, in most cases, I’m not coming back to it.

BLASPHEMY!!

Off with his head!

Who invited that guy over here anyway???

10 years later and still we have the same challenges. Already had Carlisle and RM this month, and Kutch next week, plus BD is on us too, not to mention way more other offers that I don’t even buy from.

And I was going to make my yearly request for legislation requiring all wineries to send their offers on the same day. That way I have everything in front of me at once, and I can decide what I really want and what I can skip. That way I don’t over buy.

I wish Randy still made wine. I may need to open a Match Cab this week.

Unfortunately, a lot of this timing is based on a few things - bottling schedules, shipping windows and harvest schedules. Just like everything else in life, everyone wants a ‘leg up’ on things - and these are the times when it seems most are ‘willing and wanting’ to separate their dollars from themselves

You’re rarely going to see offers hit in late March / early April during tax season - not when folks are thinking about these things. And you won’t see them hit in late November / December due to the holidays.

Would love to hear what other wineries have to say about this.

Cheers.