I have some concerns about Vivino and would like to know how other retailers feel.
First, some back history. While winding down an IT career, I have handled store finances for a number of years. I stayed on the fringe of the online business, so my discussion is based on more recent discoveries. We began selling online during this time started with Vivino in May 2018. After “retiring”, I dove into the online sales management around October. At the outset, it seemed like a good idea using Vivino to expand our online sales. From recent experience, I have formed these opinions/observations about Vivino:
- Operational model deficiencies
1a - Reliance on email alone for communications, no phone calls possible
1a1 - This is true for both retailers and customers; as a result, speed of resolution of questions or problems is insufficient
1a2 - We leverage their shipping labels (this was an option as we could use our own and pay the shipper directly)
1a2a - Shipping labels must be retrieved from email (instead of the retailer web portal) and delivery of labels is inconsistent, i.e. at an unacceptable frequency, labels are not provided until we prompt (by email - no phone contact possible)
1b - no relationship managers to contact about issues, recommendations - Technology is remarkably behind for a modern e-commerce operation
2a - web portal does not support delivery of shipping labels
2b - web portal does not support direct communication to end customer; instead, we must email Vivino who in turn contact the customer and get back to us by email. Problems that could be solved by a phone call or direct email take too much time as a result. - Cost - Vivino gets 15% of the sale and we pay shipping. I don’t think my colleague who set this up understood the shipping aspect. It was originally communicated to me that Vivino picked up the shipping cost. Wrong - we pay almost the full cost - there are some minuscule rebates involved.
Those costs, added to the cost of packing material, are in my opinion, unsustainable. Beyond the irritating lack of communications, this is the factor that will determine if we continue the relationship.
So what am I missing? Did we agree to a raw deal and other retailers are paying less? I would like to know if I am alone in this thinking.