Not to pick on you, but this is the kind of shelf talker that turns shops into “slow-pitch softball leagues,” as Liotta put it.
Just regurgitating scores and/or third-party notes wrecks the market and cripples your credibility.
Implicit here is the notion that it is not your shop that are the experts, but Wine Spectator (et. al). It also builds this paradigm where wines without ratings don’t sell to the public because their viewed as inferior, and the commerical buyers don’t buy them because they think they don’t sell.
While these kinds of shelftalkers may be an expeditious way for a retailer to do business, they really degrade the integrity of the market overall.
Well, that must mean yes in kidspeak - I would be very careful in dismissing things that you have no experience in if you are going to stay in this business - shelftalkers are the easiest way to reach the consumer that just does not want help -
And please don’t give me that superman shit about every customer who walks into your store asks for help - it that is the case, you must work in a very small store and receive your customers one at a time.
And John - when a customer actually does ask you a question - are you that vague with them?
Do you ever wonder why they never come back a second time?
Chaad,
While I understand where you’re coming from, there is no denying that some people resonate to scores and popular press reviews.
I think incorporating some of that into point of sale merchandising along with store generated descriptions is effective in reaching the ultimate goal of branding yourself (or your shop).
Building a rapport with your customer base that gives you the benefit of being the resource for recommendations whether or not the pop press has reviewed them should be everyone’s dream, but there are many ways to get there.
Thom,
I don’t think Liotta was being literal, at the risk of interpreting…
When you have nearly 1000 unique walk-in customers per day like my shop, shelf-talkers help the customers who don’t want personalized assistance. Our staff of 10 winos help everyone else with personalized selections.
That being said, well over half of our signs are staff tasting notes, not magazine reviews.
I own a grocery store with a good wine section given my size and locale. My job, without a staff to hand sell, is to give as much info as possible. I sell gruners, viogniers, chenin blancs, Spanish, Austrian, etc… Stuff people aren’t going to see in a usual grocery store set in Indiana. I deal with a lot of wholesalers, big ones and the tiny ones and I taste everything I put notes on. There is NO way I would be selling these wines without talkers. Once they realize that New Zealand makes good SBs they might venture out to a NZ pinot.
My section is nothing special and not much in the big scheme of things. But I have been into a lot of wine shops, like everyone else here and shelf talkers are everywhere and they do work. And, as someone mentioned there are those who do not want to ask for help.
Many times - a shelftalker can start a conversation with someone who originally just wanted to brouse -
I like using a little card that tells consumers the basic grape makeup in each wine - this is so valuable with Rhone/Provence/Languedoc reds where everyone knows Grenache, Syrah & Cabernet/Merlot grapes - but usually don’t know that is the basic makeup of Southern French reds - it simplifies things so much - and gives the consumer needed info without hitting them over the head with it -
And I originally thought John was being tongue in cheek, he just missed the cheek -
When you say, “along with store generated descriptions,” I think we’re on the same page, here. As I said earlier, “just regurgitating scores and/or third-party notes” is the problem, so I agree that they can be part of a successful mix.
I would be surprised to see a serious, professional, wine specialty shop to use a talker like the type Bowman posted, though.
Guess the sample I posted wasn’t well received, but it was a sample of the format. Our tasting notes and/or the wine makers notes were used also. The notes are simple, not glitzy like grocery stores and bevmo like warehouses and they take minimal space. They worked well in our old hole in the wall shop.
We don’t use shelf talkers any more, now that the wine is displayed in a temperature controlled cellar. But, we still get the people through here that want to know WS or WA scores and notes, (Point chasers).
Right now we have a number of Distributor generated ones, but only ones that look nice.
I also make little ones in Excel to highlight the wines that we choose to bring in the store. They are simple and mounted on a piece of green construction paper. They look ok, but they are personal and people are reacting pretty well to them.
I am waiting on delivery of business cards that will be used for our new tasting notes. They just have a strip across the bottom with our store name and logo and the top is where we can handwrite tasting notes. Just a sentence or two about the wine and then the price. Simple and clean, I’m just concerned about my crappy handwriting!
We don’t use points on any of our store generated notes, and I’m hoping to slowly get rid of the few that distributors gave us. Mostly those are on case cards, but there are a few shelftalkers too.
I’m not into the 100 point scale, so I’m conflicted about using them. I know it makes people feel better to see a 90 pt raiting on a wine. They just aren’t for me.
It’s not the racking, as we are still using the same type of racking. Some of it has to do with limited time but mostly, Carrie likes to spend the time with people. As we’ve grown in knowledge and understanding, we have gotten better at reading what the person is looking for in a wine by their descriptions and examples of what they’ve liked in the past. Carrie is excellent at matching wines to people and visa versa, giving them suggestions of wines they might like. The personnal touch results in more return customers. The drop-in point chasers and some of those who want to “shop for themselves,” are generally looking for deals and shop sporadically. When we were heavy on Aussie wines, the shelf talkers were helpful. With 1001 wines, 872 displayed in racks, shelf talkers get cumbersome.
One other point the others have touched on, shelf talkers can be negative. Think about the last time you were in a grocery or low end wine store. The shelf talkers were BS on swill, sale pricing on plop or a paragraph of drivel from an untrained store employee. Contrary to those who don’t condone shelf talkers with WS and WA ratings, they are more believable and respected than those of an unknown store employee.
We’re 25,000 ft. overall and about 80% of that selling space. Lots of case stacks! Shelf talkers are necessary help on the floor. We use Word as the template with photo of a member of the wine staff and a description that may or may not incorporate a pop press review/score. We use those as an embellishment to our worded description where we feel it is warranted. One of my favorite examples being Bob Varner’s Foxglove label Chardonnay. Three vintages in a row RP gave it 90 pts. and after tasting the wines I felt that it was more than justified so I include that in my note.
People do read them and they are comprehensive enough that they appeal to novices and experienced wine enthusiasts alike.
Really need to stop by your store some day for some serious sign reading. Until seeing that piece I would have given the ‘unusual notes’ award to Weimax, up in Burlingame. http://www.weimax.com Kindof a cantankerous goat, that guy, but his online notes are fun to read.
He’s only cantankerous on the surface. Nice shop, but I moved farther away after grad school and don’t get there very often. Hasn’t changed very much over the years (a good thing).
He’s only cantankerous on the surface. Nice shop, but I moved farther away after grad school and don’t get there very often. Hasn’t changed very much over the years (a good thing).
-Al[/quote]
I lived there back in the early 80’s and when I was doing research before opening my shop, I stopped by one day to ask him a few questions. Even when I explained that my shop would be 400 miles away he stomped off and wouldn’t give me the time of day. That’s cantankerous.
I probably should have just taken it as a warning sign of the competitiveness of the industry.
