The virtual world of wine offers an innovative and cost-effective way of attracting wine consumers, via a website, and stimulating them to purchase wines. After all, a shop which is open every second of every single day has the extra benefit of adding top-up revenue to turnover without increased overheads… and that is precisely what your online wine boutique will do. What this means for the wine lover is that they no longer have to wait in long queues and transport heavy cases of wine back home. The winery delivers wine to their loyal customer personally, has opportunity to enhance the winery’s brand through personal interaction and builds its internet marketing strategy
For the Internet shopper, convenience and accessibility are key to buying wine online. Firstly, on your winery’s homepage, a link is added to direct your visitors to “Buy our Wines Online”. When a virtual visitor clicks on this link, the potential consumer enters your Online Wine Shop that features products you would like to sell: e.g. Wine with different vintages, grappa, olive oil, chocolate or even your winery’s wine book.
The trick to a successful eCommerce website lies in its clear and uncluttered design, as this keeps the wine consumer’s focus on the task of buying. Your bottle shots, tasting notes and pricing should all be accessible for the consumer to browse through in their own time. When wine is selected for purchase, (that is when the visitor to your site clicks on the purchase icon), it is sent to a virtual shopping cart. After the virtual shopper has completed shopping, they simply click on “Checkout”, which prompts them to login and enter their contact and dispatch details.
If the consumer has purchased wine to send as a gift, they are able to key in a message which will accompany the consignment to their chosen delivery address. The shopper is able to view the shipping costs, which are automatically calculated based on your winery’s courier pricing structure. At any point in time before payment, the consumer is able to backtrack and purchase more products or change quantities to suit their needs.
When the consumer proceeds to the Payment page, they get prompted to select to pay by either credit card or via EFT. Credit card details are verified by a secure payment gateway and the transaction is approved once the verification process is complete. This process takes only a few seconds.
The consumer has now paid and receives an email confirming their wine order, approved payment and dispatch details. The winery receives this same order via email and prepares the consignment for delivery. Communication with the consumer is sustained through the use of the eCommerce software, enabling you to build a history of the consumer’s purchases. This helps you to understand your consumer’s tastes better and make relevant future offers to selected purchasers in terms of what makes their taste buds tango!
You need not worry about obtaining a merchant account to process your credit card transactions. There are Web companies that offer a complete eCommerce package which includes setting up the payment process securely. Leslie Maliepaard advises to exercise caution when choosing a web company to eCommerce enable your winery. Look for a reputable web company with a proven track record. If you find yourself staring at a quote to enable your online wine shop, for anything over R5 000, you are already paying too much.
Traditional shopping may still appeal to the computer-challenged wine lovers of today’s world, but a well-trodden electronic path is beginning to form on this multi-layered eCommerce highway. It is an exciting new mechanism for increasing winery profits. Online shopping by South Africans is fast becoming a popular consumer choice, because consumers want to enjoy the luxury of convenience and accessibility by shopping from the comfort of their home.
Offering Secure Internet shopping
For the Internet shopper, convenience and accessibility are key to buying wine online. Firstly, on your winery’s homepage, a link is added to direct your visitors to “Buy our Wines Online”. When a virtual visitor clicks on this link, the potential consumer enters your Online Wine Shop that features products you would like to sell: e.g. Wine with different vintages, grappa, olive oil, chocolate or even your winery’s wine book.
The trick to a successful eCommerce website lies in its clear and uncluttered design, as this keeps the wine consumer’s focus on the task of buying. Your bottle shots, tasting notes and pricing should all be accessible for the consumer to browse through in their own time. When wine is selected for purchase, (that is when the visitor to your site clicks on the purchase icon), it is sent to a virtual shopping cart. After the virtual shopper has completed shopping, they simply click on “Checkout”, which prompts them to login and enter their contact and dispatch details.
If the consumer has purchased wine to send as a gift, they are able to key in a message which will accompany the consignment to their chosen delivery address. The shopper is able to view the shipping costs, which are automatically calculated based on your winery’s courier pricing structure. At any point in time before payment, the consumer is able to backtrack and purchase more products or change quantities to suit their needs.
When the consumer proceeds to the Payment page, they get prompted to select to pay by either credit card or via EFT. Credit card details are verified by a secure payment gateway and the transaction is approved once the verification process is complete. This process takes only a few seconds.
The consumer has now paid and receives an email confirming their wine order, approved payment and dispatch details. The winery receives this same order via email and prepares the consignment for delivery. Communication with the consumer is sustained through the use of the eCommerce software, enabling you to build a history of the consumer’s purchases. This helps you to understand your consumer’s tastes better and make relevant future offers to selected purchasers in terms of what makes their taste buds tango!
You need not worry about obtaining a merchant account to process your credit card transactions. There are Web companies that offer a complete eCommerce package which includes setting up the payment process securely. Leslie Maliepaard advises to exercise caution when choosing a web company to eCommerce enable your winery. Look for a reputable web company with a proven track record. If you find yourself staring at a quote to enable your online wine shop, for anything over R5 000, you are already paying too much.
Traditional shopping may still appeal to the computer-challenged wine lovers of today’s world, but a well-trodden electronic path is beginning to form on this multi-layered eCommerce highway. It is an exciting new mechanism for increasing winery profits. Online shopping by South Africans is fast becoming a popular consumer choice, because consumers want to enjoy the luxury of convenience and accessibility by shopping from the comfort of their home.