Should we have retail wine labels in the on-trade?

Bringing retail labels onboard could boost your sales

A lot of restaurants think that customers are reluctant to buy their wine when they know the markup compared to the supermarket or off-licence. So how do they try and improve this situation? Well some refuse to sell retail label wine. But I think that they are actually missing out on sales by taking this attitude of banning these labels.

Think of it this way, when a customer orders a brand name soft drink they know it’d be much cheaper to drink it at home. But they order it anyway because when they go out for a meal or to a bar or club they are going for the experience.

Knowing a retail label or brand will also help out a customer that doesn’t have a great knowledge of grape varieties or is intimidated by too many unknown labels. It could even lead to an extra bottle being ordered when they see their favourite wine on the menu.

The customer knows that you are there to make a profit and will appreciate you being transparent about your mark ups. They understand the difference between on-trade and off-trade prices and are willing to pay for the experience of being in your establishment. Also with a known retail label comes access to promotions that will increase your profits and marketing of your business.

Maybe then you can even go about thinking of marketing your newly stocked retail labels in a new way? If you’re open about the retail price you can actually start selling the wine to your customers at retail prices to be delivered at their home. We are positive a relevant share of consumers will appreciate the opportunity to buy some bottles of the wine they like right away. A simple App or just an email address (and some positive attention by your staff) is all it takes to facilitate this additional business.

Go further and partner up with your local wine shop and offer a discount coupon with their bill (and/or the other way around). You could set up a web shop with your new partner and make extra profits on sales on the customers you have introduced to your new partners. Let the wine shop do the work for you.

I hope that this has opened up the discussion about if we should have retail wine labels in the on-trade. I think that it might just improve the dining and drinking experience for everyone involved.  The question really has to be asked by businesses, could bringing in known retail labels boost sales?

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