Good Grape Wine Company

October 10 2006

Stack ‘Em High and Watch Them Fly!

Sigh!

All of the signposts are available to a well-capitalized entrepreneur who wants to get into the retail end of the wine business: wine consumption is increasing, Costco is the biggest seller of wine in the country, major metros like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Florida all get cool, new wine shops focused on breaking new ground in the wine buying experience designed to engender brand experiences and loyal shopping, chain concepts are proliferating, wine shipping laws are tumbling allowing wineries to increase relationships with their customers—endangering retailers, experimentation amongst varietals is increasing among younger consumers and a million and one more positive indicators of wine being a pretty cool place to be these days, and a need for retail to bring their "A" game and I get the below from the newsletter of Indianapolis’ landmark wine shop who shall remain nameless (but it starts with a “K”).

With mixed emotions of Sad and Happy, I wanted to tell YOU personally ... that I am building a new store just for YOU! Nothing fancy mind you, Pallet Racks, Big Case Displays, Cement Floor, Wide Aisles, Huge Selection, Parking, Knowledgeable Staff and Wicked Prices!

Groan.

Pallet Racks, Big Case Displays, Cement Floor, WICKED PRICES! ????

Somebody send a memo to the Cluetrain.

If pallet racks are what I want, I’ll go to Costco—which I already do! What Indianapolis needs is a boutique wine shop that looks like a boutique—comfortable, well-lit with no fluorescent lights, nicely merchandised, maybe even some schwag that doesn’t have dust on it. It’s just terribly disappointing—especially for a local retailer. I mean, honestly, WICKED PRICES are great, but in wine when 98% of all purchases are made at the point-of-sale, what basis of comparison is there for WICKED PRICES? NONE!

Marketer Seth Godin said it best in this blog post just yesterday:

Here’s what I think: Cheaper is the last refuge of the person who’s not a very good marketer. Cheaper is easy and cheaper is fast and cheaper is linear and cheaper is easy to do properly, at least at first. But cheaper doesn’t spread the word (unless you are much cheaper, but to be much cheaper, you need to be organized from the ground up, like Walmart or JetBlue, to be cheaper). They are, you’re not.

Cheaper is a short term hit, not a long term advantage. Cheaper doesn’t create loyalty, because the other guy can always figure out how to be cheaper still, at least in the short run.

Even free isn’t cheap enough to win in the long run. Not if other people can figure out how to match what you’ve got.

So, if you can’t be cheaper, be better.

Sadly, our friend “K” doubtlessly can’t be cheaper then Costco, and it would seem they are forsaking all major trends and not trying to be better.

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