Wine Technology Blog @ WineWeb.com

Further review of the POS software review article in Wine Business Monthly shows that almost all POS vendors say that they are PCI compliant. Great, but what does the winery need to do to be PCI compliant using that software, as ultimately PCI compliance is required of the merchant? The article missed this point as they were comparing web-based solutions to PC-based solutions. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, if the service provider stores the credit card information on their servers (typically web-based solutions), then the winery can complete the short form PCI assessment to certify their compliance. However, if credit card information is stored locally, then the winery must complete the much longer, more stringent long form to be compliant, even if the vendor's software is compliant.

The latest issue of Wine Business Monthly (July 2009) featured a well-written, in-depth review of point-of-sale software for wineries. WineWeb is included in the list of vendors that were reviewed. I know I'm not the only person that will read the article and conclude that based on the pricing and feature set, our services will need to be included on most wineries' short list of potential vendors. In the section on buying advice, the article included WineWeb along with two more expensive vendors when they stated "Be advised that only a few vendors offer a truly complete out-of-the-box solution that integrates POS, wine club, e-commerce and email marketing." Nice.

Another benefit of product reviews like this is that you get to see vendors' pricing, even those that are normally tight-lipped about that. We publish pricing for all our services online, so there's no surprises there to our competitors. The list included pricing of $10,000, $15,000 and $20,000. Maybe these companies need to get that kind of money to make a reasonable profit. I've learned in over 25 years of information technology experience that a technology company must leverage technology so that their services are affordable and still be able to make a profit.

The standard sales line from a vendor with a more expensive product/service is "you get what you pay for", and I'm sure that's being said about us. But all a winery needs to do is compare, and I'm happy that this article provides a good start for that.

I read an interesting article in the New York Times this morning on remarketing, a term that I wasn't familar with, but a concept that we have been using for over two years. "Remarketing", in the online world, is communicating with a potential customer after they have abandoned a shopping cart in your e-commerce system. The statistic used in this article, and I've seen the same number used elsewhere, is that 70% of shopping carts are abandoned. Remarketing is the attempt to entice those shoppers back to their cart on your website. We allow our clients to setup an email that is sent to the shopper shortly after the system senses that a cart has been abandoned (and where the customer has started the checkout process and has left their email address). The article suggests that a major reason for abandonment is comparison shopping, but our experience in the wine industry suggests that shipping costs are the major factor. We've seen that a well-worded email can be successful in remarketing and getting the customer's order completed.

Two statements from the recently released "State of the Wine Industry" report by Silicon Valley Bank caught my attention:

• "Distribution has all but ended as a viable sales channel for small wineries."
   
• "For most small brands, the best opportunities are in direct-to-consumer marketing strategies. Finding the right strategy may become absolutely critical to a  winery’s success, if not its outright survival during the next several years."

So what's a small winery to do? Here's one of the report's recommendations: "If you have been using an in-house Web platform, consider upgrading to use an e-commerce company that specializes in wine and can help direct your progress in the channel." And as I mentioned in a previous blog post, you don't need to go into debt to invest in this technology.

We just launched a new program called "WineWeb Ambassador". If you are a website designer, web developer, webmaster, wine industry marketing professional, or you supply products/services to the wine industry, you can become a WineWeb Ambassador and leverage our services to help your business grow.

WineWeb Ambassadors recommend or help their winery or wine merchant clients use our services. WineWeb provides tools and services to assist wineries and wine merchants develop and grow their direct sales channel. Our value-based pricing is suitable for wineries of all sizes, however many of our clients do not have dedicated resources on their staff to support the direct sales initiatives, which is where our ambassadors are needed.

WineWeb Ambassadors gain access to information and training to enable them to recommend our services, and to assist clients in deploying these services. Plus, if your efforts enable us to reduce the time and effort we spend in setting up a client with our services, we compensate you for that.

For more information and to sign-up to our Ambassador mailing list, go to www.wineweb.com/ambassador. It's free to join.

I just received an email from Network Solutions stating that the domain names I recently searched for are still available and offering me a discount to buy them. I don't remember being logged in when I did those WhoIs searches (even more scary), but maybe I was. Anyway, the point is that Network Solutions (and maybe other domain name registrars) are tracking your WhoIs searches. In case you're not aware, all domain name registrars (Network Solutions, Godaddy, Register.com, etc.) provide a "WhoIs" function for you to see the details of who registered a domain name. It's a fast way to check on a domain name, but if you're looking for new domain names for your business, I'd advise against using that function. I've also heard of people who used WhoIs to look for domain names, only to come back an hour later and find that those domain names were just registered by a reseller.

What to do? If you want to research new domain names, login to your domain name account and use their search function, then be prepared to immediately purchase any domain names that you find.

To support Earth Day, we have purchased carbon offsets equivalent to the carbon dioxide generated by the electricity used to power our web and email servers. You'll notice the "CO2 Neutral" seals that appear throughout the website. Visitors will also see the seal on the shopping cart pages of all wineries and wine merchants that use our e-commerce system.

Purchasing the carbon offsets was easy to do, relatively inexpensive, and we encourage other Internet services companies to explore similar ways to offset their carbon footprint.

I've seen a couple of press releases recently touting the great financing rates available to purchase winery technology solutions. Wow, that stuff must be way overpriced if you have to go into debt to get it! Maybe the technology salesperson has convinced the winery that they need a data center and all the associated hardware and software (cha-ching goes the sales commissions on that).I guessing that most winery owners would much prefer to finance barrels than they would technology. Oh, and the financing is just on the initial fees, not the ongoing operation and maintenance costs.

I should state that WineWeb does have a payment plan. We break up the setup costs: half billable when a winery registers, the other half billable when setup is complete. And if a winery is really strapped for funds, they can charge it to their credit card and pay it off over a couple of months. But we're talking hundreds of dollars, not tens of thousands. I really enjoy when a prospective client gets that "ah ha" moment and says "all this for only this amount of money!" We tell them they can pay more, but no one has done that yet.

We've rebranded our blog as WineTechnologyWorks.com. The focus will be on technology in the wine industry: what works and what doesn't, with an attempt to focus on topics that may evoke (or provoke) discussion. WineWeb has always been focused on providing technology that works and that provides real value to its clients. We constantly see good stuff that we'd like to highlight, as well as items that make us scratch our heads in wonder. We've had that domain name for a while and liked the play on words, so we'll try to put it to good use.

Now if I can force myself to get this stuff from my head to the keyboard...