Christmas SMS Marketing for Wine Merchants

With just days left until Christmas, Britain’s thriving wine merchants are now well into the busiest time of the year with sales expected to reach record levels if figures for the last couple of years are anything to go by. According to Decanter, a leading wine magazine, English wines are now experiencing exceptionally high sales – with its sparkling varieties even threatening to soon rival Champagne as the must-have fizz.

Although many will have already completed their festive wine shopping by now, much more will be out to buy in the coming weeks – especially those who have yet to decide on the right bottle or case. With the stakes so high, it is up to wine merchants to win these customers – and SMS Marketing could be the secret weapon in the arsenal.

So how can wine merchants use SMS Marketing to make the most of the remaining few days of festive sales? Here are some tips from our team.

Why Choose SMS Marketing?

There are several good reasons wine merchants should consider using SMS Marketing. Here are some of the advantages:

• Communicate with customers in real time
• Provide useful information that the customer can access from the palm of their hand, even while out shopping
• Supports links, allowing customers to instantly learn more about products and offers using their smartphone
• Exceptionally high open rate – almost 100%
• Significantly higher clickthrough and conversion rates than email
• Much more personal than email
• One of the most popular channels for retail marketing communications

How to boost last minute wine sales with SMS Marketing

There are several simple to implement strategies that will help you to boost wine sales over the festive period. Here are some tried and tested approaches that have been proven to get great results.

• Discounts: Many customers are willing to go that little bit extra and splash out for the best quality wine they can afford within their budget. With such willingness to spend, offering the right discount can help to steer customers to those lines with the highest margins, whilst also encouraging the customer to spend that little bit more. Discounts can also be a great way to encourage cross-sells and upsells to further increase profits and ROI.
• Special Offers: No doubt your customers are shopping around for the best offers – so make sure they know about yours! Whilst emails and other marketing channels may be largely ignored, SMS messages almost always get an immediate response – and might just be the nudge a customer needs to choose your store over the competitors.
• Sales: If you are running any last minute festive sales, then SMS Marketing is the place to share them. There is a sense of urgency in SMS that simply isn’t generated through any other medium, making it a perfect platform to get those customers through the door. Plus, SMS appeals to the impulsive nature of many shoppers.
• Loyalty Programs: Do you run a special wine club? If you do, then use SMS messaging to thank your customers for their loyalty in the last year and wish them the best with some special loyalty rewards, such as members-only discounts or bonus points on purchases. If you don’t already have such a scheme, now is an opportune moment to set one up and get those customers signed up. Just remember to get their express consent to receive SMS Marketing communications in the process – click here to learn more about the rules on opting in.
• Festive Lines/Products: Inform regular customers when you have new seasonal or gift wines due to come in or in stock and give them the website link to view. Even better, invite them for a taster session to really whet their appetite.
• Order & Delivery Status: Whether you’ve ordered a single bottle of the best vintage or a crate of the best bubbly, one thing your customers will want to be sure of is that their beverages are safely on their way. Put their minds at rest by keeping them updated by SMS. This is also an ideal way to keep customers updated if they have ordered wines for collection in store.
• News & Tips: One of the biggest problems many wine lovers have at Christmas is pairing the right bottle with the right menu – so why not give your customers a helping hand this Christmas and share some expert tips? You might also want to share your recommendations for the best bottles for different occasions, and other such seasonally relevant recommendations.

With our easy sign-up and exceptional customer support, you can be ready to get your Christmas SMS Marketing campaign underway in no time. To find out more about how we can help you to grow, call our team of experts now on 0800 945 5305.