Retailers and All That

I have lived in Brisbane for going on for two years now. It is not a city that I would have had down as a being renowned for its large population of wine drinkers, but I have been rather surprised by the level of interest in the subject.

As far as I can see, and I will be the first one to admit that I have not studied the subject scientifically, we are well served by bottle shops with a wine bent to them. Well, certainly in terms of numbers anyway. I work in “the city”, and within walking distance is a Quinns (formerly independent group but I believe now part of a chain), a Vintage Cellars (chain), and The Grape (small chain) plus several “independent” outlets which seem to specialise in sales of beer, and as far as I can see, one specialist independent “premium wine” retailer. However all of these outlets describe themselves as wine specialists.

I live out in western part of Brisbane and close to home I have another Quinns, two outlets of The Grape, and a McGuires bottle shop which I think is also part of a chain.

Now for the interesting part. Several of these “wine specialist shops” regularly advertise what they term “in store tastings”, usually on a Friday afternoon. So you can conclude from that that they are somewhat interested in attracting potential wine purchasers to their premises. But the experience I have had with them seems to indicate that the reality is rather different.

Before I launch in to my story though, I should probably explain that I am a fairly shy and retiring sort of person. It would be uncharacteristic of me to stride into a wineshop (or a cellar door for that matter) and demand: “Right where are the wines on tasting then”. I am more likely to hover around showing some interest in what is going on in the hope that one of the staff will notice my interest, offer me a tasting glass and take it from there. I admit that this may be a character fault, but if it is, I am pretty certain that there are many people of similar character out there. One more point: I work in the Corporate Finance field, but do not display all of the normal trappings of someone in the corporate world, as I adopt a casual approach to dressing, so people may be forgiven for thinking that I am just another punter looking for a bottle of sweet sherry. But I do think one of the critical success factors in retailing is being able to recognise a prospective customer: We come in all types, shapes, characters and dress codes.

So on with the story. My first experience was with the bottle shop close to my home one late afternoon. It had recently undergone a revamp and I think a change of ownership, and I had not been in there since the changes. I had spent the day working with some big beefy type blokes in the garden and at the end of the day’s work nipped out to the bottle shop for some very cold lagers. After I had pulled two six packs out of the fridge, I noticed some (small plastic) glasses on the counter with about a thimbleful of wine in each of them. “Oh”, I said being uncharacteristically forward, “are you offering a taste then?” The response was pretty much to the point. “They are for people who would like to buy some wine”. “Could I try some then?” I asked. “Well….only if you are going to buy some afterwards”. Needless to say I have not been back, not even to buy beers! And I watch the shop with interest, as I am regularly in the area and they are plainly not doing very well.

The next experience was with one of the chains close to home, which had advertised a tasting from 4-7 pm on a Friday afternoon, even going so far as to list what would be available. So on my way home I stopped by. Once in the shop, I looked around the shelves for a while, before sidling up to what was obviously the tasting bench, for a look. The staff basically ignored me and continued to do so, so I left the shop. Except for the odd glance to check that I wasn’t indulging in shoplifting, I could just as well have been invisible.

I had another, more positive experience close to work, when I strolled into one of the chains on a Friday afternoon, to find Jeremy Oliver doing a tasting of Pinots. I adopted my usual “look at the shelves” approach for a few minutes and (slightly) to their credit, the staff did not ignore me, but asked if I needed any help, (Note: They did not say “would you like to try some of our wines?”). I eventually sidled up to Jeremy himself, who invited me to try something.

However, a few weeks later, I went back to the same store, which earlier in the week, had advertised a whole range of various priced wines, including a statement that “all wines advertised will be available for tasting in the Brisbane store on Friday from 3-6pm”. Just a few minutes in the store was enough for me to realise that there would be no wine tasting at all. No wines open or any indication that they would be open. There were a number of store staff bustling around, moving boxes and cartons, but not one of them showed much interest in me. I repeated the exercise a few weeks later, and this time there were some bottles that had been opened and had the corks stuffed back in, so something was going to happen. I hovered around, showing obvious interest but was pretty well ignored by staff.

Another of “the chains” regularly sends out a glossy brochure listing “specials” and it usually includes a list of wines “on tasting”. Well I have frequently been in there and have never ever seen any tasting going on at all.

This, I have discovered is pretty well standard practise. At first I assumed it was just my nature that was counting against me. I am not so convinced now. At some wineshops I have been successful in my attempts to get a tasting. One in particular seems to insist on serving its samples in miniscule little plastic glasses. (I hesitate to criticise, but eggcup sized plastic cups do not do the subject justice.)

It has all become a bit of a game for me now, and on Friday afternoons if I have a spare hour, I do a tour of the wineshops in downtown Brisbane to see which is doing what. And I have noticed a clear distinction between the service levels and approach amongst all of them.

Now, I can understand retailers being a rather wary about dishing out free wine to all-comers. But if that’s the case then, why advertise something if it’s not what you intend to do?

Now, I admit that I don’t spend massive amounts of money on wine (well my wife may read this so I have to be careful) but I do buy it by the case on a regular basis, and it is usually from the more expensive end of the shelves. But it seems that this is too small to be of interest.

So its time for a retailers’ wake up call. If you want me to spend my money on the products in your shop, then you need to actually do what you say you are going to do, and you need to make your customers welcome when they come in to have a look and a try.