In an era when personalized, curated services are in high demand, wine clubs have become extremely popular. 

If your mission is to provide a diverse, high-quality selection of wines to your patrons, embracing the club-based model can be a game-changer that may elevate brand recognition while also furnishing buyers with the customized experience they are demanding.

How do wine clubs work?

The concept is simple but effective. You or a professional sommelier whom you hire chooses a selection of wines that are sent out on a regular basis, usually once a month, to your club members. 

Based on the customers you want to attract, you can send out various focused packages such as connoisseur’s offerings for experts, exclusively white or red wine selections, monthly packages based on geographic region and even unlabeled bottles ideal for wine-tasting events.

Your wine club represents one of the best uses for the recurring billing or subscription model. Instead of shelling out the entire price at the time of initial purchase, this way of doing business charges members each month. 

Before the first shipment goes out, buyer and seller come to an agreement about the account from which withdrawals will be made, the amount of money that will be taken out, the date each month when the funds will be transferred and the duration of the subscription. 

As long as you clearly and thoroughly describe all facets of the subscription contract agreement, including how to change or cancel the arrangement as well as the patron’s duty to make payments on time and update expiring accounts, you will soon discover the many benefits that make this type of sales model so popular and lucrative.

1. Predictability

If there is one quality of wine clubs that is pleasing to everyone involved, it is the element of predictability it provides. As a seller, you know exactly how much each subscriber will spend during any given month because the amount is pre-set in the contract you have both signed. 

If anything, the only variations you see will be in your favor in the event that a member chooses to augment their monthly box with an additional bottle or two. With tangible numbers available to you at any time, you will find budgeting and planning for future spending and marketing campaigns to be much easier.

Your customer reaps similar rewards when they can count on their fees being removed from their bank or credit card account on a consistent basis. Just as your monthly budgeting becomes more intelligent, so does theirs. 

They never need to worry about forgetting a payment. Instead, they can simply enjoy the selection of wines you send, basking in a friction-free and positive relationship with your company.

2. Easy set-up and maintenance

If you want to get into the wine club sector, the first step you will need to take is to select a high risk merchant account provider. 

The “high-risk” categorization is automatically applied to your wine sales company due to the industry you occupy, the added state and federal regulations that apply to it and the statistically higher-than-normal number of chargebacks and security breaches that happen with alcohol sales.

On the downside, the high-risk payment processing company you choose will charge you higher per-transaction fees. They will most likely also add extra monthly charges and could even require you to set up a rolling reserve account to cover their costs in the event that you default on your payments for whatever reason. 

However, partnering with a vendor who has experience in the alcohol sales sector will lead to a smoother subscription and payment experience for your members as well as transparent pricing and prompt and effective customer service for you that minimizes security breaches and business interruptions.

Perhaps most important, this company is perfectly positioned to assist you in launching your wine club’s payment infrastructure. Because they are familiar with your industry, they can walk you through its regulatory and security-related complexities, ensuring that you will be able to implement recurring billing without a hitch.

3. Expands avenues for customer engagement and brand loyalty

Once you successfully set up wine club subscription payments, you will begin to see how this model can expand your wine business’s reach with your best buyers. With the customer contact details and preferences that you have on file once they sign up for recurring billing, you will have everything you need to augment their experience with your company.

Your club members are already excited about their monthly wine packages. 

They are perfectly placed to receive additional personalized offers from you, including wine-related books and paraphernalia, supplementary bottles and even cheese and other food selections that can pair with the shipments you send. 

As you get to know individual preferences, you can further refine the curated promotions and messages that go out, providing each person with their own unique experience with your wine club.

When you carefully construct your wine club, you can furnish members of all preferences and experience levels with a highly satisfying and fun membership experience. For one thing, the close relationships that you forge with wine producers can bring products to your members before anyone else has a chance to taste them. 

Moreover, because you are purchasing in bulk, you can frequently give your members lower prices than they would be able to find elsewhere.

Wine clubs are a fun and often economical way for adults of all experience levels to gain exposure to a diverse selection of red, white and sparkling selections. This arrangement furnishes a compelling mixture of predictable payments with the element of the unexpected. 

After all, each new shipment may contain anything from a favorite old friend to a new selection from a far-flung location that is unfamiliar even to an aficionado. 

With the consistency and reliability of recurring payments as part of the club’s strong foundation, customers will quickly develop a positive feeling about your brand that may even inspire them to refer their friends, family or other social contacts.