We may negotiate a price with a customer who is in the store and wants the wine but would like a little deal on it. If you are a customer and support us we support you in these tough economic times. The internet shopper is a secondary customer to us. We sell to them but they want Sine Qua Non, or Peter Michael at a discount. We want those wines to be sold to our customers who come back day in and day out and enjoy our love, knowledge and interest in wines that they are buying.

That is how we look at it.
Paul Baryames
Owner PJ’s Wine & Spirits

I’ve been told on a number of occasions that the price must be the price, regardless of whether someone walks in, calls, faxes, uses the web, or drops off an order via carrier pigeon.

A store is clearly allowed to offer quantity discounts, but again, those must be consistent across channels.

Does anyone with a bit better access to the law confirm whether this is true?

Regardless of whether my comments above are correct, this is how we operate at Crush: the price is the price is the price no matter how you place your order. Note: We *do* time-restrict our promotional offers for obvious reasons — the price in March may not be the price in June.

-Tom

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Tom Stephenson
General Manager
Crush Wine & Spirits

Not long ago, I helped create a website for online sales for one of the largest wine retailers in the county, and even though the web is less than 5 percent of all wine sales, I still believe it is the wave of the future. Wine purchasers love finding deals on the internet and appreciate the convenience it offers, especially if they have children or are busy two income families. That’s a big reason why many bricks-and-mortar retailers are building websites. They want to give flexibility to their consumers, and websites with great specials and great content will be an increasingly formidable force in overall national retail wine sales.

But there’s definitely an argument to be made for the value of in-store wine sales. Consumers purchase wine for three reasons: great prices, great product selection and superior customer service. Most consumers don’t purchase wine on the internet because they like the experience of visiting stores to interact with their retailer and participate in a treasure hunt experience, browsing and finding hidden gems. It’s also important to get to know the owner or wine salesman of your local store — they can give great recommendations and let you know when they have specials or access to limited distribution wines.

Jonathan Newman
CEO, Newman Wine & Spirits

On the other hand, you can inspect the bottle right then and there for signs of damage. Don’t assume distributor’s warehouses are climate-controlled; often they are pallets and pallets of wine stacked on top of each other, and the bottles on top can be significantly warmer than those on bottom.

I encourage EVERYONE to try and actually buy some of those “deals”. When you try and click thru and put 90% of those deal wines in your shopping cart, you’re told “Sorry, that wine is out of stock. However, the following 5 wines are in stock”. Classic bait and switch.

Internet retailers have no idea what you like, even if you fill out their ‘profile’ questions. We talk to people about what they like and how they want to get it. That’s why our business has absolutely exploded, even in the face of the worst economy in recent history. It’s also helped us become the fastest growing company in Sonoma County. Selling and enjoying wine is a viceral experience, not electronic…

Jeff Stevenson
CEO, Provino Premium Wines – Santa Rosa, CA

Daniel
http://www.grapesthewineco.com

The problem lies in refusing to honor the lower price, not in having two prices in the first place.