nick gambardella & brittany grant “no jargon. no bs. just great wine.”
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Nick Gambardella & Brittany Grant
“No Jargon. No BS. Just great wine.”
“Leave over-priced bottles, elusive jargon, and pretension at the door! Club W is making the world of high quality, affordable boutique wines accessible to all. The Club W site provides a friendly, supportive, and educational environment to create the perfect pairing of amateur wine lovers with lesser-known wineries.”
http://www.clubw.com/hello/?page=sc&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=FangDigital&utm_term=CorporateLogo&utm_campaign=061ga-m
What is Club W?Club W is an online only retail store & specialty wine clubSimilar to “Birchbox”, Club W will ship an assortment of suggested wines based on individual preference to your home every monthWine selections offered are featured from California, but many are from nationwide and worldwide wine producers/clubsEvery month 3 bottles of wine are delivered for $39 + $6 flat ship rate
It has been around since 2012Club W is started in Denver, Colorado, and is now based in San Francisco, CA. The domestic wine market is annually worth $34 billion-within 12 weeks of launch Club W made $1 million in annualized revenueIn 12 weeks the Facebook site for Club W had 23,000 likes and 73,000 page viewsThey have been featured in the NYT, Fox, USA Today, Forbes, Mashable, and numerous winery magazines, articles, and clubs.
Club W Mission Statement
About Club W“We are an online community of wine enthusiasts committed to taking the hassle, guesswork and pretentiousness out of enjoying a great bottle of wine at a reasonable price. For far too long buying wine has been a one-way street with experts using overblown wine jargon to tell people what to drink. Our mission is to transform choosing wine into an ongoing conversation between our curators and your personal tastes. Wine is not about being told what to drink, it’s about the experience of discovering what you like. It’s time for choosing and buying wine to catch up with the simple, personal pleasure of drinking it.”
Pros of the Club W websiteVisually appealing
Simplistic and straightforwardSteps outlining wine selection
Easy ordering and package trackingEducational
How does it work?
• Visit the Club W website • Take the palate preference test• Fill out your contact and payment info• Receive your order of 3 wine bottles within 24 hours at your door• Rate your wines. You'll receive new suggestions on wine tastes based
on an algorithm similar to that of Netflix and Pandora
Receiving your package Pros Simple flat fee with automatic trackingExciting to get boxAesthetically pleasing-selling point Excellent/quality packaging-willing to pay more if prettyCan cancel or return a shipment at any time and skip any month you don’t want your package shippedCons Must be home to receive (have to sign for package and be 21 or older)Doesn’t come with cork screw (if first time wine drinker)
Club W web site continuedSpecialty wines individually featured/presented including wine summary, suggested recipes to go with wine, complimentary foods, wine scent, taste, appearance and curator descriptions/suggestions. https://www.clubw.com/wines/featured/The site aims to educate less wine savvy with a wine term glossary titled ‘jargon’ and descriptive tutorials about preparing wine & meals. http://juice.clubw.com/jargonThe site features “curator profiles” of each of the wine selectors, customer service representatives, and most importantly, wine curators or ‘tastemakers’: http://juice.clubw.com/tastemakers
The curators come from around the world and a variety of prestiges wine producers/wineries. You can read about the individual curators, and follow their wine experiences and blogs.
Cons of the Club W website/businessMaybe a physical retail store would improve or will improve sales
(started as an e-tailer only)You cant order wines they do not stock (say a favorite specialty brand
they don’t offer)Customer service is only M-F 9:00-5:00 (rather than later or
accommodating different time zones)Don’t get to taste wine at a physical location
Box was kind of banged up from postal service
SWOT Analysis of Club WStrengths: Great easy to use website, fair price, good customization for preferences, affordable specialty wine, ships to your home, excellent product/packaging.Weaknesses: No physical retail store, only specialty wines offered, poor customer service hours, have to be at location for receiving packageOpportunities: No one else is doing this-first mover advantages and opportunities for rapid growth nation/worldwide, new wine brands and variety of lessor known brands (higher profit margins)Threats: Others coping this mode of wine retailing, big companies doing this with their wine, potential difficulties in shipping wine and licensing in various states/countries.
Club W Summary
Offers a market niche in wine retail and an overall unique idea for a common productThe idea and experience of tasting new wines, learning about wine, and receiving
customized orders to your door on a monthly basis is very nice.The ease of the website and ordering process is a huge plus
With sales skyrocketing in such a short time/continued growth, it will be interesting to see their growth in the next few years as they become even more well known
Give wine as a gifthttps://www.clubw.com/gifts/corporate/
You will receive 13 credits upon signing up (EQUAL TO A FREE BOTTLE OF WINE)
6497580
Referenceshttp://www.clubw.com/about/press/release.aspx?id=2http://blogs.denverpost.com/food/2012/07/11/club-wine-club-started-denver-growing-affordable-monthly-wine-shipments/12286/
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/06/06/different-kind-wine-club/
http://rightstartups.com/club-w-startup-an-online-wine-club-for-regular-people-581/
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/24/what-were-reading-594/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/katiebell/2013/04/04/a-guide-to-joining-the-best-wine-clubs/
http://mashable.com/2013/04/03/club-w/