In addition to being great pets and amazing companions, Portuguese Water Dogs have been categorized for centuries as a working dog. Referred to as the Cao de Agua ("dog of water") along Portugal's coast, Porties were bred to accompany fisherman on their boats - to retrieve broken nets, dive for fish, carry messages between boats and to shore, as well as guard the boat in foreign ports.

 

Here in America, Porties have evolved way beyond their status as mere 'working dogs.' 

 

Ripley and Romeo are unabashedly content with their lives as suburbanites, each with his own comfortable chair, reserved space in a king-sized bed at night and tennis balls lying in wait throughout the house. Moreover, their work as wine industry bloggers is extremely rewarding - and well received.

 

"We're lucky dogs. And we know it," offered Romie before leaving the house to meet a friend at the park.

 

Sadly, most dogs are not so lucky. It's important we do what we can to better the lot of the less-fortunate canines among us - those without homes or even those who are sick and without adequate medical care.

 

We are big fans of all 'no kill' shelters, including the Morris Animal Refuge in Philadelphia. It offers innovative and high quality care for cats, dogs and other small animals. It provides a full range of preventive, protective and adoption services for abused, neglected and abandoned animals. No animal has ever been turned away from its door. Founded in 1874 by Elizabeth Morris, an early US pioneer in animal welfare, the Refuge continues to operate today in Center City Philadelphia.  Morris Animal Refuge.

 

During the holidays, please consider making an online donation to the Morris Animal Refuge and, in doing so, have a direct and immediate impact on the lives of even one animal! 

 

Here is the link:  Morris Animal Refuge Donation Form.

 

Happy Holidays!!

R & R

 

 

 

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Data presented to industry members this past summer illustrate the strength of the alternative Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) distribution sector in the wine business. These sales are now a robust and growing trade - no longer a 'niche' alternative for some wineries to traditional three-tier distribution.

 

 

DTC refers to the sale, directly from a producing winery to a consumer - without the product first passing through the hands of a wholesaler/distributor and then a retailer/restaurant.

 

Direct shipments were up 8.2% in volume and 11.5% in value for the year ending in April, 2012.

 

Total wine produced in the United States for domestic consumption was 262 million cases, according to the Nielsen Company. Of that total, 80% was sold through retailers and 20% through on-premise (restaurant and bars).

Total DTC sales volume last year was 3 million cases, a 225,000 case increase from the prior year. Baby boomers (ages 49-65) currently comprise 56% of DTC sales, followed by 41% for Generation X (30-48). The much sought-after Millennial generation represents 3% now though that is expected to grow significantly over time.

 

Beyond these growth statistics, what do these trends also tell us?

 

1. Market Access for New Wine Brands

 

Before the onset of DTC, unless wine brands could convince a licensed state wholesaler to "carry" its product, the wine could not achieve a place on a retailer's shelf. And, as large wholesalers consolidated their businesses nationwide, their power over market access has grown to the point where the wholesalers (and the heavily-promoted "national" brands) act as gatekeepers and "shelf sheriffs" at most large retail chains.

 

 

Thus, small brands, without the same distribution clout as the heavily-funded large brands, are often unable to present their wares to consumers.

 

DTC offers a more democratic (and efficient) market solution for these brands...enabling a more diverse and properly-priced array of wine products to reach the market. Consumers also recognize this and vote with their dollars by showing up regularly online with their mouses and credit cards.

 

2. A New Use of Wine:  As an Effective Marketing/Branding/Promotion Tool

 

Wine is a phenomenal branding tool....everyone loves it (more than any other adult beverage) and enjoy sharing their experiences with it - how they paired it with food, what the taste characteristics were, how much the bottle cost, where they found it....and so on. Wine is a consultative sale....a perfect fit as a merchandising tool, for publicity, for brand growth and story-telling. It also has significantly better shelf-life than other products used for the same purpose.

 

 

Marketers, publicists and others associated with Social Media are recognizing that wine might well be the most compelling branding tool out there. So, in combination with the onset of a robust ecommerce environment (and DTC sales/fulfillment availability) new wine brands are arising for new purposes: (i) charitable/fund raising; (ii) celebrity branding - rock bands, chefs, politicians, movies and TV shows, athletes, sports teams, etc.; (iii) tourism, resorts and travel;  and (iv) corporate meetings/events/publicity efforts.

 

Not only are these DTC wine sales steady - but, because they are sold directly by the winery to the consumer, there is no "middleman" margin (typically taken by the wholesaler). The brand owner makes a stronger profit online through DTC that it otherwise would under traditional three-tier distribution.

 

3. Viable Distribution Alternative for all Brands

 

The rapid rise of DTC does not, however, signal the beginning of the end for three-tier (bricks-and-mortar) distribution. To the contrary, store sales and on-premise sales remain strong and will not go away. The retail tier still offers value to the industry and to consumers.

 

What DTC offers is an alternative distribution avenue that, overall, works to the benefit of the brand - and even helps to buttress store sales. Customers will continue to use the Web, even while they are using bricks-and-mortar stores for their purchases. When a brand has an additional presence on the Web, the branding opportunity - even for the stores - is significant.

 

 

KDM Global Partners can now provide a Direct-to-Consumer Sales/Fulfillment capability to its private label brand clients.

 

This Web-based e-commerce platform facilitates direct shipment of the client's wines to customers in approximately 32 states, where permitted by law. A KDM's client/brand owner can now sell its wine on the Internet - and within its own existing Web site environment - linking the customer's shopping cart to KDM's fulfillment warehouse for timely picking, boxing and shipping nationwide.

 

 

As wine sales take place on the Web, each transaction is seamlessly directed to the warehouse, which then drop ships the wines to the purchaser. This e-commerce software platform also maintains a 24/7 accounting of sales, shipments and ongoing depletions - as well as an ongoing regulatory accounting of all transactions, including state taxes and collection of email addresses.

 

According to a recent Wine Intelligence study, approximately 30 million American wine drinkers have purchased wine directly - from winery tasting rooms, from online wine retailers or through a mail order wine club - since the fall of 2011.The main growth in this segment is expected to come from a growing habit of purchasing wine online and from younger, more engaged (and Web-savvy) wine drinkers - Millennials - for whom ecommerce is already second nature.

 

Whether the KDM client wine brand is for a large, national retail chain, just wishing to add a lucrative Direct Shipment capability to its existing bricks-and-mortar sales program - or if the wine brand is new and wants perhaps only to sell online, KDM can deliver it: www.kdmglobalpartners.com/direct-to-consumer.

 

 

For information about how to build a new wine brand and sell it online, send a note to [email protected]DMGlobalPartners.com.