At last, vintners have a guaranteed method of getting information about their wines to consumers at the time the consumer is actually making a buying decision!   For more years than most of us care to recall, this has been a major obstacle for vintners who depend upon the three-tier distribution system for this purpose.  Up until now, information about a particular vintner’s wine had to begin its tortuous trip to the consumer at a national or regional sales convention held once or twice a year by the distributor handling that wine.   From there, if it was lucky, the information made it to local sales offices where, hopefully, it was parceled out to individual salespeople who put it into the trunks of their cars.   Then, if it didn’t get mixed in with all the other undistributed sales literature residing there from prior months or even years, it was retrieved by the sales person and delivered in some manner to the retailer.

     Of course the actual distribution of the information to retailers all depended on how many accounts that particular salesperson visited and whether or not the material even made it out of the trunk.   But even if it did get into the hands of some retailers, it was always a question as to how effective that retailer was going to be in getting the message to the consumer.  The same held true for beer and liquor products.

Vintner Benefits
     Now vintners have a way of easily reaching consumers at point of sale, not only in wine and spirits shops, but also in chains and grocery stores that sell wine.  Imagine a consumer in a large grocery store being able to find out what foods go best with your wine.  Or, better yet, imagine that same consumer looking up a particular meal that they like to serve at home and finding out that your wine goes well it!    About the only time that happens is in a well-staffed wine merchant’s establishment where the clerks on the floor really know their wines (and, even then, what are the odds that your wine will be recommended?).

     The unique media application that is achieving this point-of-sale goal today in grocery chains like A&P, wine and spirits chains like ABC Fine Wines & Spirits and control state stores in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, is ChoiceMaster®.   Whether it is wine, beer or liquor, ChoiceMaster is the only in-store medium that reaches customers interested in learning about alcohol beverages.  The system provides the consumer with product information that you, the brand owner, wish him to know.  Information about alcohol beverages is delivered through a consumer interactive kiosk, which allows the consumer to learn about products, categories, food matches, recipes, etc. through touch screen menus.

The consumer can get detailed wine, spirits, and beer brand   information at a touch of the kiosk's screen. A complete description of the product, notes from the winemaker, distiller, or brew-master, history of the product, latest awards and ratings, and serving suggestions are typically provided by the brand owner.  The ChoiceMaster kiosk also provides hundreds of drink and food recipes, and prepares shopping lists for parties.

A consumer using ChoiceMaster can learn about wine varietals, winemaking regions, their favorite beer style, or how sparkling wines or single malt scotches are made. The system will offer suggestions for wine and food pairings, just by touching the screen. The ChoiceMaster kiosk is equipped with a high-speed printer so all information can be printed instantly.       Continue Article