Editor’s note: We received plenty of feedback about our new department, The Flash Report, and about Paul Franson’s related article in the February issue, “Leading Flash Sales Sites Identified.” Here is a sampling of reader comments.

Reactions to flash sales coverage
We have a client that utilized the digital sales channels eight times during the past 12 months. What we found interesting was they had a revenue increase of more than 60%. However, only half of that came through these digital channels (we never got consumer info. from the channels); the remainder came in the three-tier and direct sales. It is Marketing 101: Get the wine in people’s mouths, and they will find a way to buy it. These digital channels are the future of how people buy wine and, if done correctly, the future of branding. No winery or brick-and-mortar business can have the reach that these channels do. In the interest of full disclosure, my firm, Preston-Layne, handles digital sales and marketing for wineries as well as three-tier representation.
Eric Bolen
Director of digital marketing & sales,
Preston-Layne & Partners Inc.
Napa, Calif.

Thanks for the fascinating articles about flash sites. I wonder how much the predominance of domestic wines in general—and Napa/Sonoma in particular—tells us about inventory/supply issues versus distribution structure. My guess is that supply for this channel generally comes direct from the producer; geography (physical and legal) makes it more complicated for foreign producers or their importers to use the channel.

The article says, “The primary appeal is to unload unsold wine quickly without seeming to compromise the usual pricing among regular customers. Some wineries also believe that flash sites allow them to reach new wine drinkers whom, they hope, will return for more, preferably at the regular prices.” This seems counter-intuitive. Will new wine drinkers pursue wines they generally don’t know, at prices they rarely consider because they are discounted? How many new consumers are aware of flash sites? It seems that defining the “flash customer” would be a critical piece of research for wineries using these channels.
Christian Miller
Proprietor, Full Glass Research
Berkeley, Calif.

The biggest problem we see with some of these flash sites is that they don’t give you, the buyer, information. What’s the point of doing a promotion at a discounted price if you’re not getting the benefit of new customers added to your mailing list? Moreover, some of the flash sites even ask you to send their offer out to your proprietary list, from which they then “harvest” your own buyers for their list without sharing the buyer information coming from their existing list. So they build their list by poaching yours. Solution: Demand the buyer list when you do a promotion of this type, or it’s much too one-sided to make good business sense.
Dan Tudor
Winemaker, Tudor Wines
Paso Robles, Calif.

I’m so glad you are covering this topic. What’s so disturbing about the recent prevalence of flash sites can be summarized by the statements “Low prices hurt wineries,” and, “The practice isn’t sustainable for a winery.” The bottom line is that small and medium size wineries will continue to suffer under current distribution paradigms, whether that is distributor neglect and indifference or price gouging by flash sites. I believe consumers want good value and honest brokers, not unsustainable deals in which wineries get hurt. Really, these flash sites are no better than Wal-Mart in how they treat wineries. For the sake of all those incredible producers who can’t continue to be squeezed, let’s hope it doesn’t last. Nor should it. New consumer models that value the triple bottom line are coming, and I, for one, am proud to be a part of that trend.
Jennifer Kaplan
Founder, VineCrowd
Oakland, Calif.