COLOUR IN THE HOME BEVERAGE MAKING
Building your presence Whilst the Meet the Maker events have given the brand extra space and prominence within the retail store, Dunne has also focused on building the brand’s social media presence: “For 10 years, we’ve been creating our own social media banners featuring our logo and imagery, plus our retail customer’s imagery to promote on our main social media platforms. We also provide a link from our website to the retailer’s website so that if the customer doesn’t buy the product on the day, they can easily find the products they’re looking for. Speaking to the retailers that I work with they seem to both really appreciate the support but above all see an incremental up lift in sales.”
unsure about the terminology and I can sense that. 25 years ago, I was in the same position as the customer so I went out of my way to develop the products to help them. I’m not trying to force my point of view onto people or aggressively selling the product, it is a very soft and genuine approach. The educational message covers, aeration, aging, corking, wine turning, plus many tips for getting the very best from your wines, the public receives free booklets on each Meet the Maker event. For the customer, they can then speak with confidence when hosting or entertaining guests.”
Accompanying the booklet is an in-store demonstration of the complete wine story featuring products for every step of the process from opening, serving and aeration to temperature and preservation. “I believe we’re the only company to cover every key element and help the customer get maximum taste and flavour out of their wines. It also helps our retailers present a strong story off the shelf with an opportunity for range sales not just isolated purchases. The Meet the Maker events are an ideal platform to demonstrate how each product is linked together to help educate around the world of wine and increase basket spend. Plus, we have a great fun on the shop floor with staff and customers, it’s very much a soft sale not a hard nose sale effort. It’s simply not how we operate and customers seem to react really well to this approach,” Dunne adds.
Supporting the retailer Whilst the Meet the Maker events are designed to support the customers, they also support retailers. “I’ve had experience as a store director, merchandiser and junior buyer, so coming from a shop floor background, I have a good idea of how I can promote the brand. We aim to offer a real point of difference in terms of product and marketing support, the Meet the Maker events are very much about the end customer and shop floor shopping experience. It also provides a superb opportunity for me to engage with staff and customers and improve what we do, this is invaluable! With a number of our Meet the Maker events, we run specific promotions on the day. For example, if a customer spends £20 in-store, they will receive a free gift which we provide free of charge to the retailer. I also make sure I don’t get in the way. I help set up very quietly and do everything I can to ensure it is a success. That’s why I think we get asked to go back every time. The Morley Group, for example, have asked me to come back every year for the past 25 years because both the retail customer and trade customers have enjoyed it,” says Dunne.
Speaking about the success of the Meet the Maker events, The Kitchen Whisk’s Kate Marston adds “Meet the Maker with Peter Dunne is a wonderful addition to our shop floor in December. We have had Peter in our shop demonstrating his range of CellarDine wine and bar products for a few years. Having someone explain to customers how a product works is invaluable especially nowadays in a world where online shopping is bigger than ever before. Being able to ask questions and interact with the products and the maker of them gives customers a fantastic shopping experience.”
housewareslive.net
housewareslive.net October/November 2023 | 21 March/April 2023 | 21
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