The wine industry is facing tough times, but not all wineries are struggling. Many are defying the downward trend by leveraging modern, deeply integrated technology to create a better customer experience—and seeing real growth as a result.
Jennie Gilbert, co-founder of RedChirp, a leading text messaging platform, explains: “Calling and emailing used to be enough, but now 89% of customers prefer to text with businesses.” Not only do customers appreciate text updates about shipments and wine club communications, but they also buy a lot of wine from text promotions. A recent analysis of 11,045 text promotions sent by 474 wineries found they generated more than $138 million in non-club wine sales.
Wine lovers aren’t just one-time buyers; they maintain long-term relationships with wineries, interacting across multiple channels—through in-person events, eCommerce, time-sensitive shipments, and club memberships. Wineries that embrace integrated technology ecosystems to manage these relationships seamlessly see the greatest success. The deep integrations between RedChirp, Commerce7, and Wineshipping exemplify this approach.
Commerce7, a DTC platform, powers winery point-of-sale, e-commerce, reservations, CRM, and wine club management. Wineshipping specializes in warehousing, logistics, and fulfillment across North America. RedChirp helps more than 700 wineries cut through the noise and reach customers via text messaging. These companies have worked together to power seamless, end-to-end customer experiences—from purchase to delivery and beyond.
Data proves the impact of this strategy: Wineshipping found wineries using all three integrated platforms grew sales by 3%, while those not fully utilizing these integrations saw an 11% decline.
“We work exceptionally well together because we share a commitment to eliminating friction and exceeding customer expectations,” says Gilbert. “The best wineries extend their in-person hospitality across every touchpoint—from initial research to final delivery and beyond.”
Commerce7’s Founder and President, Andrew Kamphuis, reinforces the importance of a relationship-driven approach: “The latest ShipCompliant report showed industry-wide dollar value down 5%, with shipments and volume declining 15%. Yet, Commerce7 wineries saw an average increase of 2.6%. And this wasn’t just a few outliers—the median was up, too, meaning broad success across our user base.”
This integrated approach also extends to club memberships and logistics. Gilbert highlights how they have all been working together: “We’ve worked with Commerce7 to make it easier for club members to customize shipments, leading to larger club orders and longer retention. Then Wineshipping ensures a smooth delivery experience and has partnered with us on automating two-way text notifications about shipments. Wineries using these automated shipment texts saw 24% fewer returns and 74% less damages.”
Pawel Smolarkiewicz, Chief Experience and Innovation Officer at Wineshipping, explains, “We focus on getting wine delivered in perfect condition and on the customer’s terms. When you make things easier for consumers, they buy more.”
Wineries leveraging integrated technology aren’t just surviving—they’re thriving. Smolarkiewicz sums it up: “A combination of our three technologies provides a clear, proven path to success.”
To learn more, visit RedChirp, Commerce7, and Wineshipping at the Wine Sales Symposium on May 14 at the Hyatt in Santa Rosa.
