We summarized the entire workflow in a webinar on 9/20/24 which can be viewed here!
What is a Custom Club?
A Custom Wine Club is a subscription-based service where members sign up to receive scheduled access to wine offers allowing them to choose the wines from a limited selection or increase the amount of each wine included in their shipment.
It is no secret that a certain percentage of members want to switch up their shipments from time to time. Maybe they want to swap out a Syrah for a Cabernet. Or perhaps they don’t like white wines and want an all-red option that you don’t typically offer. Some customers may have a favorite wine coming up in the next shipment and they want to increase their quantities so they can share that wine with friends. While you can invite calls, and emails to take these special requests and update the orders manually, this can be a lot of work to manage over time. A proven way to add flexibility for your customers and administrative time for staff is to create a Custom Wine Club.
Whether you want to have a fully customizable club option or minimums with add-ons, Offset has you covered. Our solution is a hybrid approach where you can use the Allocation Offer experience for Club Customizations and use the Club Batch Process for anyone who wants to receive your curated shipment as is. We have set up some key features to make the process easy to use the Allocation and Club tools together to create an engaging Custom Club experience.
Pros and Cons of a Custom Club
Is this sales model right for your brand? Here are some of the Pros and Cons to consider:
Pros
You will reduce purchase friction for the customer because they can log in to a web page and purchase the specific shipment they want without having to interact directly with staff
This approach can reduce customer churn by giving customers the satisfaction of having control over what they receive in their shipment
It will reduce the amount of Club options you need because people can pick what they want instead of you having to curate selections for multiple clubs with similar wines.
They keep customers engaged with the brand since they are part of the selection process
Your staff can spend less time pressing customers to place subsequent orders and sell more wine upfront
You will spend less administrative time manually customizing and placing orders
You can include special SKUs or Library wines to add surprise and delight
If you are not sure if you can cover all customer requests, you can offer a wish option and grant what you have available
Cons
Custom Clubs require a different approach to inventory as you will need to have a healthy amount of inventory to fulfill shipments where customers add additional quantities
Be prepared for customers favoring certain wines and avoiding others depending on how you set your purchase minimums
You still may have to manually customize orders if customers struggle with online purchases or want wines that are “off the menu”
If you are switching from curated to custom, customer education may be required to familiarize them with the new purchase process
You will need to send more marketing emails to inform members about the customization process and when it is active
You will need to adjust your approach to reporting or update Order Types to account for sales coming from two different channels
If you are still not sure if this model is right for you, please reach out to us via chat or email us at [email protected] and we can set up a call to discuss how this club model could fit in with your business goals. If you are new to this process, we also recommend starting with a single club or a small group of people who call you every cycle to make changes to see how they respond to the added convenience and choice.
NOTE: Not all accounts are set up to run Allocations and Clubs. You may require some settings to be engaged by the Offset team or even some website development work to get up and running. Please reach out to our team with any questions about your initial setup and we let you know any steps that need to be completed before you get started.
Outline of Setup and Processing Steps for a Custom Club
Since Custom Clubs are a Mix of Allocations and Clubs, we recommend that you review the following articles for a comprehensive setup guide. By following the suggested steps, you will see how to create an Allocation for use in a Custom Club as well as Run The Club Batch for the members who did not customize and chose to take the curated selection.
Offset Commerce: Custom Clubs (Current Article)
Offset Commerce: Creating an Allocation Offer
Processing Your Club Batch Orders in Offset Commerce