The popularity of wine has really spiked over recent years, and a wine shipping service is a good business to start. It’s a great way to increase the reach of your products along with your profit margin. However, there can be some downfalls with wine shipping challenges that can impact how successful your wine endeavor happens to be. These wine shipping challenges and associated solutions can help you avoid pitfalls and have a smooth delivery process for all involved.
Temperature Fluctuations
Wine is a touchy alcohol that must be kept in a certain manner to keep it from spoiling. Temperatures surrounding your wines can have an impact on the wine, labels, and packaging. Even going from extreme temperatures, having humid conditions, or other fluctuations during shipping can be detrimental to your product. A solution here would be to utilize a temperature monitoring or regulating service. Refrigerated containers, coolers, and dry containers are all potential options.
Regulations
When it comes to alcoholic beverages such as wine, there are plenty of regulations to keep in mind. For instance, considering some areas are still dry counties, it can be hard to know where you’re able to ship your wine. Plus, some areas may not be considered dry counties, but may place limited amounts on how much wine you’re able to deliver to a customer living in their area. Not complying with these regulations can result in hefty fines against your company. A logistics company that is aware of the different zip codes with issues for wine deliveries can make all the difference. There are software options that can help keep you compliant with various federal, state, and local regulations regarding your wine sale deliveries.
Plus, there are the age considerations. Although each U.S. state has regulations on whether or not you’re able to ship wine to residents of the state and how much you can legally sell them, they all have age regulations. An adult of legal age must be available to sign for the package of wine. This problem can mean that your wine doesn’t get delivered on time and could result in damage, spoilage, or other loss – not to mention customer service issues. A potential solution to this issue is to encourage your customers to have their wine deliveries made to their place of employment when possible. This effort ensures an adult is ready and able to sign for the package.
These regulations are just keeping in mind shipping locally within the U.S., but limiting yourself to just shipping in this area limits your customer base. A successful logistics company will be able to help you not only navigate the potential whirlpools of shipping within the country, but also export your wines around the world.
Supply Chain Considerations
Once you send your product out to your favorite shipping service, you often don’t have much control over where it goes next or how it’s handled. You often don’t have a chance to accurately track your shipping between it leaving your hands and ending up in your customer’s hands. It can be stressful and frustrating. A solution for this is to use a service that offers consolidation of shipping details. This option gives you more control over your shipping concerns where you’re able to better track and confirm the shipping process.
Damage, Loss, and Spoilage Costs
One of the most significant issues that any service that delivers products to consumers has is getting the item to their customer in one piece without problems. Considering the tricky nature of wine and wine bottles, it’s no wonder that damage, loss, and spoilage costs could be making a massive dent in your profits. The ideal solution to protect both you and your wine customers is to get shipping insurance. Problems happen to all companies, but those that rise to the occasion and go the extra mile to make their customers happy are those that continue to do well. Offering an easy shipping insurance product that makes life easier for all parties is always a welcome benefit.
Once you get these wine shipping challenges under control, you’ll be able to keep your customers satisfied.
Satisfied customers are ones that will continue to purchase your safely-delivered wine over competitors that aren’t as considerate when it comes to their logistics. In fact, satisfied customers not only continue to order, but they tell all of their wine drinking friends about the fantastic service they’ve found that ensures their happiness with their orders. Keep the profits coming in for your wine deliveries. Don’t let your wine shipping challenges stop you from reaching a broader base of customers.
