Fifteen Bottle Packs

In wine marketing and sales we’re always looking for a new wrinkle. Sometimes the new wrinkle is an old wrinkle that used to work, and may work again, and now seems sort of fresh.

Yesterday I got a request to price the creation of fifteen bottle packs. Certainly a deja vu experience.

A standard nine liter wine case holds twelve 750ml bottles, aligned with four rows of three bottles. A fifteen bottle pack adds a fifth row of three bottles, resulting in a longer case.

Sidenote: I’ve tried talking wineries into sixteen bottle cubes, four rows of four bottles, for years, to no avail. I just like the symmetry of the cube, and the nice even twelve liter content for the box.

Fifteen bottle packs are really only of interest to large and growing “commercial” wines (retail price points below $20 a bottle). Because the promotion usually goes like this: For a limited time only you get 15 bottles for the price of 12. Or “three free on twelve.” The winery keeps the case price the same, but adds three bottles.

This is better than a discount for two reasons:
1. Free goods cost the winery less than a cash discount (because we have some profit margin built into our prices);
2. Fifteen bottle packs usually put more of our branded wine into circulation (rather than just the same amount of wine but at a lower price).

Fifteen bottle packs aren’t something you offer on every item every day. Usually they are used for price-point-sensitive wines that are going into broad and growing distribution. And they’re offered at specific times in order to generate seasonal excitement for a brand and product.

Back in the day (with other wineries) I used to do fifteen bottle packs for White Zinfandel, or a ten dollar Chardonnay, or maybe a value-priced Merlot. Wines that produce volume sales at retail and by-the-glass in restaurants.

And here they come again!

DAH is David Anthony Hance