| Specialist wine-shop retail
A friendly atmosphere like at a winery, wine tasting and individual sales advice: these are the elements that make up the unique marketing concept and have created success for Jacques' Wine-Depot. Founded in 1974, this company has grown in the meantime to become the largest network of wine shops in Germany and has achieved a large market share. More than 270 shops in Germany and four in Austria offer the choosy customer a product assortment of 200 wines in each shop. Here the customer can taste the wines just like at a winery. The unique atmosphere in which the customer can choose his favourite wines out of the product assortment is a great advantage. With its format, Jacques' Wein-Depot is able to offer premium-quality, yet relatively unknown, wines at attractive prices. Special fine-food products and hors d'oeuvres which complement wine round out the product offer. The responsibility for each individual depot is in the hands of a local partner, over 215 in all. Each knows his customers and can react quickly and flexibly to their desires. Every month new interesting wines are introduced. With special events and wine-tastings the partner maintains the loyalty of his customers. The partner system is a guarantee for a lean organisation, low personnel costs and great expansion potential. This secures the cost-leadership of the company and allows it to concentrate fully on direct marketing and sales promotion. In 1999 a customer-loyalty program was introduced and has proven to be a big success: more than half of all Jacques' customers are members and over 80 % of sales are registered through it. Jacques' is now developing into a multi-channel retailer. In 2009 the online shop at www.jacques.de was activated nationwide. In doing so, Jacques' is aligning itself to the changing habits of the consumer, who increasingly uses more than one channel for his purchases. Jacques' Wein-Depot continues to grow; a saturation of the market is not yet in sight. The relatively small catchment area of each individual shop as well as the low level of market penetration in Germany's wine market are two reasons why Jacques' is set to expand further. The focus remains on expansion in Germany. |