Beyond Cardboard
By Veronica Barclay
From Wine Business Monthly, 08/15/2003

“New trends in wooden box packaging have emerged over the last few years that have allowed wineries to focus on quality presentation as well as on providing exceptional wine. With the recent emphasis on the power of package design and consumer direct sales, vintners are now looking beyond cardboard to impress their customers with the perceived value of their products.

Marketing experts agree that packaging plays a major role in how customers perceive the value of their wine selection. When consumers choose an attractively displayed bottle packaged in wood over the competition, it usually means that the packaging has helped the wine get noticed.

Even though it may cost more, the customer equates the special packaging with a special wine in the bottle. Emotional transference occurs as well when the consumer relates to the upscale box and how it fits into their home or lifestyle. Even long after the wine is consumed, wooden wine boxes continue to advertise the winery when they are given as gifts or recycled throughout the home as shelving, CD holders, planters and desk accessories.

The traditional single and double bottle pine boxes with sliding lids have been widely used throughout the wine industry for many years, but several new companies have jumped into the arena in hopes of offering suppliers attractive alternatives. Innovative designs, alternative woods and branding options have suppliers creating unique wood boxes targeted to hit the emotional benefit buttons of the end users. No longer limited to just consumers and an occasional auction item, wineries are now investing time and dollars as they create specialty wood boxes for restaurateurs, retailers, wine club offerings, corporate clients and vertical collections.

Unique wooden boxes can also generate repeat sales. Tasting rooms and wine retailers often sell empty boxes at a significant profit level as a stand alone gift item for consumers. Out-of-the ordinary boxes can sometimes command retail price points as high as 300 percent of their actual cost.”