Many brands and merchants are formulating exclusive partnerships to increase brand awareness and drive purchases to each other’s audiences. By offering relevant and complementary products, retailers can create a one-stop-shop for consumers, leading to an increase in overall sales.
Omaha Steaks, a gourmet food delivery merchant, is increasing sales through a growing relationship with Wine.com. Through the collaboration, Omaha Steaks has paired its entire product line with selected wines provided by Wine.com. Now consumers can purchase bottles of wine directly through the Omaha Steaks e-Commerce site, creating a seamless and convenient browsing and buying journey, according to Todd Simon, SVP of Omaha Steaks.
“We know that our customers continually are searching for ways to simplify their lives in terms of time savings and shopping convenience,” Simon said in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “Since we have long known that our Omaha Steaks gourmet food buyers have a high affinity to wine, we wanted to provide them with the opportunity to purchase gourmet foods and wine simultaneously.”
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Because regulatory issues and marketing requirements related to the sale of wine was not within the company’s core competencies, Simon explained that Omaha Steaks required a partner that had the expertise to bring wine into the company product line.
“Wine.com has a proven track record in online wine sales and an expertise in sourcing and merchandising,” Simon stated. “Moreover, both food and wine naturally lend themselves to connoisseurship, so our product lines appeal to the same customer demographic. The partnership has been successful in reaching our goal of offering wine for sale to our customers and providing extra value and convenience to the shopping experience.”
Wine.com is responsible for developing optimal product recommendations, as well as spearheading fulfillment processes, added Rich Bergsund, CEO at Wine.com.
“Our job is to use our merchandising and buying prowess to suggest the best wine pairings to offer on the Omaha Steaks web site,” Bergsund explained. “Then, it’s up to us to provide flawless back-end fulfillment by leveraging our network of wine-licensed fulfillment centers.”
To promote this ongoing partnership, Omaha Steaks is educating consumers via the e-Commerce site, social media and the “SteakBytes” blog, which provides editorial content on cuisine, health and nutrition, as well as contests and detailed information on new Omaha Steaks products.
