The same facts, typed six times
A new release is approved. The marketing person writes the webshop page: strength, age, cask types, number of bottles, tasting notes, story. Then a product sheet for retailers in their template. Then a sheet for each distributor with their fields. Then the trade price list, a press note and social posts. Each is typed from notes, and by the end the strength is different on one sheet and the bottle count on another.
Why product details drift
Each channel wants the information in its own format, so it gets rewritten for each. The facts come from production, cask and bottling records, but the people writing do not have direct access to them. Approved tasting notes are in a document somewhere. And when something changes, a strength correction or a new image, only some copies are updated.
- Facts are retyped from notes for each channel.
- Retailers and distributors each have their own templates.
- Tasting notes exist in several slightly different versions.
- Corrections reach some copies and not others.
- Images are sent as email attachments in varying sizes.
What drifting details cost
Inconsistent facts that confuse customers and annoy retailers. Corrections chased across channels. Marketing time spent on formatting rather than writing. And the risk of a product page with details that do not match the bottle.
Retailers notice. A specialist shop building its own product page copies your sheet, and if the strength on the sheet disagrees with the strength on the label, the shop's customers ask the shop, and the shop asks you. Multiply that by every retailer carrying a release and the week after launch is spent answering the same question.
Slow sheets also cost sales. A distributor who needs your product data in their format before they can list a release will list it later if the sheet arrives late, and the launch momentum in that market is lost.
One product record feeding every channel
- Each release has one product record: name, strength, age or vintage, cask types, bottle count, bottle size, barcode, images, tasting notes and story.
- Factual fields are filled from your bottling and cask records where they exist, so they match what was bottled.
- Tasting notes and story go through approval once and are stored as the approved version.
- The webshop product is created or updated from the record through Shopify or WooCommerce.
- Product sheets for each retailer and distributor are generated in their templates, as PDF or spreadsheet.
- Trade price lists and press notes pull from the same record.
- When a field changes, every channel output is regenerated and the change is logged.
| Output | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Webshop page | Written by hand | Created from the record |
| Retailer product sheet | Retyped into template | Generated |
| Distributor sheet | Retyped per distributor | Generated per template |
| Trade price list | Separate spreadsheet | Pulled from the record |
| Corrections | Chased across channels | Regenerated everywhere |
Writing once, publishing everywhere
Marketing writes the story and tasting notes once and spends time on them rather than on formatting. Every channel shows the same facts, which match the bottle. Retailers get product sheets in their format on day one. Corrections are made once. And the product records build into a history of every release you have made, which is useful for future releases and for collectors.
Does this sound like your release week?
- Product details are retyped for each channel.
- Facts differ slightly between the website and retailer sheets.
- Tasting notes exist in several versions.
- Corrections are chased channel by channel.
- Product sheets for distributors take days.