A different bottle in the delivery
Your trade customer lists your Rioja Reserva, 2016, on its wine list at a good margin. Your stock of the 2016 runs out, the 2017 arrives and goes out on the next delivery. The sommelier notices when a table asks why the bottle says 2017. The list is printed, the staff have learned the 2016, and the restaurant is not pleased.
Or worse: a wine they list sells out entirely, and the first they hear of it is a missing line on the delivery note.
You do not know what they list
The core problem is simple. You know what each restaurant buys, but not what it lists. Those are different: an account may buy a wine once for an event, or list a wine and buy it only every few weeks. Without knowing which wines appear on which lists, you cannot tell who needs warning when stock changes.
- Wine lists are PDFs on the restaurant's website, not data in your system.
- Vintage changes happen when a delivery is booked in, with no trigger to tell anyone.
- Reps know some lists by heart, but not all, and not after staff changes.
- Low stock of a listed wine is not flagged against the accounts that list it.
- Replacement suggestions are made in a rush when the problem is already visible.
What surprise changes cost
A restaurant that reprints its list at short notice, or has staff explaining vintage differences to guests, feels let down. Trade accounts are long relationships, and a few surprises are often why an account is quietly moved to another supplier. Reps spend time apologising instead of selling. And a sold-out listed wine with no planned replacement is an easy opening for a competitor.
Listing alerts we build
- For each trade account, we record which of your wines they list, and at which vintage. This can be entered by the rep, confirmed by the account on the trade portal, or suggested from their buying pattern for someone to check.
- Stock of every listed wine is watched against a threshold you set, based on how fast the listing accounts buy it.
- When a listed wine falls below the threshold, each listing account gets a message: how much remains, what you suggest as a replacement, and whether they want to reserve the remaining stock.
- When a new vintage is booked in, accounts listing the old vintage are told before it is delivered to them, so they can update the list or reserve the old one.
- Reps see a list of accounts affected by each change, to follow up in person where it matters.
- Every alert and reply is recorded on the account.
| Stock event | Who is told | What they can do |
|---|---|---|
| Listed wine running low | Every account that lists it | Reserve remaining, choose replacement |
| New vintage arriving | Accounts listing the old vintage | Accept new, reserve old |
| Wine discontinued | Accounts that list it | Pick from suggested alternatives |
| Price change on a listed wine | Accounts that list it | Review before next order |
What you suggest as a replacement stays your buyer's choice. The system just makes sure the right accounts hear about it early.
Fewer surprises for your best accounts
Restaurants hear about changes while they can still plan: reprint the list, reserve the last cases, or taste a replacement. Reps have fewer awkward calls and more useful ones. And over time, knowing exactly which wines are on which lists tells you which wines matter most to your trade business, which is useful at buying time.
On a normal week, the buyer books in a shipment. The system notes that two wines have changed vintage and one listed wine is down to a few cases. By lunchtime, seven accounts have received a short, specific message each. Three reply to reserve the old vintage. The rep calls the other four on his rounds.
Is this your trade book?
- Restaurants have found out about vintage changes on delivery.
- You do not have a record of which of your wines each account lists.
- Listed wines have sold out without warning to the accounts that list them.
- Replacement suggestions are made after the problem appears.
- Reps rely on memory for each account's list.